Letter: Need for a VA clinic is a pressing one

Re: “When will local VA clinic be built?” Around Town, Dec. 31. Let me add some more thought to Anita Brenner’s column on the proposed veterans clinic to be housed on the Pasadena City College campus. As one of many veterans who’ve attended various local patriotic events, I have heard nothing but praise and encouragement regarding the restoration of medical services for veterans in the San Gabriel Valley. The amount of money and wide-spread support from various government levels and average citizens attests to the popularity of the idea and the need to provide a practical appreciation of our veterans’ service. Thus, I am baffled as to why this project doesn’t move to the next level. When’s the ground-breaking ceremony?

The necessity of a local clinic (which our veterans had until about six years ago) is more than just a nice idea or symbolic gesture. There’s an old saying, “time is of the essence.” It doesn’t get any easier to fight traffic or arrange for transportation for our aging, particularly World War II, veterans. The problems that younger veterans deal with need to be addressed early on, before symptoms of problems get worse or start becoming who you are as a person. A local clinic reduces the obstacles, eases the attainment, and encourages the utilization of vital services. And it’s not just the veterans themselves that benefit, but also their families, friends and the broader community that interacts with them. On the college campus it facilitates student veterans to seek the help they need in a timely fashion to be successful students. Those veterans from the community that come on campus are easy to recruit to college once they see how supportive of veterans the campus is. It’s win-win!

If there is any creditable reason why this project hasn’t started, I, a Vietnam War infantry veteran, along with thousands of other veterans in the area, would appreciate learning what the objection is.

Harold Martin, PhD

Temple City