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Options-Canandaigua LAP Sets
Course For the Future
The Local CARES LAP Committee sends Washington it's list of options regarding
the changes its sees for the future of veterans services in Canandaigua. From
their discussions 10 plans were presented and discussed at the August CARES
Meeting at the VA facility.
Those options were basically the following
· Keep all services on campus, upgrade existing buildings.
· Replace all services and buildings at an off-site
location.
· Keep services on the campus, but put up new buildings.
· Partially use grounds, replace aging buildings.
· Relocate high-volume outpatient services off-site.
· Keep façade and use portions of existing facilities.
· Keep all services on campus, demolish Building 2 and
vacate Courtyard 2.
· Build replacement inpatient and outpatient facilities on
northern portion of campus, free up existing buildings for renovation and re-use
as "complementary services."
Although Price Waterhouse Cooper presented 8 separate plans
it was not until two panel members presented two off the cuff plans that the
veterans and other participants in the hearing showed any enthusiasm for the
choices.
Indeed Dr Flesh's plan of consolidating services in Courtyard 1 and utilizing
Courtyard 2 as the site for a new Nursing Home complex seemed the most logical.
Meanwhile Ralph Calabrese suggested that the existing build stay as the are and
that the Department of Veterans Affairs partner with the Department of Defense
as an alternate site for the Canandaigua Army Reserve and Armory. Although much
work remains to be done the gist of the meeting made certain it was the LAP's
recommendation that all services remain on the existing campus and not be moved
or split.
Check out how the D&C covered the meeting just-Click
Here
Check out how the Finger Lakes Times covered the meeting just-Click
Here
Survey Says ! -
"No One "CARES"
"Lo and Behold" Sometime in the last week or two the CARES
Commission posted the results of the stakeholders surveys it has been
correlating during the past few months. The survey is based on all the input it
is receiving from the localities that are going to be effected by the changes
the CARES Commission is going to decree once the LAP (Local Advisory Panels)
finish their work.
To no ones surprise, with only one exception, the facilities
and their stakeholders are not concerned with any of the five impact areas the
committees are investigating. By the way the one exception is the
Brooklyn-Manhattan VAMC, they have mobilized their constituents and let it be
known they want to be left alone.
Facility by facility the graphs show an apathy to the CARES
process despite overwhelming support at each of the VAs effected by the changes
the Department of Veterans Affairs is attempting.
For example her is the graph for Canandaigua and an
explanation for each of the areas being questioned regarding their impact on our
veteran and their healthcare.
Includes: online comment forms, paper comment
forms, letters, written testimony, and other (e.g. pamphlets,
binders, multimedia).
- All submissions are read and sorted according to specified Key
Concerns. If the author conveyed multiple concerns, each concern
was recorded. The definitions of the Key Concerns are listed
below.
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|
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| Concern |
Definition |
| Effect on Access |
Involves a concern about traveling to another facility
or the location of the present facility. |
| Maintain Current Service/Facility |
General comments related to keeping the facility open
and maintaining services at the current site. |
| Support for Veterans |
Concerns about the federal government/VA’s obligation
to provide health care to current and future veterans. |
| Quality of Healthcare Services & Providers |
Concerns about changing services or providers at a
site. |
| Effect on Local Economy |
Concerns about loss of jobs or local economic effects
of change. |
| Use of Facility |
Concerns or suggestions related to the use of the land
or facility. |
| Effect on Research & Education |
Concerns about the impact a change would have on
research or education programs at the facility. |
| Administration’s Budget or Policies |
Concerns about the effects of the administration’s
budget or other policies on health care for veterans. |
| Unrelated |
Other comments or concerns that are not specifically
related to the study. |
Without a coordinated effort on the part of veterans,
employees and the community to change these numbers the Canandaigua VA can only
expect that VISN 2 and the Department of Veterans Affairs to be ready, willing
and able to gut the Canandaigua VA an leave our veterans with only a shell to
provide for its healthcare.
Without your support get ready to get on the bus for Buffalo
or Syracuse for your healthcare needs.
Follow this link to complete the CARES Survey and let your
politicians know that we want a full service VA Facility in Canandaigua.
