Sen. Tillis updates the Wilmington VA Clinic issues

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — As of September 10th, it has been almost six months since the water at the Wilmington VA Clinic has been unusable. Officials say that facility cost at least 280 thousand dollars in rent per month. We spoke with Senator Thom Tillis in Washington for an update.

When asked what can be done about going after the facility’s landlord, Senator Thom Tillis said the priority right now is making sure the individual Veterans are okay. “I think we need to do that,” Senator Tillis said. “But to me, as a member of the Senate, I don’t want to get distracted from what I’m focused on and that’s providing service to Veterans.”

We’ve asked the same question to Senator Richard Burr and Representative Walter Jones and got similar conversations. No one appears to have a definitive answer on the government stepping in to fix the water issues at the Wilmington VA Clinic.

Senator Tillis says the Veterans are the priority while the Veterans Affairs administration deals with the VA Clinic.

“We’ve made an inquiry into the Veterans Administration to see where they are getting to the facts,” Senator Tillis said. “As far as I’m concerned, until the problem is solved, we have to move heaven and earth to make sure veterans get the care that they need thorugh non-VA providers.”

Senator Tillis says there is a marine in his Greenville office waiting for phone calls and that Veterans should call the office as soon as they get the runaround from Veterans Affairs.

You can reach the office via his website, or by calling (252) 329-0371

As of this report, WWAY is still waiting on new water test results.