Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 

Go Back   Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum > HAVE MOC WILL TRAVEL > The Medic
Click Here to Login

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 01-15-2007, 03:06 AM   #1
deadeye
Montana Fan
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Cresco
Posts: 447
M.O.C. #6693
VA visits

Just found out something for all vets like myself. I have rhumothoid arthritis and take meth for it. I have to have my blood checked once a month for the medicine to make sure everything is ok. You can now get a written VA letter from your VA doctor to get your blood work done on the road at a VA facility and it will be sent back to your home doctor. Thought you might need this in case you are on the road more than a month...JB
 
deadeye is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-16-2007, 10:46 AM   #2
Hemlockusa
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Missiion
Posts: 983
M.O.C. #4766
Deadeye - That is good information, I know a lot of US Vets appreciate that information, I wonder if they have a VA down in the RGV. That I have to check on. anyway thanks for the info. safe travels John
Hemlockusa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-16-2007, 03:10 PM   #3
Ozz
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: K.C.
Posts: 11,731
M.O.C. #5980
Thanks for the info, JB.
John, I don't think there is a VA hospital down here, but will research it.
Ozz

Looks like there is an outpatient place in Harlingen.
Note the date of the following article; Nov. 2006......
Ozz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-16-2007, 03:22 PM   #4
Ozz
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: K.C.
Posts: 11,731
M.O.C. #5980

America’s Last Patrol marches for VA hospital
By MELISSA McEVER
The Brownsville Herald

November 2, 2006 - Carrying flags and their undying hopes, Rio Grande Valley veterans continued their quest for a veterans’ hospital Wednesday by kicking off a five-day march from Brownsville to Roma.

Ten veterans participated in the first leg of the march, which was organized by America’s Last Patrol Post 3.

After starting the march at Brownsville Veterans Park, the group made their way down Central Boulevard, with police escorting them on their solemn walk westward.

The march will conclude at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Roma on Sunday.

Organizers decided the march was necessary to call attention to veterans’ health-care needs in the re-gion, Jose Maria Vasquez, commander of America’s Last Patrol, said.

“We know we have brothers who are coming home and will need help,” Vasquez said. “We don’t want veterans not to get the help they need.”

Veterans’ groups in the Valley have mobilized for their cause in the last year, distributing petitions, staging rallies and urging veterans to enroll in Department of Veterans Affairs benefits to increase the Valley’s numbers.

A group of Valley veterans marched from Edinburg to San Antonio last year to meet with the director of South Texas Veterans Health Care System and demand a hospital be built here.

Organizers are still hoping to convince VA officials that the region’s veterans’ population is large enough to necessitate a full-service hospital, Vasquez said.

The 2000 Census found that about 44,000 veterans lived in Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy and Starr coun-ties combined, but local veterans service officers say far fewer than that are enrolled in VA benefits.

Currently, the region has two outpatient VA clinics in McAllen and Harlingen. The Harlingen clinic is undergoing a $25.5 million expansion and will bring in more specialists and primary physicians, officials have said. The clinic, which is slated to open next summer, will be adjacent to the University of Texas Health Science Center’s Regional Academic Health Center and will offer expanded services, officials say.

Veterans have said that the outpatient clinics aren’t enough to meet their needs and that they’re tired of frequent trips to San Antonio for care.

“I have to go (to the San Antonio VA hospital) once a month,” said Edward Avila, a Vietnam veteran who is participating in the march. Avila, 60, recently suffered a stroke and has hearing and heart prob-lems. “Each time, I have to be there for two days.”

Younger veterans must also make frequent trips to San Antonio, said Jesus Bocanegra, a veteran of the Iraq war. Bocanegra returned from deployment in 2004.

“We have to travel for MRIs, for X-rays,” Bocanegra said. “Last time I went to San Antonio, when I got there, they told me my appointment was canceled.”

In response to an outcry from veterans, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in January helped get a study commissioned on the health needs of South Texas veterans. That study, conducted by independent firm Booz Allen Hamilton, currently is underway and should be completed in March, said Amjed Baghdadi, spokesman for South Texas Veterans Health Care System.

Vasquez said he and other veterans met with the firm’s researchers recently and became discouraged about their response to requests for a hospital.

“They presented several choices, like having a small hospital with no emergency room, or contracting with another hospital. ... To me, (the choices) sounded lousy,” Vasquez said. “They’d already made up their mind that we didn’t need a hospital.”

The VA and South Texas Veterans Health Care System, which oversees veterans’ facilities in the Val-ley, are waiting on the study’s results before making any decisions, said spokeswoman Diana Struski.

