Goshen closing Veterans Affairs location causing set backs for local veterans
GOSHEN, Ind -- Military vets suffering from P.T.S.D., substance abuse, and other issues will now have to travel to South Bend or Fort Wayne to get help.
Veterans that rely on the Goshen veteran affairs clinic were notified that the location will no longer be in operation after March 31st and the veterans are speaking up.
"They thank you for your service but they really don’t thank you for your service. Let me put it that way. They forget about you real quick," said Veteran Lou Whitman.
VA clinics are used to treat our military veterans across the U.S. but today veterans learned that opportunity will no longer be available in Goshen, forcing them to commute to the Saint Joseph County clinic in Mishawaka for their needs.
"Most of us have trouble getting over there even to Goshen. Especially with the winter weather and now they want to run us clear over to Mishawaka," said Whitman.
But that’s not the only issue veterans have more pressing concerns about how they will be cared for at a new facility with new staff.
"When you’re a veteran and you have a doctor or any body with an illness, you develop a rapport with the doctor and they know about you and they know about your injuries and what kind of makes you tick and you develop a relationship," said Whitman.
Patients say their worries, aren’t being heard.
"By pulling us out of there and sending us some place new they’ve just destroyed all the rapport we’ve developed with the staff over in Goshen so we’re going to start all over again," said Whitman.
"The way they went about doing it was just take it or leave it and that’s pretty much the way they treat veterans of any of our wars anymore. Is just take it or leave it and that’s too bad," said Whitman.