Boxer Aide Visits Vets’ Hospital

By Andrew Edwards, San Bernardino County Sun, Calif.

Mar. 18–LOMA LINDA — Like Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, Sen. Barbara Boxer has also taken an interest in military and veterans’ hospitals in the wake of the disclosure of problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

In an e-mail, Boxer spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz wrote that a member of the California Democrat’s staff toured the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Medical Center on Wednesday.

Ravitz also wrote that the senator’s staffers also planned to visit, or had already visited, several other medical facilities in California where veterans and active-duty military personnel receive health care.

Boxer’s spokeswoman further wrote that she would decline to make a public statement on the substance of the visits until the senator was fully informed of her staffers’ findings.

Annie Tuttle, spokeswoman for the Loma Linda hospital, said a member from Boxer’s staff spent about 90 minutes there Wednesday. The staffer met with hospital executives, members of veterans’ service groups and talked with hospital workers who guide new combat veterans through the government’s health-care system.

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