WASHINGTON D.C. - U.S. Congressman Dan Boren sent a letter today to the Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs, retired U.S. Army General Eric K. Shinseki, urging swift deliberation on the possibility of opening a Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in southeastern Oklahoma.
“Currently, there are thousands of veterans in rural southeastern Oklahoma that must drive very long distances to utilize the health benefits they were promised in return for their bravery and sacrifice to our nation,” Boren said. “The least we can do to honor that service is to provide quality health care to our current veterans, and to begin laying a solid foundation for caring for our soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan as they come home to southeastern Oklahoma.”
By locating a veteran’s clinic in southeastern Oklahoma, the VA could help alleviate much of the additional cost associated with rural veterans driving long distances to receive critical health care services. According to the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center in Muskogee, Oklahoma, a CBOC in this area of the state would provide greater access to VA medical care services to an estimated 8,100 rural veterans living in southeastern Oklahoma.
“It is my priority to expand health care services across the entire Second Congressional District – especially for those that serve our Oklahoma’s veterans. I look forward to working with our federal and regional VA officials on making this clinic a reality for southeastern Oklahoma’s veterans,” Boren said.
Boren’s letter comes on the heels of the efforts he began last fall when he asked the VA to begin the process of opening a clinic in McCurtain County by initiating an official study of the needs and benefits such a clinic would address. Boren also extended an invitation to Secretary Shinseki to visit the State of Oklahoma and the Second Congressional District so he could witness firsthand the challenges facing rural veterans when seeking health care services and why a CBOC in southeastern Oklahoma is a worthy and common sense investment of the VA’s resources.
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