Date: 2/15/2021
Why do we need a Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke while the Veterans Administration has a hospital in nearby Northampton? It appears to be a duplication of effort. How many of them really need a special hospital for just veterans?
I am no fan of the pork barrel Bennett or Walsh families, but Bennett Walsh, the last administrator, said he did not have enough resources. While the Baker administration said that was not true, the first thing they did when Walsh left was to increase the staffing. Now a new building is being proposed. If the problem were really Walsh’s incompetence, how would increased staffing and a new building matter?
Other than the National Guard, the state of Massachusetts neither raises armies nor declares war. The soldiers were working for the federal government and it is the responsibility of the federal government to issue their benefits, not the state of Massachusetts. The state of Massachusetts just closed most of their state hospitals because they had trouble running them.
Robert Joseph Underwood
Springfield
