Lillian Burry FMERPA veterans affairs committee head submits NOI for clinic
BY LINDA DENICOLA
Staff Writer
A number of people who attend the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority meetings have repeatedly requested that the authority make it a priority to keep the Patterson Army Clinic open.
Monmouth County Freeholder Lillian Burry, who is also a member of FMERPA and chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee, has said on many occasions that she is committed to seeing that the clinic remains open. She, along with retired Lt. Col. James Sfayer, a Colts Neck resident, have submitted a notice of interest (NOI) for the Patterson Army Clinic.
Burry said Sfayer’s vision is even greater than her vision in that he wants to see a good portion of that part of the fort, and not just the building, retained for veterans and retirees.
The purpose of the NOI that they submitted is to retain the clinic as a viable, world-class treatment facility for the active duty, retirees and veterans in the northern Monmouth County area.
“We are requesting that the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense (DoD) serve as sponsors for the proposal,” she said.
Eatontown Mayor Gerald Tarantolo explained to audience members at the FMERPA meeting that a federal authority has first dibs on the VA hospital. “If they had an interest, they would have put in a bid for that building,” he said.
Burry explained last week that when it was decided that Fort Monmouth was going to close, the Department of Veterans Affairs could have put in for the facility, but once the agencies found out they had to pay fair market value they decided they were moving the FBI and the clinic out.
“The problem here is that we don’t have a federal sponsor,” Burry said.
She added that once she realized that, she requested that a subcommittee for veterans and retirees be formed as part of FMERPA.
“I’m willing to use any other way of doing this; maybe as a public-private venture with one of the other private medical institutions,” she said.
The NOI makes the case that there are thousands of men and women who have served honorably who will need medical and mental health support after they leave the service and while they are awaiting discharge. In addition, the active duty population in the area will continue to need support.
The nearest military facilities are at Fort Dix, Maguire Air Force Base and Lakehurst NAETC, which are all over an hour away from the northern Monmouth County area, the NOI states.
In addition, the facility would be able to draw on the resources of four area hospitals within 15 minutes of the fort, and the outlying land, where housing was off the main post, could be sold for a significant profit.
Burry explained that “the military have access to a medical plan called TriCare that is accepted in the outside world.”
Representatives Rush Holt (D-12) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6) have urged the Department of Defense to keep the Patterson Army Health Clinic open.
“It is not true that the Patterson Clinic must close when the fort closes,” Pallone said last summer. “The Army has discretion over the future of this facility and we want to work with them to make sure the retired military personnel in Monmouth County receive the medical care they have earned and deserve at the current site,” he added.
Referring to the fort’s scheduled closure in 2011, Holt said last August, “Patients of the Patterson Clinic absolutely should not face a diminished level of care or increased cost, based on decisions that have nothing to do with them. The DoD must investigate alternative options.”
Burry brought up the scandal over the inadequate care and facilities at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Maryland and other military hospitals.
She noted that the VA clinic at Patterson is a state-of-the-art facility.
“The end result is that having a facility for the veterans and retirees, especially now with what has happened with Walter Reed, is necessary. And with more and more people coming back from Iraq with all kinds of injuries, including psychological,” it is even more important,” she said, adding, “They have a state-of-the-art psychology department at Patterson. At this point it is underutilized, but that will change.”
Burry said her committee decided to call the clinic the Heroes & Friends Facility.
“That’s just the name we gave it. We thought that would catch people’s attention.”
She noted that the VA occupies just the top floor; the DoD has the first floor. Burry said she thinks the VA has about three years left on a 10-year lease.
“Why would we want to reinvent the wheel? It’s there, ” she said.