“We hope that Valley veterans and our South Texas organization gain from the results of the study,” she said.

March participants say they know what’s best for the Valley, and that’s a hospital.

“It’s not just for our veterans, but our families, too,” Bocanegra said.

Ozz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-16-2007, 03:33 PM   #5
Ozz
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: K.C.
Posts: 11,731
M.O.C. #5980
One more:


DIVISION CONTACT NUMBERS
Audie Murphy (210)617-5300 Harlingen (956)366-4500
Kerrville (830) 896-2020 Laredo (956) 523-7850
Corpus Christi (361) 806-5600 McAllen (956) 618-7100
Frank Tejeda (210) 699-2100 Victoria (361) 582-7700

South Texas Veterans Health Care System

The Department of Veterans Affairs South Texas Veterans Health Care System (STVHCS) was created on March 17, 1995 with the integration of the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital, San Antonio, and the Kerrville VA Medical Center, Kerrville. With one of the largest primary service areas in the nation, 62 counties, the STVHCS is comprised of three major divisions referred to as the Audie L. Murphy Division, the Kerrville Division, and the Satellite Clinic Division. The system is part of the Heart of Texas Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN 17) located in Grand Prairie, TX.

Audie L. Murphy Division

The Audie L. Murphy Division (ALMD), named after the nation's most highly decorated World War II hero, began operations and initiated its affiliation with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in October 1973. Acute medical, surgical, psychiatric, geriatric, and primary care services are offered for veterans residing locally, regionally and nationally. Comprised of 271 operating hospital beds, a 90-bed Extended Care Therapy Center and a 30-bed state-of-the-art Spinal Cord Injury Center, ALMD provides such tertiary care services and technology as bone marrow transplantation, open heart surgery, magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography. The VA’s Under Secretary for Health honored the STVHCS with operating two clinical Programs of Excellence—Health Care for Homeless Veterans and Cardiac Surgery Program. As a Level II research facility, with a budget of approximately $5.4 million (24 percent VA funded), nearly 40 principal investigators conduct research on aging, cardiac surgery, cancer, diabetes, and more. The facility houses the only National Institutes of Health sponsored research program in the VA and one of 16 Geriatric Research, Education & Clinical Centers, which recently was noted a "Center of Excellence" by the National Institute on Aging.

Visit AudieMurphy.com to learn more about Audie L. Murphy the war hero.

Kerrville Division

The Kerrville Division (KD), is a major provider of health care for South Texas. The facility stands on 70 acres, including a 1.7 acre inactive national cemetery. The Kerrville Division is a center of excellence in Primary Care, Long Term Care, Hospice, Employee Education, and Textile Industries. Services are provided for an estimated 16,000 veterans residing in the “Texas Hill Country.”

Satellite Clinic Division

The Satellite Clinic Division is an active ambulatory/primary care program which provides outpatient services to veterans throughout South Texas, through a system of satellite outpatient clinics located in Corpus Christi , Harlingen, Laredo, McAllen, San Antonio, and Victoria. STVHCS also operates numerous Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) in San Antonio and throughout South Texas.
Ozz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2007, 12:01 AM   #6
Glenn and Lorraine
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Clearwater
Posts: 10,917
M.O.C. #420
I am very fortunate that we have a large VA hospital just 6 miles down the road at Bay Pines and there is another VA hospital just across the bay in Tampa. The Bay Pines is where I go for all my health care but if I'm on the road I go to which ever VA hospital or clinic I can find. I was told most all VA hospitals/clinics can now pull up my records on their computers.
Glenn and Lorraine is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2007, 02:40 AM   #7
Countryfolks
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ft. Smith
Posts: 981
M.O.C. #116
VA clinic is on Col. Rowe, south side of Expressway 83, in MCALLEN. As Ozz posted, hospital is in San Antonio. New Veterans cemetery opened in Mission on Inspiration Rd. during Oct. During dedication it was said they hoped for a hospital here in valley in 5 or 6 yrs.
Mary
Countryfolks is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-17-2007, 07:45 AM   #8
Cat320
Montana Master
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location:
Posts: 1,695
M.O.C. #5751
Lots of good information...if you are a walk in, pack a lunch, it'll be a while.
Cat320 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
"Fred" visits us again! Bill-N-Donna Sitting around the Campfire 4 12-08-2011 02:07 AM
The visits are starting! Exnavydiver Sitting around the Campfire 8 01-04-2011 01:09 PM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Montana RV, Keystone RV Company or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:04 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.