By Nick Buglione
Joined by town, state and county officials, NUMC President Richard Turan made the announcement at an Aug. 20 meeting at the hospital, while speaking to a group of 60 veterans from East Meadow and neighboring communities.
For years, local veterans have had to trek to Suffolk County's Northport VA Medical Center -- roughly a 60-mile round trip from East Meadow -- to receive the care they are guaranteed because of their wartime military service.
As local World War II, Korean War and Vietnam veterans age and their medical needs increase, they say making it all the way to Northport is becoming increasingly difficult, and they have argued that a centrally located facility in Nassau County is needed. Nearly 97,000 veterans live in the county.
"I envision it will have full services; anything that [veterans] would need, we would provide," said Turan, himself a Vietnam War veteran. "It's not a question of who's going to make money and who's going to save money; it's about providing better care."
Turan's announcement drew thunderous applause from veterans, who believe the planned medical facility is long overdue. "We have to take care of the veterans, and the government is responsible for us now," said Sam DiPalo, 80, past commander of East Meadow VFW Post 2736. "When the time came and our government needed us, we were there for them. This is the time that we need the government."
Though local elected officials and the Nassau County Veterans Service Agency espouse creating a health-care center for veterans at NUMC, there is one major roadblock ahead. "We need the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to allow an outside doctor to write a prescription and have the VA fill it," said Laurence Altenburg, deputy director of the county Veterans Service Agency.
Veterans who receive prescriptions from VA doctors only have to make $7 co-payments to fill them. But NUMC doctors aren't affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs, so any prescriptions they write would not be covered by the department.
"In general, the VA only fills prescriptions that are written by VA doctors," said Karen Fedele, spokeswoman for the Department of Veterans Affairs. She also noted that it would require "a major policy change" for the department to start filling prescriptions written by non-VA doctors.
Most agree that Congress would have to approve such a change. County veterans have already begun a petition and letter-writing campaign urging federal officials to consider the measure, and they are mulling a march on Washington, D.C.
"Our cry right now is in Washington," said Nassau County Legislator Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow), who, along with Legislator Roger Corbin (D-Westbury), voiced support for the plan. "If it takes a caravan to Washington, we are prepared to do it. There is work to be done, but there is light at the end of the tunnel."
Veterans attending the Aug. 20 meeting found it disconcerting that, of all the federal elected officials that were invited to attend, only two sent representatives. "They have too many other things to take care of," said Sal Pellegrino, a Korean War Veteran and past commander of the East Meadow VFW. "We have to make them realize that kids are coming back from the war [in Iraq] now that have even worse problems than I have."
U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) said he would support having the VA pay for prescriptions written by NUMC doctors, but cautioned that it could create problems. Since the VA would be footing the bill for medications that non-VA doctors would be prescribing, disputes might arise over whether certain prescriptions were warranted, King said.
Joe Sledge, spokesman for the Northport VA Medical Center, is also apprehensive about the plan and expressed confusion over exactly what services would be offered at an NUMC facility. "There could definitely be incentives here, but what are they?" Sledge said. "I haven't seen a written document that clarifies exactly what veterans would be offered here."
According to Turan, the veterans' facility would be housed in the hospital's medical pavilion. Since the pavilion is brand new and fully staffed, the cost to get the facility up and running would be minimal, he said. There, veterans would be able to receive all the medical attention they get at Northport, he added.
A more specific outline of the plan is currently being drafted, and should be finished in about a month.
