The report calls for an immediate halt to construction of new VA hospitals and clinics, and launch of a process to begin closing existing facilities.

Canandaigua VA Medical Center employees took time from their lunch break Wednesday to picket outside the VA to raise awareness of potential VA hospital closings. The controversial VA Commission on Care calls for an immediate halt to construction of new VA hospitals and clinics, and launch of a process to begin closing existing facilities.

“Shuttering the largest medical system in the country would leave the VA to be ‘primarily a payor’ for the care veterans would receive from civilian community doctors and health facilities,” according to Stars and Stripes.

VA employees and members of employee union AFGE Local 3306 ralied outside the VA campus at 400 Fort Hill Ave.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 670,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia, including 230,000 workers at the VA.

Full story in Thursday's Messenger