VA hospitals provide excellent care

I cannot let the letter of Michael J. Schneider of West Liberty in the Oct. 4 Gazette disparaging the Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals go unchallenged.

Perhaps Schneider has not served his country in uniform or he would know that the U.S. military medical corps are the finest in the world. Perhaps he has not read the newspapers or seen the television news reports of the unparalleled care that American wounded have received, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps he is unaware of the rehabilitation and lifelong care that our wounded veterans receive from our VA hospitals. Perhaps he is unaware that the VA medical records systems are years ahead of private medical systems and a model for them to achieve.

Perhaps he is unaware that many, perhaps most, of our VA hospitals are paired with university medical schools. The Iowa City VA Hospital is run by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in conjunction with the University Medical School. There is no doubt that the VA Hospitals give splendid service to our veterans and that at half the cost of private medicine.

Gazette readers need to know that our VA hospitals are fully as capable and caring as private hospitals.

Robert D. Chadima

Cedar Rapids