thedrifter
03-20-09, 08:19 AM
Valley vets on the march for hospital
By Jeorge Zarazua - Express-News
After five days and nearly 250 miles, about 30 Rio Grande Valley veterans and their supporters finally arrived in San Antonio on Thursday, nearing the completion of a journey aimed at protesting the lack of a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital near their homes.
Today, the veterans will march from Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9186, at 650 E. White, to Travis Park and then take a bus to the Audie Murphy VA Hospital, where a short ceremony will be held about 2:30 p.m.
The Valley veterans began their trek in Edinburg on Saturday, the second march in four years to increase awareness of the need for their own VA hospital. Another group made the journey in 2005.
Although the VA has made improvements to medical access in the Valley, such as opening up a $40 million outpatient clinic in Harlingen, those in the march argued more has to be done.
Veterans such as 40-year-old David Guzman, an Army sergeant who served in Iraq, and 50-year-old Mike Escobedo, a Marine who served in Iwakuni, Japan, said the four- to five-hour drive to San Antonio for medical treatment is a burden, not only for them, but also for their families.
“When I have my appointments in San Antonio, my wife x has to drive me,” said Guzman, whose right calf was injured in an explosion in Iraq. “She’s doing this walk so people can see the difficulty from the spouse’s point of view.”
The Guzmans said each time they travel to San Antonio, they have to take their two sons out of class.
Escobedo said it took him more than a year to schedule a San Antonio appointment for an X-ray, which itself took just 15 minutes.
VA officials said the need for 95 percent of the trips to San Antonio will soon be eliminated as more and more services are offered at the Valley clinic. They also said they are doing the best they can with the money Congress appropriates. And no funds have been set aside to build a Valley hospital, said VA spokeswoman Diana Struski.
Rey Leal, a 25-year-old veteran who served with the Marines in Iraq and an organizer of the march, said he’s willing to continue to fight for a local VA hospital until Congress provides the funding.
“If there is one veteran that had to go from Edinburg or anywhere in the Valley to San Antonio to get a surgery, because there is no VA hospital down there, that’s more than enough for me to fight for a hospital,” Leal said. “There needs to be a hospital down there.”
Ellie
By Jeorge Zarazua - Express-News
After five days and nearly 250 miles, about 30 Rio Grande Valley veterans and their supporters finally arrived in San Antonio on Thursday, nearing the completion of a journey aimed at protesting the lack of a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital near their homes.
Today, the veterans will march from Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9186, at 650 E. White, to Travis Park and then take a bus to the Audie Murphy VA Hospital, where a short ceremony will be held about 2:30 p.m.
The Valley veterans began their trek in Edinburg on Saturday, the second march in four years to increase awareness of the need for their own VA hospital. Another group made the journey in 2005.
Although the VA has made improvements to medical access in the Valley, such as opening up a $40 million outpatient clinic in Harlingen, those in the march argued more has to be done.
Veterans such as 40-year-old David Guzman, an Army sergeant who served in Iraq, and 50-year-old Mike Escobedo, a Marine who served in Iwakuni, Japan, said the four- to five-hour drive to San Antonio for medical treatment is a burden, not only for them, but also for their families.
“When I have my appointments in San Antonio, my wife x has to drive me,” said Guzman, whose right calf was injured in an explosion in Iraq. “She’s doing this walk so people can see the difficulty from the spouse’s point of view.”
The Guzmans said each time they travel to San Antonio, they have to take their two sons out of class.
Escobedo said it took him more than a year to schedule a San Antonio appointment for an X-ray, which itself took just 15 minutes.
VA officials said the need for 95 percent of the trips to San Antonio will soon be eliminated as more and more services are offered at the Valley clinic. They also said they are doing the best they can with the money Congress appropriates. And no funds have been set aside to build a Valley hospital, said VA spokeswoman Diana Struski.
Rey Leal, a 25-year-old veteran who served with the Marines in Iraq and an organizer of the march, said he’s willing to continue to fight for a local VA hospital until Congress provides the funding.
“If there is one veteran that had to go from Edinburg or anywhere in the Valley to San Antonio to get a surgery, because there is no VA hospital down there, that’s more than enough for me to fight for a hospital,” Leal said. “There needs to be a hospital down there.”
Ellie