| |
| |
|
|
R E S O L U T I O N
|
|
|
WHEREAS, Texas is home to approximately 1.75 million |
|
|
veterans, and their honorable service to our nation merits the |
|
|
respect of the entire state; thousands of these brave Texans now |
|
|
reside in the Rio Grande Valley, but despite having fulfilled their |
|
|
duty, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is not |
|
|
providing adequate health care to the veterans of South Texas; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Recently the nation has witnessed with dismay the |
|
|
treatment of veterans who were subject to appalling conditions at |
|
|
the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and this incident revealed a |
|
|
troubling dimension to the health care system for American |
|
|
veterans, not only at Walter Reed, but throughout the United |
|
|
States; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The lack of sufficient care is especially severe in |
|
|
South Texas; the Veterans Health Administration operates only two |
|
|
outpatient clinics in the entire Rio Grande Valley and must refer |
|
|
veterans to San Antonio's Audie Murphy Veterans Hospital for acute |
|
|
health care needs; as a result, some disabled and elderly veterans |
|
|
are obliged to travel as much as 250 miles in order to receive the |
|
|
care they need; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, In April 2007, the United States House of |
|
|
Representatives' Committee on Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on |
|
|
Health found that access to care for veterans in rural areas was in |
|
|
need of improvement and stressed the need to prepare for future |
|
|
long-term care needs of disabled and aging veterans; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The exigency of improved health care facilities is |
|
|
particularly pressing considering this increasing need for elderly |
|
|
and disabled veteran health care; according to the committee, the |
|
|
number of veterans in need of long-term care is likely to increase |
|
|
by 120 percent over the next five years; furthermore, the VA |
|
|
anticipates treating an additional 263,000 Operation Iraqi Freedom |
|
|
and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans in 2008, an increase of |
|
|
more than 25 percent over 2007 figures; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The United States Congress is currently considering |
|
|
H.R. 538, introduced by Texas Congressman Solomon Ortiz; H.R. 538 |
|
|
would provide for construction of a new full-service, 50-bed |
|
|
hospital with a 125-bed nursing home in far South Texas, addressing |
|
|
the pressing need for improved veterans health care in the Rio |
|
|
Grande Valley, and it is appropriate that the legislature support |
|
|
this effort; now, therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 80th Texas |
|
|
Legislature respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to |
|
|
support the construction of a new veterans hospital in the Rio |
|
|
Grande Valley; and, be it further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
|
|
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, the |
|
|
speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the |
|
|
senate of the United States Congress, the chair of the House |
|
|
Committee on Veterans Affairs, and all members of the Texas |
|
|
delegation to the congress with the request that this resolution be |
|
|
officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the |
|
|
Congress of the United States of America. |