OCEAN COUNTY – The county needs a new veteran’s clinic for its over 40,000 veterans and county officials are tired of the federal government’s “needless delays” in building one.
That was the view expressed through a unanimously approved resolution by the Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders asking the Department of Veterans Affairs to fast track a new facility to replace the aging James J. Howard clinic in Brick Township.
Ocean County Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari said, “our veterans fought for us when we needed them and now, we are ready to fight for them. The facility and the location are simply too small.”
While plans for the clinic seemed to be progressing, issues with the federal bidding process led the VA to cancel a contract to build the clinic.
“We cannot let bureaucratic problems derail this important project,” Vicari said adding that he had been contacted by a disabled Vietnam War veteran recently asking the Freeholders to intervene personally with the VA.
Vicari added, “we are working closely with Congressman Chris Smith, who is the senior member of the New Jersey Congressional delegation, and Rep. Andy Kim to fast track this project.”
The Freeholder Director also said he knows from personal experience how important the VA clinic is to local residents. “My father was a World War II veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. We made frequent trips to the clinic. Having a facility located in Ocean County is critical to our veterans and our senior citizens.”
Freeholder Gerry P. Little said the county is home to one of the largest veterans’ populations in the state, with more than 40,000 veterans living throughout the county’s 33 municipalities.
“Ocean County never forgets our veterans. We will work shoulder-to-shoulder with our Congressional representatives to ensure that this new clinic is built in Ocean County,” Little said.
Little, who is liaison to the Ocean County Veteran’s Service Bureau, said the VA needs to explain the reasons behind the latest delay. “We have been patient, but now it is time to move ahead and get this project done.”
The Freeholder’s father is also a World War II veteran who served in the Pacific Theater.
Both Freeholders sent a letter on May 26 to Smith and Kim pledging them any assistance the county could offer.
Vicari said that while this may be a federal project, “we want our veterans to know that this Board of Freeholders is doing everything it can to see this plan to fruition.”
John P. Dorrity has served as the director of the Ocean County Veterans Services Bureau for some time and his reputation for being an outspoken advocate for veterans’ benefits and services is well known around the state.
Dorrity recalled the efforts in the 1980s to secure the current facility. “It was the first of its type in the country and when it was first discussed it was planned as a mini-hospital. We were very proud of it when it opened in 91-92. I remember the protests we had back then to help get it going. At that time Bergen County had the largest number of veterans in the state.”
That has changed and Ocean County has the most now. Dorrity put the number of veterans at around 41,000. “We get veterans from Monmouth County as well that come here. We need a new clinic now,” Dorrity added.
Dorrity doesn’t blame the federal Veterans Association over the delay. “The specificity on the federal level for construction is insane and this pandemic didn’t help.”
He said he’d like to see the new facility based more centrally in Ocean County and believes Route 9 in Bayville would be ideal.
“The Freeholders have the right mindset but the veterans need this in a jurisdiction that is centrally located and has plenty of parking.” Dorrity said adding that he’s spoken with officials who said they’d prefer a new facility be based in either Brick where it is now or moved to Toms River.
He said he’s hoping that contract issues impacting the project are rectified soon. “These are good contracts but the mechanics of some of these contracts make it crazy.”
Among the many veterans who utilize the current clinic is Micheal Colicchio, 72, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam. He is a resident of Holiday City in Toms River.
“I’m originally from Jersey City Bayonne and we had a clinic in Jersey City and a Vet center in Seacaucus which was pretty convenient. I’ve been going to the one in Brick since I moved down here in 2008 I go every six months for a checkup or a medications refill. My appointments are pretty fluid,” Colicchio said.
“Sometimes there is a wait with things like getting the earwax blown out of your ears but that’s not crucial. I don’t know if moving the clinic will correct that because you still need doctors,” he added.
“I can’t complain about treatment and I still see my civilian doctors who I can get to see in a couple of hours. If there is room for improvement of its physically, yes. Parking you have to park close to Highway 70 sometimes,” Colicchio added agreeing with Dorrity’s idea of a Bayville location on Route 9 in a currently vacant strip mall lot.
Colicchio said “if I get there at 8 in the morning, I don’t have much of a problem if I get there at 10 in the morning then I have to park on a side street or on an access road almost to Route 70. It all depends on time of day and day of week. It does get busy and there is a wait at times but every doctor has that problem. There is usually more than a handful of veterans there waiting, maybe 10 people at a time.”
