Aug 8, 2003 By Christine Haines 3 min read

BROWNSVILLE – More than 50 veterans turned out Thursday to get information about benefits and to show their support for a veterans’ outpatient clinic at Brownsville General Hospital. The hospital hosted a veterans’ workshop, with representatives from the Fayette County Veterans Affairs Office, the Adjutant General’s Office, and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Area Agency on Aging among the participants.

Jim Smith of the Fleet Reserve Association said the idea behind the workshop was to provide area veterans with as much information about the services available to them as possible, regardless of the source of the service.

Smith also encouraged those who attended the workshop to send a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs supporting a community-based outpatient clinic in Fayette County and supporting the selection of Brownsville General Hospital, which has put in a bid to be the site of such a clinic, despite an existing moratorium on new clinics.

“We’re all on one floor here, we have free parking, we’re centrally located and could handle veterans from Fayette and Greene counties,” said Don Redman, a member of the hospital’s board of directors. “We have the necessary facilities here.”

The hospital is offering 9,570 square feet of space in the wing that houses the outpatient wound care and cardiac rehabilitation units.

Sharon Frost, the director of nursing for the hospital, said that all of the outpatient services of the hospital would be available to the veterans if the hospital is approved as a community-based outpatient clinic.

“To have something here on site would be much more convenient than driving to Pittsburgh or Greensburg,” Frost said.

According to county Commissioner Vince Vicites, Fayette County has 16,800 veterans.

“I think this is the ideal place. It’s all on one floor, it’s easy access and it has all the amenities,” Vicites said of the hospital. “We’ve written letters on behalf of this program, trying to get them to lift the moratorium. This would be a good addition to the county’s veterans program.”

The county provides daily transportation to the veterans’ medical centers in Pittsburgh, and Vicites said the savings in transportation costs could be used for other programs for veterans.

“The best benefit of having the clinic here is the travel involved just to see a doctor,” said Rob Morris, a disabled veteran from Grindstone.

Morris is the service officer for his American Legion post and said the workshop was helpful to him.

“I picked up some information that was helpful. I learned there are state benefits that I wasn’t aware of,” Morris said.

Wayne Voelker, also of Grindstone, said he hopes information from the seminar can make a significant difference for him.

“I want to know what the possibilities are of getting benefits through the program. I lost my insurance at work and it’s costing me $500 a month,” Voelker said.

Robert Hixson, the director of Fayette County’s Veterans’ Affairs office, encouraged veterans to contact him to have the paperwork filled out for various benefits programs.

Hixson said an error on a form can bog down an application, and his office is able to help veterans get all the benefits to which they are entitled.

“The bottom line is, any veteran in any county needs to talk to their county director of Veterans’ Affairs,” Hixson said.

Useful phone numbers for veterans are located in the Blue Pages section of the phone book.