CARE UNIT STILL AT RISK BUT VA HEAD'S OTHER REMARKS CHEERED.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

He came, he listened, he made some promises that won him applause, but drew stony silence when he wouldn't make some others.

Then he left.

For 45 minutes Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi met with about 200 local vets at the Sepulveda VA to talk about their protests over cuts in services and care at the North Hills facility.

The former Naval officer, who served in Vietnam, got high marks for honesty and guts.

``The guy didn't have to come all the way out here from Washington, D.C., to talk to us face to face, but he did - that says something,'' said one vet, talking with a couple of his buddies after Principi's Secret Service bodyguards escorted the Bush administration Cabinet officer to his car.

``I came out here to see firsthand what was going on,'' Principi told me later. ``I understand what these vets are trying to say, what their fears are, because I'm one of them.

``I promise that I'll be monitoring and keeping a close eye on Sepulveda from now on.''

Principi commanded a river patrol unit in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, and married a nurse who was a Vietnam veteran. Two of his three children are in the service.

Earlier, the VA secretary told a standing-room-only crowd not to worry, that Sepulveda VA would remain open and continue to offer quality care.

``I want to allay any concern that this facility will close, and I should know,'' he said. ``I'm the one who would make that decision.''

Principi again promised to reopen the popular, earthquake-damaged gym, and said there were no plans to close the nursing home or ambulatory care center, or cut back services in the women's vets clinic.

But the secretary stopped short of making the one promise most of these vets had come to hear - to keep the popular Center for Ambulatory Rehabilitation and Education unit open and fully staffed at Sepulveda so the elderly vets don't have to drive over the hill to be treated at the West L.A. VA facility.

The program is set to be phased out at the North Hills facility in a cost-cutting move, drawing the ire of dozens of elderly vets who have come to rely on it for care and camaraderie close to home.

``All we're asking is, be honest with us, and tell us the truth,'' said volunteer Harry Eskenazi. ``We're tired of hearing rumors.''

Principi turned the microphone over to one of the doctors at the VA, who basically confirmed the rumors, and said the unit is being realigned because of tightening budget constraints in the VA.

But it's not a done deal, and members of the Veterans Advisory Committee, along with Rep. Howard Berman, D-Mission Hills, and Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Woodland Hills, who met with Principi before his meeting with the vets, came away feeling that the VA secretary may well decide to rescue the Sepulveda CARE unit.

``He came with an open mind and he left with one,'' said Berman, who lauded Principi for responding so quickly to his invitation last week to come and visit with the vets at Sepulveda.

Former U.S. Rep Bobbi Fiedler, who has been championing the vets' causes at Sepulveda, also thought Principi would listen to the advice of his closest aides, which she and others in the private meeting said were in favor of keeping the popular CARE program staffed at Sepulveda.

``The secretary was here to face the vets directly and get educated about the problems here, and I'm sure he'll become more educated in the future by his staff,'' Fiedler said.

Many of the vets, like World War II Army nurse Mildred Novotny, a patient in the CARE unit, weren't so sure, though.

``I didn't come out of that meeting feeling any better about the program remaining open at Sepulveda than I did walking in,'' she said.

Bill Robb, a Korean vet, summed up the general feeling: If the government has billions to bail out Afghanistan and other Third World countries, it should have a few million somewhere to bail out a popular program some old vets have come to look on as their lifeline.

``You can't ask 70- and 80-year-old people to drive all the way to West L.A. for the services they're getting right now in their back yard,'' Robb said.

``But if I was a betting man, right now, I'd bet on the 405 (freeway).''

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

(color) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi visited the Sepulveda VA on Tuesday to talk with local veterans, who fear their special CARE unit will be closed and who want their gym reopened. Vets appreciated Principi's visit.