LYNN — After months of protest due to closure threats, the Lynn Veterans Affairs (VA) clinic is surviving to see another day — or, hopefully, 1,825 of them.
A five-year lease is back on the table for the clinic, which was set to close at the end of a one-year lease.
The outpatient clinic, located at 225 Boston St., provides primary care and specialty health services, including mental health services, to more than 2,000 local veterans. It is part of the VA Bedford Healthcare System, which operates a hospital in Bedford and community health clinics in Lynn, Gloucester and Haverhill.
A recommendation released by the Department of Veteran Affairs in March called for a closure of both the Lynn and Gloucester clinics in order to consolidate services and open a new clinic in Salem. The VA’s recommendations to the Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission would have closed or downsized dozens of full-service VA medical centers across the country. At the same time, the Lynn clinic’s lease was decreased from five years to one. Not surprisingly, both moves to shut the doors raised alarm among patients and local officials.
“Within 24 hours of learning the clinic would be closing, the mayor, city council and our state delegation put out a letter demanding answers from the VA,” said Mike Sweeney, Lynn’s director of veteran services, who praised the Lynn Veterans’ Council and other groups, including Mass Senior Action, for getting involved. “Mass Senior Action started rallying weekly protests at the clinic. I don’t think the VA expected such pushback.”
Sweeney and these groups are holding ongoing meetings to keep the pressure on the VA. “They want us to stop talking about it. But the issue is just too important,” he said.
Mayor Jared C. Nicholson said there was a coordinated effort along local veterans, Sweeney’s office and elected officials to send a message to the VA that the City was unified in its desire to keep the clinic open.
“We have so many veterans from Lynn and beyond that rely on this clinic for critical medical services,” Nicholson said. “I appreciate everyone mobilizing to let the VA know how important it is for them to be able to access those services here in Lynn. We look forward to continuing to work with Congressman Moulton, our state delegation and the City Council on behalf of our veterans.”
“There is no doubt in my mind that the VA clinic would be closing if it were not for effective and concerted community advocacy,” said State Rep. Peter Capano (D-Lynn). “I will be glad when the lease is officially signed, and we can exert our efforts towards expanding services and accessibility rather than constantly fighting to keep the clinic open.”
“I’m very proud of the concerted community effort to ensure that our veteran community here in Lynn continues to get the care that they deserve,” said City Council President Jay Walsh. “This is about taking care of those who have fought for us and we will continue to support those efforts.”
On June 2, in a meeting with Sweeney, Congressman Seth Moulton and other local officials, the VA promised an extension of the lease, with a five-year lease back on the table. Sweeney said until the extended lease is signed, the clinic could still close.
“They have tried to close this clinic twice in the last 15 years,” he said. “It is clear they don’t want it there. So until that lease is signed we can’t stop this fight. If we hadn’t complained, protested and fought, we’d still be stuck with that one-year lease. They also probably wouldn’t have committed to it if Rep. Moulton hadn’t been in the room, but we shouldn’t need a congressman involved for them to treat our veterans with respect. The data they were using to close it was flawed, and we called them on it.”
Weeks later, members of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee announced they would not allow the AIR Commission process to move forward, which takes the Salem consolidation plan off the table.
Sweeney says both outcomes are the best-case scenarios for Lynn’s veterans, but the new five-year lease agreement still has to be signed.
“We’re lucky now that we have a reprieve, but we have to keep advocating for it,” said Sweeney. “I don’t believe it’s good enough just to sign the lease. We want to not only keep the clinic open, but to expand it. Our veterans deserve to receive services in their own community, without being limited by transportation.”
Sweeney said the Bedford VA is hosting an open house at the Lynn clinic, 225 Boston St., on October 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sweeney encouraged veterans to attend and register for VA health care and ask to become patients at the Lynn clinic.
Sweeney also suggested that veterans and their supporters contact Ryan Lilly, VA New England network director (781-687-4821), to urge the VA to sign the lease and commit to staying in Lynn for the five years they have promised.
