News of the recently announced likely closures of the Manhattan and Brooklyn Veterans Affairs hospitals raised concern among veterans during the March meeting of Bronx Community Board 7 (CB7)’s Veterans Affairs’ committee. Committee chair, Chad Royer, said announcements of the closures had arisen following an Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Report by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which included recommendations by the U.S. VA Secretary.

He said the AIR Commission, which is appointed by the president, uses the report to plan how to provide a better healthcare network in the right locations with the right infrastructure to all veterans. After a review of facilities and public hearings, the commission submits its own recommendations to the president for review.

Hugo Gonzalez, CB7 community board member, shared an article that provided a recap of what Denis McDonough, the U.S. Secretary for Veterans Affairs, had said during a virtual event held March 10 in reference to the 2022 AIR report i.e. that a plan was in motion which called for a net reduction of three VA hospitals across the country. The planned closures are part of an effort to consolidate healthcare in some areas of the country and redirect money to expanding hospital facilities in other areas.

McDonough said, for example, the agency is looking to build a new VA Medical Center in the Southeast U.S. because the veteran population in one local market is expected to grow by 25 percent, while demand for long-term care is expected to increase by 87 percent. Meanwhile, in the Northeast, McDonough said the veteran population in one market has been decreasing for decades and is expected to drop by an additional 18 percent over the next decade.

Royer noted that the Bronx VA hospital, the James J. Peters Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, located at 130 West Kingsbridge Road in Fordham Manor, would not be directly affected by the plan. However, he was worried there would be a trickle down effect if the other two City VA hospitals [in Manhattan and Brooklyn] were to close, such as an increase in veteran patients at the Bronx center, and not enough staff to cater for them.

“One thing I did read is that they’re going to put time and money into building extra services in the Bronx VA,” Royer said. “While this may be good, what matters is how it is going to be accessible to the veterans who live in the Tri-state area, and even just [..] outside the Tri-state area,” he said.

For his part, Amjad Mujaahid said there should be major pushback from the veteran community about the news and that people should let elected officials know that it is an important issue.

“This is outrageous,” he said. “They should not be doing this. There’s too much of a need out here for these medical centers. In the City, specifically, we got over 8 million people here, and over 58,000 veterans and their families, you know, so I’m just, I’m just floored by it,” said Mujaahid. According to previous New York City VA records, there are around 210,000 veterans in the City. Norwood News is checking this figure for accuracy with the VA.

Jean Hill, CB7 member, said it annoyed her that people wanted to honor veterans on holidays [like Memorial Day] but were still willing to take away what she said were needed, medical facilities to treat veterans for injuries sustained while fighting for their country. “It’s only flag waving when it’s a holiday or when it sounds good,” Hill said. “But then, they don’t follow through on some of the technical stuff.” Mujaahid suggested flooding elected officials’ emails and phones, letting them know they needed to stand up against the closures.

Hill also suggested talking to the city council chair for the veterans’ committee and raising the issue to local, State, and federal politicians. Isha Taylor talked about her experience of going to different VA hospitals and expressed her frustration at the level of reduction of veteran resources.

“Even if they don’t close the Bronx VA, the Bronx VA is not as equipped as the Brooklyn VA is,” she said, adding that she had attended both, and that the Brooklyn VA was the best one. “That’s actually where I started my radiation therapy and different things like that, and I share that because even though it’s not impacting all hospitals, this is a major issue that we can’t be silent on,” she said.

Joe Bello, chair of the VA’s Acuity Veterans Engagement Board, said he had heard it might take 10 years for the proposed closures to take effect and suggested that if it were found that veterans couldn’t access their usual inpatient care, one of the two hospitals might stay open. He agreed with Royer, however, that hospital closures would ultimately hurt the Bronx VA hospital because staff and resources would be stretched.

Bello said veteran population numbers have been dropping in New York City over the past few years, but that there hadn’t been a super accurate count in a while. He added that many Staten Island and New Jersey veterans come to the Manhattan VA hospital for treatment.

“The Bronx is the only VA hospital between here and Albany,” Bello said. “So, you know, again, there is a general fear out there that a lot of vets will start to move to the Bronx VA. They want to go to a VA hospital, and so you’re going to wind up seeing them move to registering into the Bronx VA. And again, you’re forcing that VA system, that hospital, to take on additional numbers.. additional patients,” he said.

