Valley Veterans' March to the Alamo Dramatizes Need for Local VA Hospital
By David Diaz
On Friday - Veterans Day - South Texas military leaders and their supporters are scheduled to descend upon the Alamo as part of a grueling march from Edinburg to San Antonio to spark federal action for what they say is a badly-needed Veterans Administration Hospital in deep South Texas.
The lack of a major VA Hospital in a region with more than one million people not only affects the Rio Grande Valley but any other counties that are 150 miles or more from the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital in San Antonio.
The sprawling San Antonio hospital complex, which has almost 600 patient beds for services ranging from acute medical care to open heart surgery and bone marrow transplantation, is more than 220 miles away from Edinburg, the first major city that leads into the four-county Rio Grande Valley.
But that distance represents roadblocks almost impossible to overcome for many of the estimated 45,000 Valley veterans and their families because they cannot afford to, or are not healthy enough, to make the round-trip between San Antonio and the border region.
Leaders with the U.S. Veterans Administration, the federal agency that administers the military medical hospitals throughout the nation, have maintained that the population of veterans in deep South Texas is not large enough to make a VA Hospital cost-effective.
But area residents are not taking no for an answer, and instead began a dramatic march from Edinburg on Saturday, November 5, as part of renewed strategies to increase political pressure in Washington, D.C.
The effort, which began with about 100 marchers, is designed to challenge national leaders to build a VA Hospital for thousands of men and women who have served their nation in the armed forces, but who find the military's guarantee of lifetime comprehensive medical care a broken promise.
At least one public official, Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, has lent more than his moral support to the renewed political movement.
He has taken valuable time away from his law firm and his family in order to walk the entire route to the Alamo with the Valley veterans and their supporters.
“I saw no good reason for me not to participate in such a critical issue,” said Peña, a second-term House District 40 lawmaker. “If I can lend support to the walk, it was the right gesture, especially in comparison to the sacrifices made by our soldiers.”
Peña is documenting the march by the veterans and their supporters on his Internet web site, located at http://aaronpena.org/
The trek, which picks up supporters in the cities along the route to San Antonio, was organized by numerous veterans organizations, including America's Last Patrol, American Legion, Catholic War Veterans, Disabled American Veterans, and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Participants include ex-prisoners of war, Iraq war disabled veterans, KIA Families of the Valley (killed in action) and even retired generals.
The argument that there's no extra federal funds available for a Valley VA Hospital carries no weight with another local legislator, Rep. Verónica Gonzáles, D-McAllen.
"This march serves as a means to draw the attention of the U.S. Congress to our veterans of the Rio Grande Valley,” said Gonzáles, whose House District 41 includes southwest Edinburg. “A VA hospital is critical to fill the needs of our area and we must ensure that our federal legislators keep our veterans as a high priority.”
She noted that the recently-approved federal budget included $286.45 billion for transportation projects nationwide, including hundreds of millions of dollars for controversial bridge projects in Alaska.
Spearheaded by Congressman Don Young, R-Alaska, who is the powerful chairman of the U.S. House Transportation Committee, his home state managed to land $223 million to build a bridge higher than the Brooklyn Bridge and almost as long as the Golden Gate in order to connect Ketchikan, Alaska (population 8,900) to the city airport on Gravina Island (population 50).
“Before we spend millions of dollars to build a bridge in Alaska that goes nowhere, let's spend that type of money on something we really need - to serve the very people who have served our country,” Gonzáles remarked.
Young defends the transportation bill as helping Alaska and the nation.
“This is a jobs bill that will put America back to work and begin the process of repairing and building this nation's great infrastructure,” Young said in recent statements. “Alaska is positioned to receive over $596 million in funds. These funds will help to curb our ever growing congestion problems and meet the need of some of our infrastructure challenges.”
Other supporters for a Valley VA Hospital say local veterans who depend on their veterans benefits to receive even the most basic care have to wait as long as a year and more to see physicians at the two VA outpatient clinics in McAllen and Harlingen.
“The veterans down here have gone long enough with only basic medical treatment,” said Lydia Caballero, member of America's Last Patrol and a coordinator of the march. “The wait between doctor's visits is disgusting. I think it is laughable to assume that anyone will know they will be getting sick a year and a half ahead of time.”
