FEINGOLD, KOHL, MOORE PUSH FOR NEW ZABLOCKI SPINAL
CORD INJURY UNIT
Existing Unit at Milwaukee Veterans Medical Center Does Not Meet
Current Standards
March 23, 2007
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl
and Representative Gwen Moore are pushing for construction to begin
on the new spinal cord injury (SCI) unit at Zablocki Medical Center
in Milwaukee. In a letter to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Jim
Nicholson, the members of Congress reiterated their concerns that the
existing SCI unit at Zablocki does not meet current standards of the
Joint Commission, the organization which accredits hospitals, and requested
that construction on the new unit begin as soon as possible.
“Our country can never fully repay our veterans for the sacrifices
they have made for their country, but we must do all we can to ensure
they receive the best medical care possible,” Feingold said. “A
new SCI unit is critical for veterans in Wisconsin and throughout the
Midwest and its construction is long overdue.”
“It was an honor to work on bringing an investment of federal
funding to a new, state-of-the-art Spinal Cord Injury Unit at the Milwaukee
VA, and we are anxious to see the project get underway. The crucial
medical work being performed at Zablocki is not easily replicated elsewhere,
and we want to ensure that our veterans have access to the best care
available. We look forward to working with the VA to provide the men
and women of our armed services the first-rate facility that they have
earned and deserve,” said Kohl, a member of the Senate Appropriations
Committee, who directed $32.5 million toward the Spinal Cord Injury
Unit at the Milwaukee VA as part of the Senate’s FY2007 Military
Construction Appropriations Bill.
"We're talking about our nation's veterans - heroes by any measure
- who have lost the use of their legs and arms and often the ability
to live independently," Moore said. "A state-of-the-art SCI
Unit is long overdue at Zablocki. Considering their many sacrifices,
the least we can do is provide these veterans with the best technology
available."
In their letter to Nicholson, Feingold, Kohl, and Moore also thanked
him for the VA’s commitment to open two new clinics in northwestern
Wisconsin. The VA recently announced that clinics in Rice Lake and Hayward
will be opening in June of 2007.
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