Pombo: Keep Livermore VA Hospital open Pombo: Keep Livermore VA Hospital open (March 11, 2005)

'Right now there is demand and need here'
by Jeb Bing

U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo (R., 11th) told Tri-Valley veterans this week that he wants to keep the VA Hospital in Livermore open as a full-service health care facility, but Veterans Affairs Department aides sitting next to him weren't so supportive.

The VA plans to close seven hospitals across the country in a cost-reduction and realignment strategy, including the one in Livermore.

"My personal commitment is to do everything I can to keep the VA hospital in Livermore up and operating and functioning," Pombo said at a Veterans Forum he held Monday at the Danville Veterans Memorial Hall. "This is something we've been working on for a number of months in an effort to keep the facility there."

"I've seen the data about (demographic) changes in the area, but right now there is demand and need here," he added. "Moving that hospital would make it extremely difficult and cause hardships on the veterans who live in this area."

Proponents of closing the Livermore facility have said that it is out of date and that the future health care needs of veterans would be better served elsewhere.

Robert Geldman, a deputy to the chief of staff of the VA's Health Care System in Palo Alto, and Lawrence Janes, Capital Asset Manager of the VA's Sierra Pacific Network in Mare Island, agreed.

"We've looked at where veterans live today and at where they're likely to be living over the next 12 to 20 years," Geldman said. "Our data shows that we need to build a new facility in the Central Valley, where so many of our veterans here today are moving, while also building a new clinic in the East Bay and adding a new nursing home in Livermore. We've started that process."

Janes said that the strategic planning process now under way is looking at how health care for veterans should be handled over the next 20 years, how facilities are aligned across the country, and the options needed for health care and nursing home facilities.

He said the VA will hold four public meetings at the Livermore facility to hear comments from local veterans, with the first meeting scheduled for April 14.

In response to Pombo's concerns, Janes said the Livermore facility will stay open until a new facility is completed in the Central Valley, which could be several years away since a site has yet to be chosen. He said a new VA clinic has been completed in San Bruno to serve northern San Mateo County veterans and will open in July. As for a new East Bay clinic, his office has had discussions with representatives of Camp Parks in Dublin and ValleyCare Health Systems, headquartered in Pleasanton.

In opposing the shutdown of the Livermore VA hospital, Pombo, who represents Pleasanton, joins Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D., 10th), whose Congressional district includes Livermore, in efforts to keep the hospital open. Tauscher said the move by the Veterans Administration ignored the fact that the government has spent $20 million on improvement projects and seismic upgrades to the facility in recent years. Like Pombo, she also questioned how the thousands of veterans living in the Tri-Valley would be better served elsewhere.

But Geldman said services to Livermore have already been downsized, with meals to veterans in the hospital now being prepared at his Palo Alto facility and shipped here.

"We have consolidated many of our services to reduce costs," he said. "Sending food to Livermore from our Palo Alto facility means that we don't have to have two kitchens and food staffs, which saves us money. We can provide the same services and be more cost effective at the same time."

Pombo, who chairs the powerful House Committee on Resources, said he will work with the Veterans Administration on its proposed realignment plans, but he also urged veterans and others in the community to attend the April 14 public meeting and the other three that will follow.

On other issues, Pombo said he favors increasing death benefits for soldiers killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones to $100,000 as proposed. He also wants the Defense Department to review how it determines who is qualified to receive those benefits.

He pointed out that unlike in previous wars, missions over Iraq and Afghanistan are often carried out by Air Force pilots stationed in other zones, including European and U.S. bases.

"Conditions have changed and we need new rules to make sure all in the military who are engaged in conflicts today are covered," he said. "For example, when we first went into Iraq, we had bombing missions leaving from Missouri that would drop their bombs on Iraqi targets, and then fly back to Missouri. If anything had happened to any of them, they would not qualify for death benefits paid to those fighting in a war zone."

Pombo urged anyone who has questions or comments on veterans' affairs to send them to his office by using a form available on his Web site at http://www.house.gov/pombo/contact/commentsform.htm.

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