For a year and a half, meetings about Island veterans health care drew crowds expressing their outrage at the long wait for on-Island health care. But on Wednesday, about seven months after a contract was finally in place, the tone was quite different: instead of concerns, there was mostly silence, and instead of outrage there was appreciation.
With a long wait for on-Island health care in the past — though some frustration lingers — Island veterans and Providence VA Medical Center representatives met Wednesday night to discuss the sometimes complicated details of the new contract between the Providence VA and the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.
The Providence VA Medical Center has awarded a contract to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital to provide basic medical care for veterans, one of the last steps in restoring on-Island health care access for Vineyard veterans.