CARES
Website "Live"
The Office of Strategic Initiatives & the VISN Support Service Center
announces the launch of the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services
(CARES) website. This new
website will provide our veterans, VA employees, and the general public with
updated information regarding the completion of the 18 study sites determined by
the former Secretary of Veterans Affairs (Mr. Anthony Principi) in need of
further study. Those sites are: Boston; New York City; Louisville; Waco; Big
Spring; Walla Walla; Montgomery; Muskogee;
Canandaigua;
Montrose/Castle Point; St Albans; Lexington; Livermore; White City; Perry Point;
Gulfport; West LA; Poplar Bluff. While the primary focus of this website is to
increase awareness of VHA current actions regarding CARES, the site will allow
VA the opportunity to gather comments from our veterans, Veteran Service
Organizations, VA employees, elected officials, and any other interested
parties, as well as review actions and decisions from previous phases of CARES.
The new website currently contains an overview of this phase in the CARES
implementation process and links to detailed information on each study site. As
their work progresses with CARES, updates will be posted to their website.
(4/28/05)
Keep Up to Date Check It Out
First CARES LAP Committee Meeting
Opens In Canandaigua
Amo Houghton Chairs First of Four
Canandaigua April 20,2005
The first of four meeting to be held regarding the future of the Canandaigua
VA was held in the facility's auditorium by the Local Advisory Panel chaired by
former Congressman Amo Houghton.
Consisting of two lengthy presentations followed by either questions and/or
statements detailed the proposals that were accepted by former Secretary of the
Department of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi in May of 2004.
The Local Advisory Panel (LAP) will examine the options for the future of the
Canandaigua VA, the services it provides and the eventual location of the
facility as it continues to provides services to the Finger Lakes Veterans it
serves. The Panel comprised of select members of the stakeholders in the review
process are: Sam Casella Canandaigua Town Supervisor, Earl Gleason Yates County
Veterans Service Office Director, Dr. Daniel Hayes President FLCC, Helen Sherman
Ontario County Office of the Aging, Ralph Calabrese President Ontario County
Veterans Advisory Committee, Larry Flesh MD Chief Medical Officer VISN 2. Absent
from this meeting was James Cody Director Syracuse VAMC.
The meeting opened with the customary housekeeping chores as outlined by Mr.
Casella, during his discussion the ground rules as to how these meeting will be
conducted were laid out.
Amo Houghton then reviewed the charge the panel had received and blueprinted the
areas the panel will review in the coming months ahead.
He was careful to outline the current services the Canandaigua VAMC now provides
and what will need to be incorporated into their vision of the facility in the
future.
Those services that will be directly impacted by their discussions are:
Nursing Home Care, Domiciliary Care Residential Rehabilitation,
Psycho-Geriatrics, Dementia Care and all Outpatient Treatment. Mr. Houghton was
very clear that additional services may be needed to be added to the Canandaigua
Facility to meet the needs of tomorrows veterans.
Additionally both Mr. Houghton and Larry Flesh MD made it clear that the
movement of the Acute Psychiatric Unit to Syracuse and Buffalo was not a matter
for discussion, they stated several times that this decision had already been
made in May of last year and was not in the scope of these hearings. However the
decision was brought multiple times by various members of the audience and Mr.
Houghton offered to pen a request, in conjunction with Mr. Calabrese to the
Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs and encourage him to revisit his
decision to remove the unit from the Canandaigua VA. Both Hilary Clinton and
Charles Schumer have echoed this request and have encouraged Mr. Nicholson to
listen to the veterans and keep the acute services in Canandaigua.
The meeting was then turned to the presentations that were scheduled for the day
one by the consulting firm of Price Waterhouse Cooper who will be assisting in
the development of the VA's Master Plan and the other by Donna Dardaris which
looked at the statistical trending the will help guide the development of that
plan.
While many in the room were encouraged by the information that was provided, the
group was met with a great deal of skepticism by the veterans and others in
attendance as it looks to the future and the possible outcomes for these
hearings.
See how the local papers carried the stories regarding this the first session
of the LAP.
Click Here for the Democrat and Chronicle by Jack Jones
Click Here for the Daily Messenger
Click Here for the Finger Lakes Times
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