A letter on the AIR report
I would like to assure your readers, especially Veterans in Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties that the Coatesville Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) is here to serve you.
You may be aware of the recommendation by the Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission to replace Coatesville VAMC with a multi-specialty community-based outpatient clinic and move the medical center's Community Living Center or nursing home, residential rehabilitation treatment program and inpatient behavioral health unit to new facilities, some of which don't exist at this time.
The AIR report released March 14, marks the beginning of an in-depth deliberative process that will take place over the next year. Included in the report are recommendations to improve Veterans' access and quality of care as we move to provide more outpatient services and update our VA health care facilities for the modern era. The AIR report recommendations are just that, recommendations, they are not final. A presidentially appointed AIR Commission panel will conduct public hearings as part of its review of the report’s recommendations before submitting its own recommendations to the president in 2023. This means, if approved, these recommendations are many years away from implementation and completion.
As I have communicated with all the staff here at Coatesville VAMC, we need to continue to focus on providing the best possible care to the 19,000 Veterans we serve annually. The Coatesville VAMC will celebrate its 91st anniversary this May, through all those years, it was the dedication of generations of health care providers, administrative and environmental support staff who cared for our nation’s heroes and we continue to do so each and every day.
Jeffrey A. Beiler II
Medical Center Director