LAWTON – Oklahoma’s veterans will have better access to medical help and will have more choices in the process, Oklahoma’s senior U.S. senator said Wednesday.
U.S. Sen. James Lankford, a Republican, was in Lawton for a series of meeting with public and business officials and to give the keynote address at a meeting of the Lawton Fort Still Chamber of Commerce, where he spoke about business and tax policy.
In an interview with Southwest Ledger, Lankford said the state’s veterans system has improved greatly over the past decade. At the time, then-Gov. Mary Fallin was forced to shut down the system after reports of abuse and neglect at several veterans centers surfaced.
Since then, he said, the system has come under new leadership and made improvements.
“Now, yeah, it’s a lot better,” the senator said. “As far as the veterans centers, I look at the change in leadership even at the Oklahoma City facility. There I go back 10 years ago, when I first came in the Senate, and where we are now, we’re in a dramatically different spot. Almost all the leadership has changed there. In fact, I don’t know of anyone that’s the same in leadership. The leadership of the veterans system here in Oklahoma has changed dramatically.”
Still, even with the federal Veterans Administration system down by more than 40,000 employees, Lankford said Oklahoma’s veterans should continue to have access and more choices when it comes to medical services.
“They have access. They should have access,” he said. “A major focus for me personally was the Veterans Choice. I don’t want to have a situation where veterans have to go to the VA center to be able to get their health care. I’d like them to be able to have the option, to be able to go outside of that.”
That does change some of the dynamics, he said. “But quite frankly, not every veteran wants to go to the VA center. I’ve talked to a bunch of veterans and it’s like, ‘No, I’m not going there.’” As an example, Lankford pointed to Oklahoma City.
“In that center, a lot of cancer patients were being connected with their clinic, and then they were being shipped to cancer facilities all over the country. On it, I said, ‘Hey, we have the Stevenson’s Cancer Center, and in Oklahoma, why are we not connecting with one of the top cancer hospitals? Why do we have to connect with a cancer center that’s a VA cancer doctor? Why can’t we just go to the best cancer facility nearby and to be able to do that as well?’” After policy changes were exacted, Lankford said veterans now more choices for medical care. “We’re now doing that.”
With the state – and Lawton’s – heavy population of veterans, Lankford said the policy changes will help, even with the VA’s decrease in the number of employees.
“You feel better now that veterans are getting better services. We’re also getting better scores, better response. It’s not just a gut feeling. The numbers, the metrics that they’re actually using or improving, and have been improving the last several years,” he said. “And this big cut in employees isn’t going to affect things that bad. I think time will tell.”
Records show that 17.6% of the population in Lawton are veterans, making it one of the cities with the highest percentage of veteran residents in the United States. With a total city population of 90,381, that means 15,907 residents are veterans. Statewide, Oklahoma is home to more than 104,000 veterans.
Still, veteran policy wasn’t the only issue Lankford and other federal officials are working to address. He said changes in the way the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement – also known as ICE – operate will improve the system.
And while Lankford said ICE will continue to focus on removing criminals who are in the country illegally, he said he doesn’t expect the agency to continue moves like arresting people who are dropping off school children.
“I’ve not seen them actually trying to be able to pick up juveniles at a high school. I have seen, and we’ve had a couple situations, and talked to ICE about when they literally picked up a parent when they were dropping off their kid at school,” he said. “That is a phone call that I made to ICE, and said, ‘That’s not the spot. That’s not a way to do that.’ And ICE has shifted policies.”
The result he said, is that ICE – like the veterans system – is changing for the better.
“I do think they’re trying to be able to change a lot of how they’re doing it,” Lankford said. “What I’m grateful that they are doing is they’re actually engaging and saying, ‘We’re not going to just ignore the realities here.’”
M. Scott Carter is an award-winning political and investigative reporter with more than 40 years’ experience covering federal and state government and politics in Oklahoma. He can be reached at scott. carter@swoknews.com.