MOBILE, Ala. — A 75-year-old Vietnam veteran stood before the Mobile County Commission on Thursday and asked for help with a goal he admits he may never live to see: a full-service Veterans Affairs hospital in Mobile.
Onrie Brown, a Vietnam veteran and retired Mobile fire medic, told commissioners that veterans in the Mobile area are too often required to travel to Pensacola or Biloxi for services that are not available at Mobile’s VA clinic. He asked the commission to support a proposal for a VA hospital in Mobile and to contact federal officials on the issue.
“I’m 75 years old, and I’ll probably never benefit from it. But if somebody doesn’t get this process started, it won’t ever happen,” Brown told commissioners.
Brown first raised the issue publicly in May, arguing that Mobile-area veterans should not have to travel long distances for care that could be provided closer to home. Thursday’s appearance renewed that push before the county’s governing body.
A vision modeled on Birmingham
Brown is advocating for a VA hospital on the campus of the University of South Alabama, similar to the arrangement in Birmingham, where the Birmingham VA Medical Center sits alongside the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s medical center. Partnerships between VA hospitals and academic medical centers are common across the country and allow the VA to draw on university physicians, residents and specialty services, while giving medical trainees experience caring for veterans.
Mobile is already home to a major academic health system in USA Health, which operates University Hospital, Children’s & Women’s Hospital, Providence Hospital and the Mitchell Cancer Institute, along with more than 40 care delivery locations.
Commissioners pledge to review the proposal
Commissioners said they would review the materials Brown provided and explore how the county might help.
Commissioner Connie Hudson said she has long believed the area has the population to justify a VA hospital.
“What you’ve stated this morning is something I’ve long believed, that we definitely have the population here that would need a VA hospital. And I commend you for standing up, for being vocal about it,” Hudson said.
Commissioner Randall Dueitt shared a personal connection to the issue. He told Brown that his father is a disabled veteran who faces the same problem of having to drive out of state for some services.
“He gets some of his services on Rangeline Road there in Tillmans Corner, but it’s not a VA hospital by far. I think a lot of people think that that’s a VA hospital, and it’s really just a VA clinic,” Dueitt said.
More than 43,000 veterans in Mobile and Baldwin counties
According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates for 2020 through 2024, Mobile County is home to 24,214 veterans and Baldwin County is home to 19,604, for a combined total of 43,818 veterans in the two counties.
Those figures reflect the number of veterans living in the two counties, not the number enrolled in VA health care. Not every veteran is eligible for or chooses to use VA care, but the numbers help illustrate the size of the veteran population in the Mobile Bay region.
Clinic, not hospital: what Mobile has today
Mobile’s current VA facility is an outpatient clinic that opened in 2019 on Rangeline Road in the Tillmans Corner area. According to the VA, the clinic offers services including primary care, mental health care, laboratory testing, audiology and women’s health care.
However, the Mobile clinic’s current service list does not include dental care or a pharmacy. The Pensacola VA clinic, which is also an outpatient facility, lists both dental care and oral surgery and a pharmacy among its services.
For inpatient hospital care and many specialty services, the region’s full-service VA hospital campus is the Biloxi VA Medical Center in Mississippi. For a veteran in Mobile, that can mean a drive of more than an hour each way, and potentially longer for veterans who live in rural parts of Mobile, Baldwin, Washington or Escambia counties.
Here is a quick look at the three facilities veterans in the Mobile area rely on:
- Mobile VA clinic (Tillmans Corner): Outpatient. Primary care, mental health care, lab testing, audiology and women’s health. No dental care or pharmacy listed.
- Pensacola VA clinic: Outpatient. Services include dental care and oral surgery and a pharmacy.
- Biloxi VA Medical Center: The region’s full-service hospital campus.
Candidates split on how best to expand care
Expanding veterans’ access to health care has support from both parties in Congress, but lawmakers are divided over the best approach. Some favor building new VA facilities, while others want to make it easier for veterans to use private doctors and hospitals closer to home, paid for by the VA.
That debate is reflected in the race for Alabama’s 1st Congressional District, which includes Mobile and Baldwin counties.
Former Congressman Jerry Carl, the Republican nominee, said if elected he would advocate for easier access to care, with a focus on letting veterans choose their own providers.
“I’ll be pushing all aspects of healthcare for our veterans in D.C. I have been talking for years about getting our veterans set up to use any doctor and any hospital nationwide. That will be my number one priority in the 120th Congress,” Carl said.
Clyde Jones, the Democratic nominee in the district, said he supports a full-service VA hospital for Mobile.
“As a veteran myself, I am very much in favor of having a full-service VA hospital in Mobile,” Jones said.
How veterans can use care closer to home now
While the debate over a new hospital continues, veterans in the Mobile area do have some options for care closer to home. Under the VA’s Community Care program, expanded by the federal MISSION Act of 2018, eligible veterans can receive care from approved community providers when certain conditions are met, such as when the VA cannot provide a service or when drive times or wait times exceed set standards.
Veterans who have questions about their eligibility for community care, or about which services are available at the Mobile clinic, can speak with their VA care team or contact the VA directly.
‘Somebody has to get this process started’
Building a new VA hospital is a long process that would require action at the federal level, including approval and funding from Congress and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Brown acknowledged that reality in his remarks, and said that is exactly why he believes the effort needs to begin now.
For Brown, who spent his career caring for others as a Mobile fire medic, the push is less about himself than about the veterans who will come after him. As he told commissioners, if no one starts the process, a VA hospital in Mobile will never happen.