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The Marion Veterans Affairs Hospital is reaching out to minority veterans to use its facility for their health care needs, marking a continued commitment to diversity and excellence that has more than doubled its service during the past 10 years.
Speaking at the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church Monday evening, Medical Center Director Robert Morrel told a small crowd of black war veterans of the advantages of utilizing the Veteran's Affairs facility.
He said the hospital has been steadily growing the last 10 years and now sees more than 36,000 patients annually.
"We're here to serve veterans," Morrel said. "That's our goal, that's our mission. It's what we want to do, and that's why we're here."
Carlton Smith, Veterans Affairs Chair for the Illinois NAACP, arranged the meeting between veterans and hospital representatives to make the veteran community more aware of the advantages offered to them through the Marion VA Hospital.
"There is a mountain of ignorance about how to get into the system," Smith said during the meeting. "We've had individuals run into difficulties getting in - they try to find a quick way to get service."
Morrel said the system has changed dramatically during the last few decades, opening its doors to more veterans and allowing greater access to medicine and minimal charges to eligible veterans.
Church pastor Rick Jackson recounted the numerous homeless and impoverished war veterans he sees in his soup kitchen each week, who were completely unaware of the advantages offered to them from the Marion VA Hospital, and the Veterans Affairs system as a whole.
"I've talked to some and asked them about it," he said. "They don't know anything."
Jackson, who served in the Navy from 1966 to 1970 during the Vietnam War, said that when he originally tried to get aid from a veteran's hospital, he was turned away because preference was given to Word War II veterans. Smith also noted the incredibly long lines that plagued the hospital years ago, which have been eliminated to give prompter service to more veterans.
"Vietnam vets got the brush off following the war, and we were told that if your injury was not war-related, you would not get service," he said. "As a Vietnam vet, I've got my own insurance, I'm not gonna give you another try."