Meanwhile, Taylor was outraged by the VA’s reasoning for the closures, saying they would affect Black and brown families, lower income people, and senior citizens the most. She said she was frustrated it would mean people would have to travel more to get access to the treatment they needed.

“That just all of a sudden you’re going to say, ‘Oh, we’re going to close,’ because veterans are moving now. What the hell does that even mean?” she said. “It [AIR report] doesn’t address any of our needs or concerns. It only speaks to their need and their desire to privatize,” she said.

Bello agreed that the report included lots of selling points from the VA that could largely be countered. “We still have veterans here and we have a large veteran population, and the thing is…. let’s be honest…..the City and the VA have done a very poor job in terms of senior veterans,” he said.

As reported, on Friday, April 8, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) deputy secretary, Donald Remy, visited the Bronx VA center, as part of a fact-finding mission organized in the context of the AIR process. During the visit, the deputy secretary sought to reassure veterans that their health care needs would continue to be met, despite the proposed changes to VA centers in New York City.

“This is a medical center that is designed to provide services for our veterans. I’m sure that your viewers or listeners have looked at the air commission recommendations,” he said during his visit. “We may realign some of the services here, but our VA medical center here in The Bronx will continue to provide service to our community.”

The NYC Veterans Advisory Board later held a virtual public session on Wednesday, April 13, to call to stop the closure of the announced NYC VA Medical Facilities. Future public sessions are planned for June 8, August 10 and October 19, 2022.

Meanwhile, the Bronx CB7 Veterans Affairs March meeting also featured a presentation about the VA’s aid and attendance program, also known as the VA pension. It was given by Martha Longo PhD, a certified senior care manager at Life Force Services, a private service provider.

Longo said the program is a non-taxable, monthly benefit paid to veterans who need home care services and who don’t have the means to pay for it. Longo’s company focuses on providing caregiving services to seniors and veterans and also helps veterans get approved for the VA aid and attendance program.

To qualify for the program, veterans must be 65 years or older or have a permanent disability. They must also have an honorable discharge, meet monthly minimum income requirements, have no more than $130,000 in retirement savings, including stocks, bonds, annuities or a 401k. This rule diverges somewhat from recent efforts, as reported, at providing health coverage to all who served even those with an other-than-honorable discharge, due to the fact that the discharge may have been triggered by PTSD or some type of mental health related issue.

In addition, in terms of requirements, Longo said, “They cannot get any type of VA compensation such as having a military service connected disability where they receive a monthly payment from the VA.” She added, “If the veteran is receiving Medicaid, they will need to seek approval from the social worker because all of these are federal government. programs.”

The benefit also extends to a living spouse, if the spouse was married to a veteran at the time of the veteran’s death, if the spouse has not remarried and if he / she requires home care services. It also extends to veteran couples but not to the children of veterans.

The veteran must also be a wartime veteran who served in the Vietnam War, the Korean War, World War II, or the Gulf War. Taylor questioned why it only covered these four wars when there were so many other veterans, like herself, who had served in other wars. Longo agreed the rule was discriminatory toward some veterans and said she believed it should cover all veterans.

She added that Life Force Services doesn’t charge for helping people to get approved for such benefits and it also works with the Care Planning Institute, a third-party vendor that works closely with veterans to gather all documents necessary to get approved for the benefit.

Raul Gonzalez asked what the maximum benefit available was. Longa said couples can receive up to $2,431, single veterans $2,050, and living spouses $1,371. She said veterans also had to remain in compliance with the program requirements and that the benefit had to be solely spent on home care services. Longa said, sometimes, the VA conducts random audits, and the Care Planning Institute has to ensure veterans remain in compliance at all times.

In wrapping up the meeting, Royer confirmed he had asked Woodlawn Cemetery if it would be possible to arrange some type of ceremony to mark Memorial Day this year. He said there had been some interest in doing a similar-type event last year, but the cemetery had not been allowing outsiders to enter for an indefinite duration due to the pandemic. He said he didn’t have an update yet but hoped to have some clarity on the matter for the April meeting in order to start planning, and if people were interested in pursuing the idea.

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story. 

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.