Previous political setbacks haven't conquered the determination of the Valley veterans or their allies, though.
“It is very heartwarming to see all the support, not only from the citizens along the way, but from police and DPS state troopers who have escorted us almost the entire way,” said Peña. “Anytime we enter a city, they have chosen to escort us.”
During their march, the group slept at veterans halls along the way, he added.
Marc Cisneros, former president of Texas A&M - Kingsville who retired from the United States Army as a Lieutenant General in August 1996, was one of the many persons who greeted the traveling delegation.
He walked with the group when they arrived at his hometown of Premont, Peña said.
According to the U.S. Census, in 2000 there were almost 1.8 million veterans living in Texas, with about 25,000 residing in Hidalgo County, about 20,000 in Cameron County, and about 32,000 in Corpus Christi.
Juan Maldonado, chairman of the Hidalgo County Democratic Party, was equally frank in his assessment of the federal government's wait-and-see approach.
“It is not only disturbing but shows the lack of respect that our veterans from the Rio Grande Valley who served bravely and proudly have been ignored like this,” Maldonado charged.
However, the Valley is not without some recent improvements for military veterans.
Earlier this year, the state opened the $12.9 million Alfredo González Veterans Home in McAllen, which is named after an Edinburg war hero and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient who was killed in action during the Vietnam War.
Plans are underway for the development of a $8.7 million Veterans Cemetery to be located in Mission.
The big prize, understandably, remains securing a military hospital, a dream that for many seems doomed to the distant future.
But area veterans last spring picked up symbolic support from the Texas Legislature and Gov. Rick Perry, who approved a resolution calling on President Bush and Congress to build the next VA Hospital in the Weslaco, which is centrally-located.
That measure, carried by Rep. Armando “Mando” Martínez, D-Weslaco, and Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, notes that “our veterans who live in South Texas have served their country bravely and risked their lives to preserve our country's freedom and democracy, and their sacrifices in our behalf are deserving of a veterans hospital to meet their health care needs.”
Legislative Media reports on the major legislative events that affect South Texans.
On Friday - Veterans Day - South Texas military leaders and their supporters are scheduled to descend upon the Alamo as part of a grueling march from Edinburg to San Antonio to spark federal action for what they say is a badly-needed Veterans Administration Hospital in deep South Texas.
The lack of a major VA Hospital in a region with more than one million people not only affects the Rio Grande Valley but any other counties that are 150 miles or more from the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital in San Antonio.
The sprawling San Antonio hospital complex, which has almost 600 patient beds for services ranging from acute medical care to open heart surgery and bone marrow transplantation, is more than 220 miles away from Edinburg, the first major city that leads into the four-county Rio Grande Valley.
But that distance represents roadblocks almost impossible to overcome for many of the estimated 45,000 Valley veterans and their families because they cannot afford to, or are not healthy enough, to make the round-trip between San Antonio and the border region.
Leaders with the U.S. Veterans Administration, the federal agency that administers the military medical hospitals throughout the nation, have maintained that the population of veterans in deep South Texas is not large enough to make a VA Hospital cost-effective.
But area residents are not taking no for an answer, and instead began a dramatic march from Edinburg on Saturday, November 5, as part of renewed strategies to increase political pressure in Washington, D.C.
The effort, which began with about 100 marchers, is designed to challenge national leaders to build a VA Hospital for thousands of men and women who have served their nation in the armed forces, but who find the military's guarantee of lifetime comprehensive medical care a broken promise.
At least one public official, Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, has lent more than his moral support to the renewed political movement.
He has taken valuable time away from his law firm and his family in order to walk the entire route to the Alamo with the Valley veterans and their supporters.
“I saw no good reason for me not to participate in such a critical issue,” said Peña, a second-term House District 40 lawmaker. “If I can lend support to the walk, it was the right gesture, especially in comparison to the sacrifices made by our soldiers.”
Peña is documenting the march by the veterans and their supporters on his Internet web site, located at http://aaronpena.org/
The trek, which picks up supporters in the cities along the route to San Antonio, was organized by numerous veterans organizations, including America's Last Patrol, American Legion, Catholic War Veterans, Disabled American Veterans, and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Participants include ex-prisoners of war, Iraq war disabled veterans, KIA Families of the Valley (killed in action) and even retired generals.
