Don’t lose sight of No. 1 priority in site competition

The Cleveland VA Medical Center announced it’s moving the Lorain clinic to a temporary location in Sheffield Village, and officials across Lorain County are jockeying to land the permanent location.

For the next few years, the community-based outpatient clinic will serve veterans at 5525 N. Abbe Road in Sheffield Village. The new VA clinic — expected to be in operation by March 2016 — will provide the same access, care, staffing and range of services offered to veterans at the Lorain clinic, currently housed at the St. Joseph Community Center, 205 W. 20th St. in Lorain.

In the meantime, Cleveland VA officials are working with the Office of Real Property in Washington, D.C., to lease a permanent location.

The Lorain clinic serves about 10,000 veterans each year, conducts about 50,000 outpatient visits a year and has 66 employees.

Lorain County had an estimated 23,691 veterans, with 4,481 in Elyria, 4,415 in Lorain, 288 in Sheffield Village and Sheffield Lake and 280 in Avon Lake, according to 2014 U.S. Census figures supplied by the Lorain County Veterans Service Commission.

Sheffield Village was not the only community trying to lure the VA clinic from the International City. Avon Lake has made a pitch for the clinic to move to the Avon Lake Towne Center. We see this friendly competition as a good thing. At least one person doesn’t. Lorain Councilman at-large Joe Koziura has criticized efforts by Sheffield Village and Avon Lake to convince VA officials to move out of Lorain.

A Vietnam veteran who served in the Army, Koziura has said, “I take great umbrage at that. I think that veterans’ center is very essential to the city of Lorain, not where it’s at, I don’t care where it’s at, I’m talking about in the city.”

For now, Sheffield Village is the winner. It will have five years to audition for the permanent clinic.

Sheffield Village Mayor John Hunter indicated he’s excited about the VA clinic coming to his community and vows to keep it there. You can’t blame him for that. Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer said Sheffield Village has tried to attract the VA clinic since at least 2010 and that he’s not surprised about the relocation, especially because the status of the VA in Lorain has been up in the air for several years.

Lorain officials and veterans have argued that the Lorain clinic is centrally located and that the facility could be improved.

Apparently, VA officials didn’t want to hear that any more.

“Due to significant, long standing infrastructure challenges associated with the clinic’s current location effecting patient care, it was necessary for the VA to find a temporary location while working toward a permanent solution,” according to the VA.

Ritenauer and Hunter say they will work to land a permanent VA clinic in their communities.

Ritenauer touts a plan Lorain city leaders worked in conjunction with the Nord Family Foundation of Amherst for a VA treatment campus that includes new construction and renovation to the St. Joe Center. Currently, crews are demolishing part of the center, which officials say is the first step in redeveloping the site.

Hunter says Sheffield Village is the heart of Lorain County. He contends that viewing the village on a map, it is the most centrally located community for veterans to visit the clinic.

However, other communities may want to enter the fray for the VA clinic. Whichever community is the victor for the VA clinic, veterans must have quality health care that is accessible care in a safe environment.

That’s priority No. 1.