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Veterans, families, friends attend rally

Muskogee Phoenix - 5/10/2022

May 10—Dave Smith said if it wasn't for the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center, he'd probably be dead.

Smith, a Vietnam War veteran from McAlester who served on the U.S.S. Coral Sea, was doing some carpentry work in 2009 when a piece "came up and hit me in the chest."

Smith was one of several veterans and dignitaries who addressed a crowd of approximately 300 veterans, families and friends at a "Save the VA Rally" at Depot Green on Saturday.

When Smith went to have himself checked out at the hospital, he was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation aka AFib, and he credits Dr. Victoria Harris with saving his life. He also was diagnosed by Dr. Harris with prostate cancer.

"She was on top of this," he said. "The cancer had also metastasized into my kidneys. I have one kidney, but I'm here and it's all because of Dr. Harris and the people at the VA.

"If I had gone to Tulsa, they would have said 'OK...come back in six months. I wouldn't have been here in six months... I would've been dead."

A report published by Department of the Veterans Affairs on March 14 recommended to the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission closing the facility.

Don Nichols, the commander of the Muskogee Chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, organized the rally and got a petition drive started to send a message to officials to keep the hospital open. He had a special surprise for Muskogee Mayor Marlon Coleman, who was present at the rally.

"I said, 'Mayor, how many signatures would we have to have to save this hospital — to take it to Washington, D.C., to the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs?'" he said before the crowd. "Mayor Coleman said 10,000. Well my heart skipped a beat because we only have 33,000 people in Muskogee. But guess what...Mayor, you wanted 10,000? We gave you 11,500 right here in this box."

Nichols posted petitions all over the area the medical center is responsible for helping. He also told the crowd of the responses he received when people heard of the possible closing of the hospital.

"They all said, 'That's the stupidest thing I've heard of,'" he said. " But let me tell you, when I went to go pick up the petitions and told the people we met our goal, the clapped their hands and said, 'We did it.'"

Coleman spoke to the crowd not only about the importance of the hospital to the area and to the veterans, but also the gratitude that needs to be shown to the veterans.

"We're not here today for ourselves, we're not here to play political games," Coleman said. "We're here today because we're mad as hell at Washington for turning their back on rural America. Our Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center serves over 51,000 veterans across Eastern Oklahoma and we want to send a clear message to bureaucrats everywhere today.

"We're not concerned about your nice penthouses or places that you hide where they have concrete and skyscrapers. We're concerned about being certain that veterans all across this great country get the services that they need by keeping our rural hospitals open.

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(c)2022 the Muskogee Phoenix (Muskogee, Okla.)

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