Orlando VA hospital needs lawmakers' backing and no more yakking!

The groundbreaking was a big event around here last year. I went to it, listened to the speeches and walked away scratching my head. The groundbreaking came before the election, no big surprise there but what stunned me was how obvious it was. This is not about what veterans need in Florida or it wouldn't have taken this long to get this hospital built. We have over 400,000 veterans in this state and the veterans of central Florida have to rely on a clinic. While it is the size of a hospital, it is far from being large enough or staffed enough to take care of all of the veterans here, especially when the snow birds come swooping in and getting in line for care.

A few months ago I posted how I had taken my husband to one of his appointments because parking was a huge issue. It was so bad there were security guards directing traffic behind the building. There were over 3,000 cars! We needed a hospital years ago and the veterans deserved a lot more than lip service about getting one when it seems the rest of the country is still waiting as well. When do we get any of this right? When the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan all come home and need help? Why will it take until 2012 to get this hospital up and running?

VA hospital needs lawmakers' backing
Mark Schlueb Sentinel Staff Writer
April 22, 2009
With construction of a veterans hospital under way in east Orlando, congressional lawmakers pledged Tuesday to secure the money needed to finish the job. U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, hosted a meeting in Orlando to talk about the Lake Nona hospital. Filner, of San Diego, brought the committee to Florida at the behest of fellow Democrat and committee member Corrine Brown of Jacksonville. It was a chance for members of Florida's delegation to sit in and talk about the hospital. The hospital is scheduled for completion in 2012. It needs another $371 million appropriation, and Filner has grown accustomed to hearing freshman Democrats Alan Grayson of Orlando and Suzanne Kosmas of New Smyrna Beach mouth the number "371" in the halls.
VA hospital needs lawmakers' backing