By Hector Flores
Dr. Daniel Kane, president and CEO of NUMC, said that the project has been in the planning stages for the last four years. ³The current deal with the outpatient treatment facility in Plainview is expiring, and the owner [Charles Wang] wants to do something else with the property,² he said. ³We are trying to see if space we have can be used to bring the V.A. center here.²
Once the V.A. Plainview Clinic closes, many veterans will be forced to commute to medical centers in Northport, in Suffolk County, or Queens or Brooklyn. To visit the Northport hospital, Nassau County veterans must travel 25 to 30 miles each way. These trips are difficult for older veterans, especially World War II survivors who are now in their 80s.
Relocating the V.A. Plainview outpatient center to NUMC would be a geographical boon to Nassau County vets. The hospital is located in the heart of the county, and is easily accessible by two major bus lines, one on Carman Avenue and the other on Hempstead Turnpike. In addition, the hospital can be reached by car on five major highways, the Wantagh, Meadowbrook, Northern State and Southern State parkways and the Long Island Expressway.
Gonsalves said that the hospital space would be leased by the county, which would cover the expenses for the V.A. ³The county will be the tenants paying for the space for the vets,² she said.
In addition, V.A. doctors and staff would work independent of NUMC. According to Shelley Lotenberg, spokeswoman for NUMC, the clinic will be staffed by V.A. personnel. ³This project is revenue-neutral to NUMC,² Lotenberg said. ³It will not cost us money or make us money. We will provide the location and the county will pay for the renovation, which must meet the specifications required by the V.A.²
As of now, the county has submitted its floor plans to the V.A. hospital in Northport, which must approve them. ³They will tell us which plans will be changed and which one was more suitable for their needs,² Lotenberg said.
This plan is good news for Otto Jensen, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2736 in East Meadow, who has been asking local politicians to bring the V.A. medical center to East Meadow for the last four years. ³I have been pro-active for 4 1/2 years,² he said. ³Right now it looks positive that we will get the clinic, not a hospital. But veterans would still be treated by NUMC if there is an emergency.²
Ed Aulman, director of Nassau County¹s Veterans Service Agency, hopes that the negotiations between the V.A. and NUMC will work out. ³We are still in the middle of discussion,² he said. ³I don¹t want to say anything to upset the negotiations. If opened, the clinic will be full-service and handle 5,000 patients a year. But the approval must come from Washington, and there are a lot of government agencies that have to approve of this.²
If negotiations between the V.A. and NUMC are successful, Aulman said that the clinic could be opened by next summer.
Comments about this story? HFlores@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283
