[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 29 (Tuesday, February 14, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E346-E347]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   NATIONAL SALUTE TO HOSPITALIZED VETERANS HIGHLIGHTS PT PHONE HOME 
                                PROJECT

                                 ______


                       HON.G.V.(SONNY)MONTGOMERY

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 14, 1995
  Mr. MONTGOMERY. Mr. Speaker, today is the Department of Veterans 
Affairs' [VA] 22nd 
[[Page E347]] Annual National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans. The 
program honors hospitalized veterans who face unique day-to-day 
challenges. This is the one day of the year that the local community is 
asked to visit or pay special tribute to our hospitalized veterans. If 
friends and relatives can't visit hospitalized veterans today, I hope 
they will call them.
  In connection with this special program, I want to bring to the 
attention of my colleagues a project that has been underway for some 
time to provide patient bedside telephones--what most people consider a 
necessity--in VA medical centers. Anyone who has ever been a patient in 
a hospital or visited someone in a hospital knows that communicating 
with friends and family can be a very healing medication.
  The Communication Workers of America, the International Brotherhood 
of Electrical Workers, and the Pioneers of Telecommunications are 
donating their labor to complete many of the telephone projects now in 
progress. Mr. Frank Dosio heads the project and calls it PT Phone Home. 
The project is a cooperative effort among local telephone companies, 
telecommunications unions, PT Phone Home and the VA. The entire VA 
inpatient hospital system should have bedside phone service no later 
than December 1996.
  VA facilities have office and operation telephone systems, however, 
telephone communication for patients was only available at a limited 
number of pay telephones in the hospitals. The expense of installing 
room telephones was a determining factor in not making in-room 
telephones available. With limited resources, the VA opted to focus on 
quality equipment, staff, and facilities and had to defer availability 
of private local telephones for patients. In recent years, the goal has 
been to make telephones available as new facilities were constructed.
  The massive undertaking of making telephones available to more 
veterans who are patients now requires a considerable amount of 
planning and financing. One of the most important features about the 
current and comprehensive project, among others, is the help that is 
being provided by the local telecommunications labor force in the 
places where the VA facilities are located. The communications workers 
have donated valuable labor on their weekends and days off. And some 
communities have conducted local fund raisers for these worthwhile 
installations. These contributions say volumes about the goodwill our 
citizens and communities have for veterans.
  Many of these veterans have spouses who cannot travel to the 
hospital. The telephone is, in many cases, the only means of finding 
out the condition and feelings of their loved ones.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to commend everyone who has been involved in this 
project, especially the leadership of Frank Dosio and those who have 
assisted him. I have heard nothing but favorable comments from veteran 
patients throughout the country, and I urge Secretary Brown to make 
certain that every hospital in the VA system has bedside telephone 
service as soon as possible.


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