Chet Edwards For Congress

August 21, 2007

Editorial: Edwards' help still needed at VA

Waco Tribune Herald
By Editorial Staff

If anyone deserves a tribute for working to save the Waco Veterans Affairs Medical Center it is U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards.

He will get it Wednesday when the city hosts a reception in his honor.

But it needs to be more than a tribute. It needs to be a pep rally. As much as Edwards and other allies have done to preserve the hospital, much needs to be done to enhance services and utilize an under-used campus.

In June, a similar reception was held to recognize U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for her decisive efforts in saving the hospital.

In her campaign to save the VA campus, Hutchison made several important visits to Waco, especially when she accompanied both the VA secretaries on tours of the facility.

She also sponsored legislation to designate the hospital a “mental health center of excellence.”

But no one was as diligent about this task as Edwards. His hands-on efforts helped blunt the proposal to move all of Waco’s mental health treatment programs, blind rehabilitation treatment and geriatric care units to the Olin E. Teague Veterans Medical Center in Temple and to farm its services elsewhere around the country.

The Waco VA hospital has specialized in treating the mental health problems of veterans for more than 70 years. Over that period an invaluable network of mental health services developed both on the VA campus and in the Waco community.

Edwards worked with community groups while also securing more funding for the VA hospital in Congress.

He was instrumental in securing a joint research project into post-traumatic stress disorder between Fort Hood and the Waco VA hospital.

Although VA Secretary Jim Nicholson finally announced late last year that the Waco VA facility would not be closed, challenges still remain that could again jeopardize the facility.

One of the reasons cited in the original decision to close the hospital was the number of empty buildings and their associated maintenance costs.

Edwards has warned that the fight to preserve the hospital must continue.

A promising plan has been proposed to utilize some of the empty buildings for transitional housing for the homeless, especially veterans.

VA officials have promised to consider the idea.

Besides that program, Edwards’ help is needed as the VA implements plans to expand mental health services nationwide during a time of warfare, bloodshed and psychological wounds on two fronts.