Veterans fight to keep Civil War-era hospital open in South Dakota's picturesque Black Hills
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Veterans in South Dakota are vehemently pushing back against a plan from federal officials to close a historic hospital campus in a remote corner of the Black Hills and relocate its services to a bigger city.
Officials with the Department of Veterans Affairs have proposed shuttering their Hot Springs campus at the historic Battle Mountain Sanitarium and transitioning their long-term care services to Rapid City.
Many of the region's veterans have longed pushed back against the restructuring, arguing the tranquil environment offered in a town of 3,500 people is crucial for vulnerable veterans and cannot be replicated outside of Hot Springs.
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VA officials say moving the services north to Rapid City would help attract physicians, better accommodate female and single-parent veterans and link patients with job opportunities and occupational training.