Decision on V.A. hospital to take time
But veterans in Canandaigua see hope for new facilities there
Jack Jones
Staff writer
What's at stake
With a budget of about $61 million, the Canandaigua V.A. Medical Center is one of Ontario County's largest employers, with about 800 full- and part-time jobs, and contributes an estimated $30 million annually to the area's economy. It also serves a regional veteran population of about 16,000.
(August 31, 2005) - CANANDAIGUA - A final decision is months away and will be made in Washington, but members of a local panel studying health care for area veterans are encouraged by a consultant's report on the park-like Canandaigua Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
"For the first time in a long time, I have to say that I feel a little better about the way things are going," said Ralph Calabrese, a Korean War veteran and member of the V.A. Local Advisory Panel appointed earlier this year to study options for the siting of a new nursing and outpatient clinic.
"It does truly appear that the focus is more on how to enhance services here at the Canandaigua campus instead of on going out of the area and building a totally new facility somewhere else," Calabrese said.
About 80 people attended a daylong session Tuesday at the V.A. campus, where V.A. officials and consultants detailed options to meet the health care needs of current and future generations of veterans in the region.
Of eight options presented by the consulting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, all but one would preserve at least partial use of the historic campus and two of those options would preserve all services at the 171-acre site that has served aging and infirm ex-soldiers for 72 years.
The consultants have recommended that the V.A. panel also consider whether a new outpatient clinic might more efficiently meet the needs of veterans who need medical tests and occasional help but don't require overnight hospitalization.
An off-campus outpatient clinic could be built at an as-yet unselected site along several key routes around Canandaigua, including Route 332 to the north, Routes 5 and 20 to the west, Route 247 southeast of the city, or the area around Route 21 and 488 a few miles east of the campus, according to the report.
Former Rep. Amo Houghton, a World War II veteran and chairman of the nine-member local panel, said he would suggest that a new outpatient clinic and nursing home be located in renovated or new buildings on the existing campus.
"If you're a veteran, as I am of WWII, and you come to this place you feel good about it," said Houghton. "It's beautiful. It's a park. It's not just a concrete block building plopped down in the middle of a city someplace."
According to the consultants' report, about 300,000 square feet of the total 945,000 square feet of space at the Canandaigua V.A. is either vacant or underused. The hospital, which was built to house a population of 1,700 veterans, today provides a wide range of outpatient medical and psychiatric services and has an average daily inpatient census of 166.
Some veterans said they remained skeptical of the intent of senior V.A. officials in Albany and Washington who two years ago drafted a plan to close the Canandaigua campus.
"This is our hospital," said Gene Simes, who was blinded by enemy gunfire while
serving with the Marines in Vietnam.
"We're going to fight this," Simes warned. "Don't take away what's been built
here for the veterans."
Simes in particular criticized a V.A. decision to shift 12 acute-care psychiatric beds earlier this year from Canandaigua to V.A. centers in Buffalo and Syracuse.
Dr. Lawrence Flesh, chief medical officer for the V.A. Healthcare Network for Upstate New York, said the beds were transferred because veterans can get more specialized, high-tech care at the urban hospitals than is available in Canandaigua, where the emphasis is on nursing home and outpatient care.
The advisory panel will hold two more public sessions on dates to be announced before making recommendations later this year. V.A. Secretary James Nicholson will review the recommendations and make the final decision on siting of services for veterans in the area.