Blunt during Cape stop: No excuse for homeless vets, expanded care needed

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt made a stop in Cape Girardeau on Wednesday morning to chat with veterans about their physical and mental-health needs.

"If the (Department of Veterans Affairs) wants to provide health care to veterans, they need to do a better job of that," Blunt said during a question-and-answer session after a meeting at the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center off William Street.

That means there's no excuse for homeless veterans or veterans committing suicide, he said, and immediate care should be provided in emergencies. Vets also should have more choices about where they can seek attention, Blunt said.

"If veterans are driving by a facility that they feel ... works better for them and their family, they should be able to do that," Blunt said.

Dave Hitt, a 69-year-old Vietnam veteran with skin cancer who participated in the meeting with the Missouri senator and a handful of other veterans, said his experience with VA care has been good in Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff and St. Louis. But that changed recently when his regular dermatologist left the VA system.

Hitt is seeking civilian help via Medicare because he's worried he might lose momentum in fighting his disease.

"Some of the issues that were brought up (in the meeting) were the availability of certain specialists and that area of need not being available," Hitt said.

Besides access to care, Blunt also spotlighted the need for mental-health services, such as caring for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder or those at risk of committing suicide.

"The government as a payor should treat mental health like any other health issue," Blunt said, touting his co-sponsorship of the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, which became law in February among other recent pieces of veteran-specific legislation.

The VA came under fire in April 2014, when long wait times and secret waiting lists came to light at a VA hospital in Phoenix.

Since then, Congress has instituted an overhaul of the VA system, although missteps continue to surface. The biggest and most recent was an internal report saying a third of veterans on waiting lists had died before adequate care became available.

Blunt said he chose to appear at the Cape Girardeau outpatient facility Wednesday because its expansion appears to be "moving in the right direction."

A 2015 VA budget proposal included leasing 43,000 square feet, including 290 parking spaces, for a community-based outpatient clinic in Cape Girardeau to support the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, replacing the 8,000-square-foot facility at 3051 William St.