European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 11, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse B the stars and stripes Friday october 11, 1991plan to close a Hospital assailed storm swirls around facility in California by the Washington Post Martinez Calif. A Otis r. Menasco 71, a world War ii Veteran who fought in new Guinea had an operation for Colon cancer and was told that regular checkups were critical. Recently however the department of veterans affairs Hospital that he has counted on to keep him alive refused to schedule an appointment. A i asked them when i could get one a said Menasco a Short wiry Man who commands a local veterans of foreign wars Post. A they said they did no to know. They did no to know where or the cold shoulder did not completely Surprise my Nasco because he like thousands of other veterans in the largest a service area in California knew that the a Hospital Here was about to close. This extraordinary event a the number of inpatients dropped to 14 this week a has brought a Roar of outrage from veterans and a doctors revolt unlike anything the a has seen in a generation. Among the rules of american politics none is More sacred than this thou Shalt not close a a Hospital. The last time Washington gave the order was 1965, shortly before the Vietnam War began to flood the country with injured veterans. No one has since dared to violate that commandment. The a announced in August its intention to close the Hospital by dec. 7, ironically the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. That a a measure of either the Bush administration s determination to Cut costs in All departments or of the political courage of Edward j. Derwinski the first Secretary of veterans affairs. Opinions about what motivated the decision Are be the reduced Access to medical care will cause patients to Resolution signed by physicians at a Hospital Gion with few people in Martinez accepting Derwinski a expressed concern about the earthquake threat to the hospitals ill designed main building. But All agree that nearly everyone involved is unhappy and that medical care for thousands of Northern californians will be disrupted for some time. A the reduced Access to medical care will cause patients to die a said a Resolution signed by a Large majority of physicians at the Hospital which has 359 Beds and 1,200 employees. The Hospital and its satellite clinics in Redding Sacramento and Oakland serve about 450,000 veterans. The Hospital had established a reputation for efficiency a a we handle 17 percent of the states veterans with Only 8 percent of the state a budget Quot one doctor said. But with the doors about to close services have been Hurt. Derwinski in a Telephone interview said that he understands the hardship and dislocation his decision has caused but that he had no Choice. A the Buck stops with me a he said. A the safety feature was something that i could not ignore. A officials said they Are haunted by 46 deaths at the a Hospital in san Fernando during a major earthquake in 1971. Mete a. Sozen a civil Engineer on the a advisory committee on structural safety told the Agency that a the Structure of building no. 1 at Martinez has a critical flaw. A major structural Wall is discontinued at the first Story and total collapse of the building is probable in the event of the anticipated Martinez mayor Mike Menesini called the seismic argument a a big lie a and Many doctors at the Hospital agree. A dozen of them met a reporter to offer reams of material on previous seismic studies the earthquake danger to other Bay area hospitals that plan to remain open and the politics of medical care for the poor and aged. They noted that the a had seismic evaluations done at Martinez in 1973, 1983 and 1989 with no immediate recommendations for drastic action. They said a structural Engineer hired by the a in 1989 said the building did not meet current seismic codes but was a one of the safer older buildings in Contra Costa county a built on Bedrock and undamaged after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. The doctors and staff opposing the closing want the a to renovate the facility which an Early estimate said would Cost $40 million. A spokeswoman Donna St. John said the actual renovation figure is $283 million More than the estimated $280 million Cost of the vans announced plan to build a new 243-bed Hospital and a 120-bed nursing Home on the Campus of the University of California Davis medical ships sail into Georgetown Harbor president Bush leans Over to shake hands at a Georgetown wharf the Landing site of three Viking ships that commemorated Leif Ericson s voyage to the new world. Washington a three Viking ships commemorating Leif Ericson a voyage to the new world a millennium ago landed in Washington with a Norse Horn blast loud enough to shiver Christopher Columbus timbers. The 78-foot flagship Gaia a copy of the wooden single sail Viking longboat docked at a Georgetown wharf wednesday ending a 5,300-mile voyage thai began May 17 in Bergen Norway. The Gaia and two Viking escort vessels that joined the voyage in Nova Scotia sailed up the Potomac River to cheers from a dockside crowd that included Queen Sonja of Norway and president vigdis Finno Gadotti of Iceland. A few hours after the Landing president Bush made an Impromptu visit to the ships with his two grandchildren Sam and Erie Leblond. He climbed aboard the Gaia and chatted with the Crew about the vessels layout and sailing ability. Earlier during a meeting with the norwegian Queen and the icelandic president at the while House Bush said the Vikings were a the first europeans to set eyes on North America a and he praised Ericson for a this bold and adventurous former vice president Walter f. Mon Dale a minnesotan of norwegian Stock called it a an alien Viking invasion of the nation s capital timed to coincide with Leif Ericson Day. Mondale praised the epic voyages of both Ericson and Columbus As a victories of the human spirit but added with a Grin a we got Here 500 years Early. We did no to need any Money. We just did Mondale greeted Ragnar , the bearded 43-year-old Captain of the Gaia who received a framed plaque and an ale bowl from the sons of Norway. Blasts from several Norse Birch hark horns echoed Down the Potomac. Asked whether he enjoyed his five month voyage Thorsell responded that a your ancestors the Vikings were much More Clever in sailing these ships that we he said the Gaia s worst time was being ice bound in a Gale off the coast of Labrador for six hours. No one knows exactly when or where Ericson landed in the new world at a place he called Many scholars Beni ave the Vikings landed on the Northern tip of Newfoundland about 1,000 years ago and lived there for one year before they returned Home. Archaeologists have found the remains of an 11th-Century Viking settlement at a place called la Anse Aux Meadows in Northern Newfoundland. By All accounts Columbus reached the new world five centuries later when he set foot on an Island in the Bahamas on oct. 12, 1492. His four voyages resulted in the first permanent european settlements in America. Knut Kloster the norwegian cruise ship tycoon who helped finance the Gaia a voyage and the construction of the three Viking ships said it Wasny to the occasion for a any kind of Flag waving or ethnic Chest but Norway and Iceland wasted no time asserting Ericson a claim to Fame in Washington which is Abuzz with preliminary festivities celebrating the Quincen Tennial of Columbus first voyage. By visiting Bush at the White House on wednesday the icelandic president and the norwegian Queen deftly upstaged Cristobal Colon a direct descendant of Columbus 20 generations removed. Colon a 42-year-old Spanish naval officer who inherited his ancestors honorary titles As Duke of Verague and Marquis of Jamaica wont get to visit Bush until thursday. Nevertheless King Juan Carlos i and Queen Sofia of Spain beat the Vikings to town. They spent last weekend with the president at his Camp David md., Retreat and were Given a private Lour tuesday of the Mammoth new a circa 1492�?� exhibit of columbian Cra artworks at the National gallery of Art
