Officials thank Muskogee for saving VA medical center

Ronn Rowland, Muskogee Phoenix, Okla.
·2 min read

Jul. 2—Don Nichols said if it weren't for the people of Eastern Oklahoma, the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center would probably be slated for closure.

Nichols, commander for the Muskogee Chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, began a signature gathering campaign in support of keeping the facility open.

"We stood side by side in this fight and we won," he said during a celebration rally at the Muskogee Civic Center Gazebo on Friday. "Everywhere I went to get signatures, they were in our corner."

The event was supposed to be another Save the VA rally, but that changed on Tuesday when the U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee recommended not moving forward on the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission's (AIR) report recommending the VA health facility be closed.

"We still have some fighting to do," Nichols said. "We need to have an intensive care wing at the hospital. We need a surgery center for our veterans so they don't have to go two, three sometimes even four hours for health care."

Barbara Casanova, the VA Council president for District 9 of the American Federation of Government Employees, said that there's even more to do to help veterans.

"Even though the senate committee didn't sanction the AIR Commission, the VA Mission Act that started all this is still alive and well," she said. "They call it 'Care in the Community' and all that is, is a back door for outsourcing contract medical care. So our care is going to for-profit companies."

Muskogee Mayor Marlon Coleman told the crowd the city honors its veterans and will stand by them.

"I am so grateful to know a person named Don Nichols," Coleman told the crowd. "Don, I want you to know from my heart to yours, I don't consider you a friend or a colleague, you are my brother. We are proud Americans, we are voters, we are the people who make a difference and because of all of you, the AIR Commission has shut down, and give yourselves a big round of applause."

Deputy Mayor Derrick Reed said that the city needs to continue to support Nichols and all veterans in obtaining the care they need.

"It's clear through the number of signatures that we want veterans health care in Muskogee," he said. "The councilors, the city...if it takes events like this to get the word out, it's for the financial impact if we were to lose the VA hospital."