A visit scheduled for Tuesday to the North Chicago VA Medical Center by a delegation of congressional staffers has fueled speculation that the imperiled facility may yet be saved, according to authorities.
Earlier this month, a group of Illinois lawmakers including U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Peter Fitzgerald proposed a plan to save the medical center, which a recent government study targeted for closure.
In a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary Togo D. West Jr., the senators, joined by U.S. Reps. John Porter, Donald Manzullo and Philip Crane, proposed a sharing agreement between the medical center, which serves roughly 13,000 Lake County veterans, and the aging hospital at nearby Great Lakes Naval Training Center. The legislators, who will be represented by aides Tuesday, proposed that the newly renovated center could provide medical services to the 53,000 recruits and service members at Great Lakes.
Porter’s spokesman, Dave Kohn, said the purpose of the group’s trip is to look into the VA’s proposal to close the medical center and to explore the “feasibilty” of implementing a sharing agreement between the medical center and the base hospital.