This week, members of the Polk County Chamber of Commerce are in Washington, D.C. for their annual fly-in. I had a great time meeting with the group, catching up with old friends and listening to the issues currently facing Polk County. We discussed transportation, water, infrastructure, immigration, education, small businesses and other areas of concern.  I’ve posted some additional photographs of our meeting below:

Saying hello to friends from Polk County

Greetings before we get down to business

Listening to Chamber members present on different issues.

The Rome News Tribune this morning reports on the new VA clinic being established in Rome (including the photograph above). The paper quoted Hartwell Nolan, one of the veteran leaders who worked tirelessly to make this clinic a reality, on the importance of the new facility:

“This is one of the greatest blessings God has ever given to me,” he said. “Everybody took this as a personal challenge to get the veterans of this area the medical care they need so badly. I think that is what got it through.”

Nolan began pushing for a local VA clinic in 2005. He organized area veteran groups and gathered more than 1,500 signatures in support of the clinic.

The 73-year-old Navy vet estimates about 73,000 veterans in Georgia and Alabama are in need of a local clinic for health-care services. He is one of them, having to drive more than an hour to the Atlanta VA Medical Center as many as seven times a month.

To read the complete article, click HERE. See below for previous blog posts on the clinic location and details.

Two more maps to help you visualize where the new Northwest Georgia VA clinic will be located. This map should help those familiar with Rome:

And this map should help those traveling from Bartow, Polk, Gordon and Chattooga counties:

Today, the VA announced it has selected a site location for our new Rome VA clinic. The site, 30 Chateau Drive, is a perfect location. First of all, the facility is a former medical clinic, so it can be quickly transformed to meet VA specifications. In fact, the clinic should be open this fall. Second, the location has plenty of parking, and its proximity to Hwy. 411 means veterans from Bartow, Polk, Gordon and Chattooga counties can easily access the facility. Below is a map of the new location:

I am truly inspired by our community’s effort to bring a VA clinic to Northwest Georgia. A big thank you goes out to every veteran and veteran supporter who wrote a letter, helped raise money, drove someone to a clinic, and supported this important cause.

I also want to thank architect Mike Page and engineer David Culp Jr. of P & C Design Build. These two men have generously donated their services to design the new VA clinic. This will help the clinic get up and running as soon as possible. Both of these men understand what this clinic means to our veterans, because both are the sons of veterans. I know their fathers, Franklin Page and David Culp Sr., must be very proud.

I plan to tour the VA site later this week, and I’ll report back with an update. This is an exciting day for our community, and I eagerly await opening day.

This week, I visited Walter Reed Medical Center. Walter Reed is an impressive medical facility, but it is failing some of our wounded soldiers. When I visited Building 18 this week, it struck me that our soldiers shouldn’t need to be in this auxiliary building, outside the main gates of the medical center.  Building 18 is full because it is taking too long for our military to process these soldiers.

The soldiers I met at Walter Reed this week talked about their frustration with lost medical records, or records that take a week to make it from one office to another. This greatly delays a soldier’s ability to meet with his or her doctors and eventually be discharged.  Simply put, the military healthcare system is in need of a technology upgrade. I have long been a proponent of electronic health records, which would help these soldiers move seamlessly from one doctor to the next.  The VA is a shining example of the efficiency of electronic health records, and our injured soldiers returning from war deserve the same technology.  The military has already begun the move toward electronic records in its outpatient care, and now it’s time to bring inpatient care records up to speed.  Click HERE to read about legislation I’ve introduced to encourage the adoption of health information technology, like electronic health records.

As a physician, the health of our soldiers and veterans is an issue incredibly close to my heart.  I have worked with our veterans in Northwest Georgia to bring an outpatient VA clinic to Rome, so our veterans won’t have to make the traffic-filled trip to the Atlanta facility. I know that access to care is critical to the health and well-being of those who have served our nation, and the real problem at Walter Reed is that soldiers aren’t able to get the continued care they need in an orderly and expedient manner.�

Yesterday, I hosted the first 11th District Listening Session in Cartersville.  It was a great event, with nearly 40 people coming out to discuss today’s pressing issues with me.  I appreciated hearing so many opinions from around the Bartow community.

If you don’t live in Cartersville, don’t worry – there’s a Listening Session coming soon to a town near you.  Click HERE for a complete list.  Next week: Carroll and Paulding counties. I look forward to seeing you there!