The argument that there's no extra federal funds available for a Valley VA Hospital carries no weight with another local legislator, Rep. Verónica Gonzáles, D-McAllen.
"This march serves as a means to draw the attention of the U.S. Congress to our veterans of the Rio Grande Valley,” said Gonzáles, whose House District 41 includes southwest Edinburg. “A VA hospital is critical to fill the needs of our area and we must ensure that our federal legislators keep our veterans as a high priority.”
She noted that the recently-approved federal budget included $286.45 billion for transportation projects nationwide, including hundreds of millions of dollars for controversial bridge projects in Alaska.
Spearheaded by Congressman Don Young, R-Alaska, who is the powerful chairman of the U.S. House Transportation Committee, his home state managed to land $223 million to build a bridge higher than the Brooklyn Bridge and almost as long as the Golden Gate in order to connect Ketchikan, Alaska (population 8,900) to the city airport on Gravina Island (population 50).
“Before we spend millions of dollars to build a bridge in Alaska that goes nowhere, let's spend that type of money on something we really need - to serve the very people who have served our country,” Gonzáles remarked.
Young defends the transportation bill as helping Alaska and the nation.
“This is a jobs bill that will put America back to work and begin the process of repairing and building this nation's great infrastructure,” Young said in recent statements. “Alaska is positioned to receive over $596 million in funds. These funds will help to curb our ever growing congestion problems and meet the need of some of our infrastructure challenges.”
Other supporters for a Valley VA Hospital say local veterans who depend on their veterans benefits to receive even the most basic care have to wait as long as a year and more to see physicians at the two VA outpatient clinics in McAllen and Harlingen.
“The veterans down here have gone long enough with only basic medical treatment,” said Lydia Caballero, member of America's Last Patrol and a coordinator of the march. “The wait between doctor's visits is disgusting. I think it is laughable to assume that anyone will know they will be getting sick a year and a half ahead of time.”
Previous political setbacks haven't conquered the determination of the Valley veterans or their allies, though.
“It is very heartwarming to see all the support, not only from the citizens along the way, but from police and DPS state troopers who have escorted us almost the entire way,” said Peña. “Anytime we enter a city, they have chosen to escort us.”
During their march, the group slept at veterans halls along the way, he added.
Marc Cisneros, former president of Texas A&M - Kingsville who retired from the United States Army as a Lieutenant General in August 1996, was one of the many persons who greeted the traveling delegation.
He walked with the group when they arrived at his hometown of Premont, Peña said.
According to the U.S. Census, in 2000 there were almost 1.8 million veterans living in Texas, with about 25,000 residing in Hidalgo County, about 20,000 in Cameron County, and about 32,000 in Corpus Christi.
Juan Maldonado, chairman of the Hidalgo County Democratic Party, was equally frank in his assessment of the federal government's wait-and-see approach.
“It is not only disturbing but shows the lack of respect that our veterans from the Rio Grande Valley who served bravely and proudly have been ignored like this,” Maldonado charged.
However, the Valley is not without some recent improvements for military veterans.
Earlier this year, the state opened the $12.9 million Alfredo González Veterans Home in McAllen, which is named after an Edinburg war hero and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient who was killed in action during the Vietnam War.
Plans are underway for the development of a $8.7 million Veterans Cemetery to be located in Mission.
The big prize, understandably, remains securing a military hospital, a dream that for many seems doomed to the distant future.
But area veterans last spring picked up symbolic support from the Texas Legislature and Gov. Rick Perry, who approved a resolution calling on President Bush and Congress to build the next VA Hospital in the Weslaco, which is centrally-located.
That measure, carried by Rep. Armando “Mando” Martínez, D-Weslaco, and Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, notes that “our veterans who live in South Texas have served their country bravely and risked their lives to preserve our country's freedom and democracy, and their sacrifices in our behalf are deserving of a veterans hospital to meet their health care needs.”
Legislative Media reports on the major legislative events that affect South Texans.
posted by Tejano Insider at 8:54 AM
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