CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Senator Sherrod Brown visited with a roundtable of veterans and advocates in Ross County on Friday.
It happened at the local American Legion as the Senator is on a crusade to help save the Chillicothe Veteran Affairs Medical Center, which has been recommended for closure.
The closure announcement comes after a study was commissioned under President Donald Trump to evaluate the hospital’s long term viability.
“I have serious concerns that rural veterans in Southeast Ohio will have to travel great lengths to get care at VA. Veterans are scared. We are already hearing from so many Ohio veterans who are angry and worried about this. It is the beginning of a long process, and we will have many opportunities to weigh in,” said Brown. “We know that veterans want to get their care at VA and closing a rural VAMC would have a negative effect on veterans, their families, and VA employees.”
The Senator heard stories from veterans who had more than 200 years of combined service to their country.
“I cancelled my doctor appointment today so I could be here. This is that important to me,” said veteran Cheryl Raymer.
If the local hospital is closed, veterans will be forced to travel to local urgent-care like centers for medical help in other towns. The drive for many is too much, said Raymer.
“I won’t go to Ironton. I get lost there. I won’t go anywhere but Chillicothe unless they send me somewhere …. I get marvelous care. I don’t feel like I’m taking anybody’s time and if I do, they quickly dispel that. I’ve walked in at closing time and they’ve stayed open to give me an x-ray.”
85-year-old Joe Ferneau echoed those sentiments.
“When I drive to Chillicothe to the VA, I take route 104 and the backroads. I see the flowers and trees, and my healing process starts there,” an emotional Ferneau said. “There’s going to be hundreds of people who are going to die if Chillcothe is not here. It won’t affect me much. I’m already 85 years old.”
Brown said he wants to work with the locals to convince Congress and President Joe Biden that throwing in the towel in Chillicothe is a dangerous, deadly irrevocable mistake.
The Senator said that Mr. Biden is listening and paying attention to Chillicothe.
“I am pushing [the VA secretary] to come to Chillicothe and taking him to somewhere in southern Ohio so he can get a taste of how far it is to drive [to go elsewhere for care].”
The decision to close the local hospital has not been made. A congressional commission will have final recommendations before it goes to Mr. Biden’s desk for a final decision.