HARRY HUGHES, Governor

2153

other clinics combine their specific treatments to help
achieve the goal of rehabilitation for the patients; and

WHEREAS, The Fort Howard Hospital has an active
Audiology and Speech Pathology Department, an Orthotics
Laboratory, a fully equipped Coronary Care Unit/Intensive
Care Unit, a Respiratory Care Unit, a Satellite Hemodialysis
Unit, and a diversified alcohol treatment program, which is
operated in conjunction with the Baltimore Veterans'
Administration Hospital; and

WHEREAS, Ward and clinic environment experience is
available to students from vocational training schools,
community colleges, and universities in nursing, physical
therapy, psychology, social work, audiology and speech
pathology; and

WHEREAS, Approximately 500 employees complete a team of
physicians, nurses, and dentists, and a full range of
ancillary health care professional staff, supplemented by
medical consultants. A large number of volunteers from
service, civic, and fraternal organizations in the area
donate their services to patient care; and

WHEREAS, The hospital is affiliated with the Schools of
Medicine of Johns Hopkins University and the University of
Maryland; and

WHEREAS, The Fort Howard Hospital and other VA medical
facilities at Baltimore and Perry Point, Maryland;
Martinsburg, West Virginia; and Washington, D.C.; constitute
a VA Medical District. These hospitals work together as a
unit to deliver health care to the veteran patient in a more
efficient, effective, and economical manner; and

WHEREAS, The Fort Howard Hospital has an ideal
location, easily accessible to the community, approximately
15 miles south of downtown Baltimore, on 90 landscaped acres
in a beautiful and historical rural setting located on the
waterfront; and

WHEREAS, The location of the hospital is particularly
appropriate for rehabilitation in that it provides
picturesque views of the Chesapeake Bay and the busy
shipping activities that enter Baltimore Harbor and is
adjacent to a county recreational park; and

WHEREAS, The closing of Fort Howard Hospital would
result in a net loss of beds available to veterans at a time
when the demand can be reasonably expected to increase
substantially, and a shortage currently exists; and

WHEREAS, It is incongruous to consider closing a
veterans' hospital thereby reducing the available bed
population when a national survey shows this area as one
needing a new hospital; now, therefore, be it