Existing services at the Brooklyn VA Medical Center are safe for now, according to Congressmember Dan Donovan who, on Tuesday, October 10 announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs has decided to reconsider its proposal to require vets to travel to Manhattan for certain inpatient surgeries, thanks to a lengthy discussion with the pol’s veterans’ roundtable.
“After discussing this matter extensively with my veterans’ roundtable, I asked the Department of Veterans Affairs to reconsider its proposal. Our veterans have sacrificed enough, and they shouldn’t have to trek to Manhattan for medical care,” said Donovan, who, in August, led a push – together with a bipartisan coalition of Brooklyn and Staten Island electeds – for the VA to abandon the proposal and maintain existing services at the hospital. “To their credit, the VA heard our concerns and decided to keep everything as is at the Brooklyn hospital.”
The original proposal suggested that the facility – which provides access to crucial healthcare and rehabilitation services for a bevy of Brooklyn and Staten Island vets – be modified from “Complex” to “Ambulatory Advanced,” which, the group contended would “severely affect access to medical care for veterans” from their districts, forcing many of them to have to leave the borough for treatment they once received locally.”
“Thanks to the leadership of Representative Donovan, the bipartisan response to the threat of service cuts at the Brooklyn VA Medical Center has been successful,” lauded Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. “After putting their lives on the line to defend our freedom, our veterans deserve nothing less than reliable access to high-quality health care.”
“I’ll keep fighting for those who put everything on the line to defend our great country,” said Donovan.
The Brooklyn VA is located at 800 Poly Place.
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May her memory be a blessing