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In a letter to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough in February, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, wrote that she was “gravely concerned” the agency was not upholding the promise of health care access to more than 3,000 veterans in Lewis County.
She didn’t receive a response. So when McDonough toured the VA Medical Center in Vancouver on Tuesday, the freshmen representative came prepared to ensure the message was received.
“There are things that are just more clear when it’s physical,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in an interview with The Chronicle. “It certainly made an impression.”
During the visit, Gluesenkamp Perez hand delivered a petition with more than 16,000 signatures from veterans, caregivers and community members to urge the VA to reopen a clinic in Lewis County.
“I’m not going to let this get lost in the bureaucratic shuffle,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
Gluesenkamp Perez reiterated the importance of a clinic in Lewis County during the visit, a call that comes nearly three years after the VA closed the Chehalis clinic in a cost-cutting measure.
Following the closure, a representative for the VA said the per-patient expenses were "the highest in the entire nation.” While the clinic cost roughly $4 million a year to operate, Gluesenkamp Perez said the clinic’s closure had far more impact.
“This is not a negotiable deal,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “What is the cost to a veteran who maybe lost a few years of their life due to hampered care?”
According to Gluesenkamp Perez, Southwest Washington is home to more than 62,000 veterans, and one in four Washington veterans live in rural areas.
At the time of the clinic’s closure, around 3,400 veterans received care at the facility. About 3,000 opted to transfer to the Olympia clinic, which Gluesenkamp Perez said often doubled their drive time, while around 400 veterans elected to find care locally.
At a November 2022 forum, Mobile Medical Unit Operations Manager Deborah Archer said around 2,000 veterans fell within the standard 30-minute drive time to get to the clinic in Olympia, while another 1,000 had to travel more than 30 minutes.
According to Gluesenkamp Perez’s letter, veterans have told her they wait for hours at a time to make appointments, which are often scheduled months in advance.
Since its closure, the VA has operated a mobile medical unit at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis on Wednesdays, though it only offers eight appointments a week.
In her letter, Gluesenkamp Perez wrote the arrangement “leaves hundreds of veterans unserved and outside of the VA’s own drive time standard who must now resort to the Community Care Network.”
“People are driving a full day to get service now,” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “It’s a serious burden to people.”
In February, Gluesenkamp Perez introduced the bipartisan Rural Veterans Transportation to Care Act which would expand access to the Highly Rural Transportation Grant (HRTG) program. The proposal was included in a military appropriations bill that cleared by the U.S. House of Representatives in June.
If passed, the bill would expand the Highly Rural Transportation Grant program, which awards funding to veteran service organizations and state agencies to provide transportation for veterans. The Rural Veterans Transportation to Care Act is cosponsored by Reps. Juan Ciscomani, R-Arizona, and Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico.
If passed, Skamania County would regain eligibility for HRTG rogram funding, and Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Pacific, Thurston and Wahkiakum counties would become eligible.
During the visit, Gluesenkamp Perez and McDonough toured the VA Medical Center in Vancouver and met with representatives of the VA Northwest Health Network.
“It’s our responsibility to ensure our nation’s heroes are well-supported after returning home and can access the benefits they’ve earned and deserve. I enjoyed hearing from dedicated healthcare professionals and discussing ways to make sure every Southwest Washington veteran – including those in rural communities – can efficiently access the healthcare and vocational training they need to lead full, healthy lives,” Gluesenkamp Perez said in a statement.
