Some members of Congress are upset with a plan by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to “modernize and realign” the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center in Muskogee.
Sens. Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma; Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, and U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma, issued this joint statement about the plan:
“It’s appropriate for the VA to conduct reviews like this to ensure we continue to serve veterans in the best ways possible, but we are not convinced that the contents of this report accurately reflect the needs of veterans’ health care, especially mental health, in our state right now.
“The arrangement for the expansion of the facility in Tulsa assumed we would increase mental health and substance abuse for our veterans, not contract it as this proposal suggests. The need for direct access to mental health and behavioral health for veterans in our state has only increased.
“We are concerned that the report’s recommendation to move care to the surrounding community cannot accommodate this influx until a behavioral health hospital is completed. We are committed to veterans’ access to quality healthcare and will continue to assess the full impacts of this report to see what is in the best interest of our Oklahoma veterans. We just received this report, and there will be many questions that need to be answered before going forward.”
The report recommends moving inpatient veteran-specific mental from the Muskogee VA into the community until the second phase of the CHIP-IN project—a behavioral health hospital—is completed.
U.S. Senate candidate Luke Holland, who is running for Inhofe’s seat when he retire in January, opposes the plan.
” When we worked together on the development of the new Tulsa VA Hospital with the Trump Administration, we developed plans with the VA to convert the Muskogee facility into a long-term mental health care facility,” Holland said.
“This type of facility is needed by our veteran community, and Muskogee is in a perfect position to serve them. Now, the Biden Administration’s VA is pulling the rug out from under them. This is not the kind of treatment our veterans deserve.”
Holland said if elected he would propose legislation that would prohibit the closure of the Muskogee VA center and fund its conversion into a long-term mental health care facility.