FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 20, 1997
CONTACT: Dana Hagerty 202/225-2165
WASHINGTON, DC -- Congressman Collin C. Peterson (DFL-7th District) announced today that the St. Cloud Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) will retain an independent director.
"I have registered my concern over the past few months about what was going to happen at the St. Cloud VAMC, and I am very pleased with the decision the Veterans Administration (VA) has made today," Peterson said. "The decision to keep a director at the St. Cloud facility will help ensure that the hospital will be a strong presence in any new integrated system.
"The veterans in the district made their voices heard when they spoke out against losing their director," Peterson continued. "They were concerned that if integration of the St. Cloud and Minneapolis facilities went ahead - with the overall director in the Minneapolis facility - that the concerns of veterans in non-metropolitan areas might be overshadowed. I have been working with several VA officials over the past few months in an effort to ensure the future viability of the St. Cloud Hospital. We do not want to see any threats to the quality and availability of health care available to veterans in the 7th District.
"The decision by the VA not to strip St. Cloud of a directorship will ensure that we will have a strong voice when and if the integration moves ahead," Peterson said. "We look forward to working with Dr. Robert Petzel, Director of the VA Upper Midwest Network, and Dr. Kenneth Kizer, Undersecretary of Health for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and others as this process moves ahead."
The Department of Veterans Affairs will conduct a nationwide search for a director.