I am writing this letter with regard to Veterans Affairs in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, and specifically on how Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) plans to approach the issue. Carbajal has pushed for a mere $8 million increase in funds allocated to transportation services that allow veterans to get to Los Angeles and receive care. While this small increase may make it easier on veterans in getting to the care they need, it is merely a bandage, when stitches are required. This allocation only shifts the problem away and does not actually solve it.
If Salud really cared about improving the circumstances for our veterans, he would try to figure out a practical long-term solution to serve the veterans that live in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. We should be looking for solutions like opening up a more effective, and local VA hospital to serve the 85,000 veterans living in the Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties.
If this was done, it would drastically reduce wait times in not only those three counties, but also in Los Angeles County, where veterans often must wait days or weeks before they are seen by a specialist. Our veterans deserve nothing but the best care we have to offer, and taking steps to ship them off to a different county seems like Salud hardly cares at all.
This article appears in Aug 2-9, 2018.