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HOUGHTON ANNOUNCES FIRST PUBLIC MEETING OF "CARES" LOCAL ADVISORY PANEL TO BE HELD AT CANANDAIGUA VA HOSPITAL
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Former Rep. Amo Houghton announced that the first of four public meetings of the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Service (CARES) Local Advisory Panel (LAP) for the Canandaigua VAMC will be held on Wednesday, April 20, 2005 in the VA's auditorium (Building 5). The meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m., with an overview of the data and process; 1:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., the public will have the opportunity to ask questions and provide comment; 4:00 - 5:00 p.m., there will be a wrap-up of the day's deliberations and next action steps. The meeting is open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided.
"These public meetings we will be holding will ensure that veterans and the community are involved in this critical process," said Houghton. "We are the first in the country to hold our LAP meeting and we want to get at this so that no one's voice is left out. Our role is to make sure that the information on the possible options for the facility are relayed to the community of Canandaigua, but more importantly we are here to make sure that the secretary receives the input of the people who live there and are most affected by any future plans."
This first meeting will give the LAP and the VA's national consultant for this project, Price WaterhouseCoopers, an opportunity to brief the public on how this final phase of the CARES process will unfold and what the role of each participating body is. In addition, the public can provide input and feedback to the Panel. Comments made by members of the public will be limited to three minutes to ensure everyone has an opportunity to be heard. If a person is unable to attend the public meeting an address and Web site will be announced in the next few weeks for them to submit written comment. All testimony, given in person or submitted in writing, will be included in the report submitted to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
The work of the LAP and Price WaterhouseCoopers is to develop options that are in line with the Secretary's previous decisions for the Canandaigua facility.
In May 2004, former Secretary Anthony Principi announced that a Master Plan would need to be developed that included the construction of a new, multi-specialty outpatient clinic and nursing home complex to replace the patient care facilities currently located on the Canandaigua campus. The new facilities will remain in Canandaigua, but the Master Plan will include a careful study of the appropriate size and location of the new facility as well as a detailed cost-effectiveness analysis to guarantee maximum effective use of VA resources. The plan also will include the transfer of acute inpatient psychiatric patients from Canandaigua VA to the Buffalo and Syracuse VA Medical Centers. In addition, decisions will be made to identify alternate uses for excess property.
Department of Veteran Affairs, VA Healthcare Network Upstate New York, P.O. Box 8980, Albany, NY 12208-0980. http://www.va.gov/visns/visn02
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