Candidates promise to build a VA Hospital in Springfield, Mo.

May 31, 2010 - PRLog -- From: Messrs, Michael Wardell and Jeff Wisdom, Both Congressional Candidates for Mo. 7th announce the following:


2 Candidates promise to build a VA Hospital in Springfield, Mo.



With over 80,000 veterans living in the 7th Congressional District, the time has come to make up for the lack of VA medical infrastructure to better serve those who served our country.



Branson has a small clinic in a small office building and the Mt. Vernon Community Based Outpatient Clinic shares space with the Missouri Rehabilitation Center.  There is no VA hospital to serve our vets in Springfield and Southwest Missouri. The closest facility is in Fayetteville, Arkansas.



As part of our separate campaign platforms ,Jeff and I share a vision for the 7th Congressional District of building a new VA Hospital in Springfield, downsize the Mr. Vernon Facility and move some of the facilities to Joplin, and expand the facilities in Branson as well to provide better transportation between the facilities.



As the War in Iraq winds down and the War in Afghanistan wanes, the number of veterans from all branches of service increases. Our WWII vets are getting up there in age as are the Korean and Vietnam service members. Transportation to and from appointments in Mt. Vernon and Fayetteville and Branson are difficult and the facilities are overworked and suffer from a lack of space.



The money to pay for such a project will come from cutting the requisite amount of money from only one line item:

Washington D.C. spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties throughout the world.



The time is now to serve Southwest Missouri veterans with the care they were promised for defending our country.

Joining Michael and Jeff is Barbara Lopez, Barb and her son Josef Lopez are the Authors of First one Home, First one to Survive. They are also calling for improved access to VA health care.

Info follows:

Michael Wardell is a disabled Marine Veteran, and Jeff serves in the Naval Reserve. Both are running for Roy Blunts vacated seat in Congress.

FoxNews.com

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,575968,00.html?test=l...

Photo of Lance Cpl. Josef Lopez.
Lance Cpl. Josef Lopez still suffers from injuries he began experiencing in Iraq three years ago — injuries caused not by bombs or guns but by a military-administered smallpox vaccine he got before he left the United States.
The shot, which the military strongly encourages troops to get, triggered a rare bad reaction in the Marine from Missouri — leaving the then-20-year-old Lopez in a coma, paralyzed for several weeks and unable to breathe, McClatchy Newspapers reported.

# # #

Michael Wardell is a retired and disabled US Marine Vet. who is running for US Congress on the Republican Ticket