Vets caught in a losing battle over funding cuts

Vets caught in a losing battle over funding cuts
By Marie Szaniszlo
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Veterans advocates are vowing to fight budget cuts to the state’s two Soldiers’ Homes, which closed outpatient services last week in Holyoke and will be forced to do the same in Chelsea by the end of this month.

“We’re in the middle of a war, and we’re cutting veterans’ services?” said Maggie Feyre, the Holyoke home’s recreation director. “They served, and now it’s our time to serve them.”

The outpatient clinics provide vision, medical and dental care, physical therapy, and a pharmacy. Unlike Veterans Administration hospitals, the homes receive most of their funding from the state.

In late October, Gov. Deval Patrick cut $1.89 million from the two health-care facilities.

“I think he should be ashamed of himself,” said Jim Mitrowski, a 61-year-old Vietnam veteran from Holyoke, where the outpatient clinic closed Tuesday. It served more than 2,100 people.
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Vets caught in a losing battle over funding cuts