Owens hears veteran’s concerns at Massena VA clinic

OWENS VISITS MMH - Members of the North Country Veterans Clinic explained to Congressman William Owens the services they provide to the veterans of the north country. Pictured from left to right are MMH CEO Charles F. Fahd II, FACHE, Elysa LaBarge, Brenda Paller, Eleanor LaClair, NP, and Congressman Owens. (Photo Courtesy of Massena Memorial Hospital)

MASSENA - All options - including opening an Ogdensburg hospital or expanding an existing Massena clinic - must be investigated as the region examines broadening veteran’s services, according to Rep. William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, who toured the Veterans Administration clinic and met with officials at Massena Memorial Hospital Thursday morning.

The MMH veteran’s clinic opened in 1993 and receives approximately 1,000 visits a month, growing by “leaps and bounds” in 19 years, according to MMH CEO Charles F. Fahd II. It is the only such clinic between Plattsburgh and Watertown.

The Massena clinic handles primary care, social work, laboratory testing and immunizations. But for services like MRI, CT Scans, colonoscopies and endoscopies, patients travel to the VA hospital in Syracuse, a trip officials have identified as cumbersome.

MMH already offers many of those services, but needs authorization from the VA to extend those to veterans. The Maple Street medical office building on Maple Street could house additional services, Mr. Fahd said.

“We have the space. We just need to be given permission to utilize it,” Mr. Fahd said. “From a patient’s standpoint, 10 hours away from home ... to get a test done is a lot.”

Mr. Fahd said the expansion of services at the MMH clinic was more realistic than a separate effort underway in Ogdensburg to open a hospital at the Pritchard building in the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center. A hospital’s construction costs $1 to $1.5 million per bed to build, he said.

He urged Mr. Owens’ for his continuing support of the Massena VA clinic.

“I don’t think there’s a good possibility of the VA building another hospital,” he said. “The federal government is not going to do that now.”

“It would be ridiculous to try and take an old building and renovate it into something acceptable for the federal government,” Mr. Fahd told Mr. Owens of the Ogdensburg plan.

Mr. Owens said an investigation must commence to determine which option would give veterans the “best care quickest.” A presentation of facts and strong local support may convince the VA to provide additional services in the north country, he said.

“That may turn out to be a new hospital but it may also be to use the local hospitals,” he said. “If in fact it’s easier to have an MRI done in Massena we should be doing an MRI in Massena.”