{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://roby.house.gov/column/roby-weekly-column-new-va-facility-turning-point-more-improvements-needed", "New VA Facility a Turning Point, But More Improvements Needed", "2015-12-18", "2015", "2015-12", "Republican", "House", "AL", "Martha Roby", "R000591", "roby.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "You may have seen the news that the Central Alabama VA has now opened a new 150,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art clinic on Chantilly Parkway, in Eastern Montgomery.\u00a0Our veterans deserve a world-class facility like this one,\u00a0and I\u00a0was proud to join my colleague Rep. Mike Rogers, community leaders and Veterans Affairs officials to cut the ribbon on this impressive new facility.\nThe VA\u2019s new Chantilly clinic is intended to increase access to care for\u00a0veterans who depend on the VA for medical and psychological services. \u00a0The deep and complex problems that have plagued the VA nationwide, and\u00a0particularly\u00a0in this area, are well-documented. When\u00a0I worked with whistleblowers and the press to expose major counts of malfeasance, mismanagement and cover-up within the Central Alabama VA, we knew extensive changes would have to be made and that the road to success would be a long one. But, I am encouraged by recent progress.\u00a0Badly needed staff has been hired to fill some of the gaps that have existed for years. Major headway has been made to reduce the backlog of patients waiting for appointments.\u00a0All this means more veteran patients are receiving the care they need in a timely fashion, and that\u2019s what it is all about.\nOf course, a new building will not fix all the problems with patient access by itself. As nice as it is, this new facility doesn\u2019t make the journey for care any shorter for veterans living in\u00a0Greenville, Andalusia, Troy or other areas relatively far from VA hospitals in Montgomery and Tuskegee. That\u2019s why\u00a0I\u2019m working to build a network of local\u00a0hospitals, clinics and other providers that can allow many veterans to access care right in their hometown.\nVery soon,\u00a0I will be bringing together local, regional and national VA leaders to sit down with hospital CEOs from around Alabama so we can work out an agreement to develop this community veterans\u00a0health\u00a0network.\u00a0When veterans are able to get treated by local providers, it means they\u00a0aren\u2019t forced to drive long distances to\u00a0receive care. It also means the demand at existing VA facilities is lessened so they can tend to the patients already on their rolls.\u00a0\nI\u00a0believe this commonsense, hybrid\u00a0approach\u00a0is the future of veterans health care, and\u00a0I\u2019m optimistic we can build a community veterans health network here in Alabama that can serve as a model for the nation.\u00a0\nIt is refreshing to be able to share some positive news\u00a0about\u00a0our work to improve the VA.\u00a0My staff and I will remain vigilant in making sure our veterans are receiving the care they need because that\u2019s our job.\u00a0I hope the opening of the new VA facility marks a turning point in our mission to improve VA services and make sure no veteran gets left behind.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://roby.house.gov/column/roby-weekly-column-new-va-facility-turning-point-more-improvements-needed"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9602399077266455, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}