Schumer (D-NY) declared he is beginning a petition drive in the five boroughs in opposition to the federal Department of Veteran Affairs preparing to close two of the Big Apple’s three local VA hospitals.
“We are going to fight this proposal tooth and nail. We are going to put a dagger through its heart, and it’s not going to see the light of day,” he announced at a Sunday morning press conference while flanked by war veterans and elected officials in front of a Veterans Administration hospital in Manhattan.
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“These are the people who risked their lives for us, and the only thing we said in return is, ‘You’ll get good healthcare.’ These facilities give good healthcare,” he continued. “We’re not going to take them away.
“Who is going to take care of them? We are not going to turn our back on these veterans, plain and simple.”
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Roughly 210,000 military veterans live in the five boroughs, according to the city Department of Veterans’ Services.
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The VA blueprint, first reported by The Post earlier this month, states it would be “discontinuing” services at the Brooklyn VA site and instead establish a strategic collaboration with another provider to deliver inpatient medical and surgical and emergency department services. The proposal would further close the Manhattan VA hospital and develop a new “urgent care center” with another provider.
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The Brooklyn VA hospital is located in Bay Ridge, and the Manhattan one is at 423 E. 23rd St., adjacent to Bellevue Hospital. A third VA medical center is found in The Bronx, though the facility there would not be affected by the potential change.
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Schumer vowed not to allow the federal government to follow through with its plan, labeling it “dastardly.”
“We are not letting them do this. It’s a dastardly thing,” he announced. “These folks risked their lives for us.”
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“This VA system is a lot better than a lot of private hospitals where you have to pay so much copayments, this, that, and the other thing, where they make you wait, where they treat you shabbily, etc.,” the senator clarified. “And if you close this hospital it’s going to hurt every hospital, because who’s going to take care of these folks if they go to the local hospitals which are already overburdened? They don’t want to go to the local hospitals.”
John Rowan — head of Vietnam Veterans of America who has undergone treatment many times at the Manhattan VA hospital — spoke of the significance of a facility dedicated to addressing veterans’ medical needs.
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