Souder urges new VA Secretary to keep Fort Wayne VA Hospital open
By Jennifer Zartman Romano
In hopes of making steps to save the VA Hospital in Fort Wayne, today Congressman Mark Souder sent a letter to new Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.
Souder urged Shinseki to consider keeping the VA Hospital open for the sake of local veterans and their families.
“To send veterans -- and their families -- to an inpatient facility in Indianapolis, over a hundred miles from their homes, is totally unacceptable,” Souder wrote. “I will continue to fight on behalf of the veterans in northern Indiana to protect care in Fort Wayne.”
The VA Hospital, located near the Parkview Hospital campus in near-downtown Fort Wayne, has been a topic of discussion in for some time – beginning with former Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi’s recommendation to close the inpatient care portion of the facility in 2004.
Souder’s note to Shinseki also requested updated information derived from a report expected from consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton that was to have been completed in 2007 which might shed further light on whether the hospital will remain open.
Souder also asked for a personal meeting with Shinseki to discuss the matter further.