Canandaigua AFGE Local 3306
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Plan would close VA hospitalRead the story as it was covered by the Daily Messenger on August 2, 2003CANANDAIGUA -- Canandaigua leaders and veterans' advocates were shell-shocked Saturday to hear of a plan to close the Canandaigua VA Medical Center. A state recommendation has been made that would divert all patient traffic at the veterans hospital, including 200 inpatients, to the facilities in Bath, Batavia and Syracuse, confirmed Ralph Calabrese, chairman of the Ontario County Veterans Advisory Committee. Calabrese, who vowed a fight, called the initiative a "betrayal." "It's shameful. It's a sin," said the Korean War veteran. Dan Verstreate, chapter president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 200, said by the end of 2005, all of the VA's 722 employees will lose their jobs. And the 15,000 people that receive care every year in Canandaigua will have to go elsewhere. SEIU is one of two unions at the VA and has 500 members. "I spoke with the (VA) director (W. David Smith), and he confirmed that he had been ordered to close Canandaigua," said Verstreate. "Canandaigua had no input. This decision was made in Albany." The closing is subject to approval by the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington. Ontario County Supervisor Ted Fafinski, R-Farmington, who heard the news from Calabrese, wondered whether consideration to close the facility was part of some sort of political plot. "What is the motivation?" he said. But the thought of closing a hospital for soldiers while the United States is engaged in a war against terrorism -- which many predict will last for years -- further confused and incensed the Farmington town supervisor. "We've never done that before," he said. "Why would we do that?" Just last month, local VA officials were discussing with the county's Veterans Advisory Committee a plan to consolidate some building services to save money, said Fafinski, who also serves on that committee. But closing the facility was not part of the plan, he said. Canandaigua Mayor Ellen Polimeni, who expected to hear more Monday, said the city had not been officially informed. But closing the VA would be a "devastating impact to Canandaigua," she continued, and the City Council urges residents to contact their legislators to fight the initiative. Phone calls to Congressman Amo Houghton's representatives were not returned Saturday. Houghton, R-Corning, represents Canandaigua Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Syracuse, who serves on the Veterans Affairs/Housing and Urban Development appropriations committee, also couldn't be reached for comment. Verstreate heard that public officials felt "blind-sided" by the announcement. Houghton, he said, called President George W. Bush. Assemblyman Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, was annoyed that he was hearing the news from reporters, and not from Houghton's office. He said if true, the plan is bad for health care, jobs and veterans. "I would be shocked if this was happening without public discourse," said Kolb. The proposal was also peculiar because the Canandaigua VA and its Rochester outpatient clinic were recently honored with high marks in a national survey, said Verstreate. The Canandaigua facility scored a 82.47 percent satisfaction rating among veterans, nearly 10 points higher than the national average of 72.79 percent and four points higher than the averaged scores of facilities in Bath, Batavia, Buffalo and Syracuse. And the commission that was ordered to look at certain hospitals to determine which one to close recommended Canandaigua stay open, Verstreate claims. So he suspects the director of the five upstate VA hospitals, Director William Feeley, is playing favors because he is the former director of the Buffalo VA, which controls the Batavia VA, he said. "It's just a loyalty deal is what it is," he said. "He must have set those scores aside and said, 'We will close Canandaigua.'" Federal, state and local officials have been invited to meetings in Canandaigua this week, he said.
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