Status of local clinic?

On April 22, 2018, the Southeast Missourian newspaper carried a front-page story about an $8.7 million dollar grant from the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs to upgrade and modernize the state-run Veterans Home in Cape Girardeau. According to Daniel Bell, public information coordinator with the Missouri Veterans Commission, the funds will be used for new flooring, new doors and windows, and for upgrading the HVAC system, the fire alarms and the nurse call system as well as updating kitchen appliances and painting throughout the building.

This announcement is certainly good news, and it would be even better if it really happens. Approximately four years ago it was announced that Congress had appropriated funds to expand the VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic. Nothing has been done in the way of construction, and no one I questioned has been given any information that confirms the new clinic will be built.

The current clinic in Cape Girardeau has doctors and nurses to refer patients to other facilities in and out of the VA system. Radiology, orthopedics, and many other medical services are not available in Cape and the current building has no room for them. All of this was supposed to be addressed with the new clinic, but patients are still needing to be referred to Poplar Bluff, St. Louis or Marion, Ill., or the patient will need prior approval before he or she can go to a non-VA facility.

While the VA must accept some of the blame, it is the Congress that has oversight authority over the VA and the federal budget. The question remains that nothing has been done. Is it any wonder that Congress has such terrible approval ratings from the public?

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.