Letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi

August 4, 2003
The Honorable Anthony J. Principi
Secretary
Department of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20420

Dear Secretary Principi:

I am writing to express my serious concerns regarding the recommendation made by the Department of Veterans Affairs to close the Canandaigua VA hospital as part of the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Service (CARES) initiative. This recommendation, if acted upon, will have a profoundly detrimental effect on the ability of veterans in the greater Rochester area to receive access to quality healthcare. I strongly urge to you reevaluate the CARES Commission's recommendation and to maintain operations at the Canandaigua VA hospital.

The Canandaigua VA hospital currently cares for about 200 severely ill inpatients as well as 774 veterans who suffer from severe mental illness, and provides services to a community of 25,000 enrolled veterans in New York's third largest
metropolitan area. In addition, the hospital provides jobs for 800 area residents and makes a significant contribution to the quality of life in the greater Canandaigua community.

The Canandaigua VA hospital has already established a strong record of providing excellent healthcare services to a large and growing community of veterans. In addition, the Canandaigua VA is ideally situated to serve veterans in Monroe County, where the Department of Veterans Affairs projects that the enrolled veteran population will increase by 6% between 2001 and 2012.

It is my understanding that the plan proposed by the CARES Commission would relocate patients currently served by the Canandaigua VA to more remote facilities in Batavia, Buffalo, and Syracuse. I am greatly concerned by the fact that this proposal seems to be directly at odds with the Department of Veterans Affairs goal of enhancing the accessibility and quality of veterans' healthcare services. If enacted, this plan would force thousands of veterans to travel increased distances to seek service and would hinder the ability of family and friends to visit veterans who require inpatient care.

I strongly believe that at a time when the demand for veterans healthcare services is increasing and the men and women of our military are involved in conflicts across the world that now is the wrong time to take actions that will limit the accessibility of the veterans healthcare system. Accordingly, I urge you to review the decision of the CARES Commission and to prevent the closure of the Canandaigua VA hospital.

I thank you for your attention to this extremely important matter, and look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

United States Senate