Helping Togus together

Maine congressional delegation and Gov. Angus King took an important step for veterans’ health Wednesday when they met as a group with officials from the Veterans Administration and the Togus Veterans Administration Center and Hospital. Without this coordinated effort, service to the veterans’ hospital could continue to erode.

While entire congressional delegations and a governor do not usually work together on issues, it is the recent tradition in Maine and it is essential. Its four members — Republicans Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Democratic Reps. John Baldacci and Tom Allen — can be much more effective than a single politician or politicians from a single party. Add an independent Gov. King, and the commitment their presence expresses to VA officials or members of other federal agencies is enormous.

The question surrounding Togus are easily worthy of this attention and were discussed forcefully Wednesday with John Simms, the Togus director, and Denis FitzGerald, VA director of veterans services for New England. Increased outpatient care, reduced staffing levels and further cuts at a time of increased demands on services make the problems there serious. Maine veterans have been speaking out about the problem for several years, but have only recently gotten VA officials to listen.

Maine’s delegation needs formal assurances that the Togus facilities will be staffed and supplied well enough to meet the obligation the country has to care for ill veterans. The meeting Wednesday was profitable in that VA officials pledged to make specific improvements during the next four months in conditions at Togus. They promised, for instance, to reduce the waiting time for physicians — which are now as long as six months — to seven days. Primary-care teams, they said, would be given autonomy to improve scheduling. Key positions that have remained vacant for too long would be filled. The level of support staff is to be increased.

All of this is welcome news, and Maine’s political leaders deserve credit for insisting on these improvements. But the condition at Togus will require long-term vigiliance. Maine has a small delegation, but its challenges are as large as any other state’s. Residents here need to encourage a commitment from their elected leaders that they will continue to work together on this and other issues in Washington.