The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs spent $13.6 million over 10 years on construction for the Alexandria VA clinic, but “not one penny” was spent on construction for clinics in Lafayette and Lake Charles, according to a recent report.

The report, done by the Veterans Action Coalition of Southwest Louisiana, gives a breakdown of how much the VA spent in those areas during the fiscal years from 2005 through 2014. It says $26 million should have been spent on construction in Lafayette and Lake Charles because more veterans live in those areas than in Alexandria.

As of last September, there were 69,557 veterans in the 15 parishes that make up the Lake Charles (24,094) and Lafayette (45,462) areas. There are 35,456 veterans in the 13 parishes within the Alexandria area. Nearly 40 percent of veterans in the Alexandria area received treatment at a VA health care facility, compared with 26.5 percent of veterans in the Lake Charles and Lafayette areas, according to the report.

The report also shows the discrepancy between the number of VA jobs in Alexandria and those in Lafayette and Lake Charles. As of September, there were 1,246 VA employees in Alexandria, two at the mobile clinic in Lake Charles and 50 at a “small, inadequate 10,000-square-foot VA clinic” in Lafayette.

“The VA staff at (the Alexandria) facility has prevented required VA clinics from being built in Lake Charles and Lafayette to protect the jobs and their budget,” the report reads.

The report says there should be 438 VA employees in Alexandria, 299 in Lake Charles and 562 in Lafayette.

Of the $2.08 billion in medical care expenditures for Alexandria, Lake Charles and Lafayette over 10 years, $1.11 billion was spent on veterans living in the Alexandria area. The remaining $968 million was spent on veterans in the Lake Charles and Lafayette areas. That amounts to $31,425 per veteran in the Alexandria area, versus $13,923 per veteran in Lake Charles and Lafayette.

Thomas Green, Louisiana VA Southwest Louisiana commissioner, said the report will hopefully shed light on issues related to long-standing complications with getting permanent clinics in Lafayette and Lake Charles. He said the group used information from “the VA’s own statistical data.”

“We wanted to get the facts out there as to how veterans have been mistreated,” he said. “It comes down to pointing the finger at exactly what the (VA) has been doing here in Louisiana.”

Green said the VA expected veterans to drive hours to get medical care at the Alexandria clinic.

“What do you do when you have an 85-year-old veteran who lives alone that has to get to Alexandria just for a doctor’s visit that takes 15 minutes,” he said.

Green said the report has been sent to senators and congressmen in Washington, D.C. He said the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs will review the report this week. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., sits on the committee.

“This report tells (lawmakers) where the money has gone,” Green said.

David LaCerte, secretary of the state Department of Veterans Affairs, said the problems with getting permanent clinics in Lake Charles and Lafayette are “obvious even without looking at the report.”

“Veterans have not been getting their fair share of distribution in the VA health care system,” LaCerte said.

He said he is unsure if the Senate committee can directly influence change to help veterans. “This isn’t a senate screwup,” he said. “It’s a federal VA screwup. We understand those frustrations, and the VA needs to be held accountable for those frustrations.”

Jim Murphy, director of the Alexandria VA Medical Center, said last month that a lease agreement to build a 24,000-square-foot permanent clinic in Lake Charles should be awarded this month, and that it could open by late 2016. In the meantime, a lease award for a smaller interim clinic should be done by September, and that could open by October or November, he said.

(MGNonline)

Michelle Higginbotham