VA clinic will stay at fort till 2010 or later

BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

EATONTOWN –– It is up to the 23,000 military retirees and veterans who use the Patterson Army Health Clinic at Fort Monmouth to hold a federal official to his promise that they will still have access to health care on post for at least another five years.

In a letter dated Oct. 7 and addressed to five members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation who represent the 88-year-old U.S. Army base and its surroundings, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson indicated that Patterson’s outpatient clinic will remain open until its lease expires in 2010.

The community-based clinic will keep operating even as Fort Monmouth itself prepares for expected shutdown by the Pentagon under the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, Nicholson said in his letter to U.S. Reps. Rush Holt (D-12), Frank Pallone (D-6), and Christopher Smith (R-4) and U.S. Sens. Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg (both D-N.J.).

Nicholson’s correspondence came in response to an Aug. 30 letter signed by the five legislators who expressed concern that area veterans would lose the clinic’s services, according to a press release issued by Holt’s office.

Presently, the legislation that would authorize the Pentagon to close Fort Monmouth and 32 other military installations and restructure hundreds of others throughout the nation under the BRAC process, is pending an up-or-down vote by Congress.

On Sept. 15 President George W. Bush signed off on the legislation to allow the BRAC process to go forward as a cost-cutting measure. Congress has 45 working days from that date to decide if the legislation will become law.

But in the meantime, Nicholson has stated, via his excerpts of his letter included in Holt’s new release, that the veterans will be serviced even if Fort Monmouth faces closure by 2011.

“Please be assured that if Congress does not disapprove the [BRAC] Commission recommendations and Fort Monmouth is closed, the Fort Monmouth VA [Outpatient Clinic] shall be maintained in its current location at least until the year 2010,” Nicholson wrote.

“If for any reason [the] VA is required to relocate clinic services, we shall afford you the opportunity to participate in identifying a new site within Monmouth County,” he added.

The Patterson clinic serves about 23,000 military retirees and veterans and their families according to a fact sheet release by the fort’s public affairs office on May 13, the day the Pentagon first announced that Fort Monmouth had been targeted for closure.

Though Holt, Pallone, Corzine and Lautenberg have continuously battled unsuccessfully to spare Fort Monmouth from shutdown, they reacted positively to Nicholson’s statements.

“I’m pleased by Secretary Nicholson’s commitment that the VA will keep a clinic operating in Monmouth County whether or not Fort Monmouth closes,” Holt said in his press release.

“Veterans in central New Jersey deserve timely, convenient access to VA health care, and I’ll take whatever measures are necessary to hold VA to its word on this,” he added.

Pallone, who co-chairs Save Our Fort with Holt, a local group of Fort Monmouth advocates, agreed with the need to serve the clinic’s clientele close to home.

“Veterans living in central New Jersey rely on the clinic, and it’s important that they have access to a facility in Monmouth County, regardless of what happens to Fort Monmouth,” Pallone said in a statement.

Keeping the clinic open is the least the federal government can do for veterans who have sacrificed for their country, said Corzine, the Democratic candidate for governor.

“Our veterans have given so much to our nation, and it is up to all of us to remember our promises to them,” Corzine said.

“New Jersey has one of the largest veterans’ populations in the country, and as this population ages, the availability of local health care becomes an even more critical issue.”

Lautenberg promised to watch the federal government on behalf of local veterans.

“My colleagues and I will closely monitor this issue to ensure that the Bush Administration does what it has promised,” Lautenberg said.

If the BRAC legislation passes in Congress, Fort Monmouth would close within two to six years, area legislators have said.

Under the BRAC process recommended by the Pentagon, the bulk of the fort’s missions and its personnel would be relocated to the Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground over that closing period.

In anticipation of a possible closing, representatives of the fort’s three host communities, Eatontown, Tinton Falls, and Oceanport, the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the Governor’s Office and the private sector have formed a Fort Monmouth Reuse Committee to explore possible uses of the land and buildings post-closure.