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VETS ANGERED BY MENTAL HEALTH BED CLOSURES
AT WALLA WALLA VA -- Some staff and former
employees
say new Director is working to shut down the
entire facility.
Angry vets speak with Washington Governor
Christine Gregoire (rt).
For more about the Walla Walla VA, use the VA
Watchdog search engine... click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearc
h.php?q=walla&op=and
We have two stories.
Be sure to watch video of the first story at the
link below.
First story
here...
http://www.keprtv.com/news/27317594.html
Story below:
NOTE: If you wish to post a comment,
go to the end of the story and use our new "Comment"
feature.
-------------------------
Vets Ask Governor for Help After VA Shuts Down
Mental Health Beds
By Rudabeh Shahbazi
WALLA WALLA-- Veterans are ready for a fight, after the VA closed down the
only urgent care mental health beds in the region.
The VA says it's temporary, but vets don't buy it. They confronted
Governor Chris Gregoire about their concerns yesterday.
It's been less than two months since an inspector swept into the VA and
closed down its nursing home, blaming the aging infrastructure and staff
incompetence.
Now the VA has closed down the facility's only two urgent care psychiatry
beds and its one detox bed. The VA says both closures are temporary, but
vets aren't buying that answer. They tell action news it's all a lie.
"This is absolutely unacceptable," said Roxanne Hinkle, of Vets of Foreign
Wars.
 "We
kind of see a pattern here, of deception and intent on the part of the VA
to close this hospital as soon as they can," said Ronald L. Fry.
"I don't know what he's smoking, but we need them beds," said Kenneth
Silver.
They took their complaints to the governor when she was in town
campaigning Friday. The face-to-face confrontation wasn't on the agenda.
"We're not taking care of the veterans that we already have, and now we
have vets coming home by the hundreds, by the thousands, and we need to
take care," said Hinkle. "Because when they said, i do, and the government
said they would, we trusted them to follow through."
They say it's crucial vets, new and old, have a plce to go in a mental
health or substance abuse emergencies.
"The nightmares, they are so intense for a veteran," said Fry. "They are
with them all the time, those kinds of thoughts and visions."
Action News called up VA spokesperson for specifics. What part of the
building didn't meet code?
WE DIDN'T GET AN ANSWER -- JUST THAT IT DIDN'T MEET CODE. SO WE
ASKED WHEN THE NURSING HOME AND THE URGENT MENTAL CARE BEDS WILL BE BACK
ONLINE.
THEY DIDN'T KNOW THAT, EITHER.
Buddy-- These veterans can either be treated in a medical environment, or
be ignored to the detriment of the communities they live in and be dealt
with in the judicial system. But they will have to be dealt with, one way
or the other.
THE VA SAYS THEY'RE REFERRING VETS TO OTHER FACILITIES TO MEET THEIR
NEEDS--
AND THEY'RE WORKING TO OPEN A STATE NURSING HOME IN PLACE OF THE ONE THAT
CLOSED LAST MONTH.
THEY SAY THEY ALSO HOPE TO HAVE A NEW MENTAL HEALTH FACILITY IN 2009--
AND THAT THEY'RE WORKING ON AN OUTPATIENT FACILITY AND A SPECIALTY CARE
CLINIC PROJECTED TO OPEN IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS.
-------------------------
Second story here...
http://www.union-bu
lletin.com/articles/2008/08/29/local_news/
080829local01vabrouhaha.txt
Story below:
-------------------------
Fears for local VA's future aired
Local veterans and VA employees met
Thursday with a state official and members of U.S. Sen. Patty Murray's
staff.
By SHEILA HAGAR of the Walla Walla
Union-Bulletin
A mixture of fear and distrust has replaced the pride and pleasure of
serving veterans that employees of the Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial
Veterans Affairs Medical Center once had, according to at least one former
VA employee.
"It's toxic. That's how I would say it. People who have been there for 20
years are getting notices of 30 days," said James Bernasconi.
Bernasconi was responding to a question from those who had come to Walla
Walla to get some answers about the VA's future here.
Bernasconi was surrounded by more than two dozen others who assembled at
the National Guard Armory on Thursday afternoon to talk to members of Sen.
Patty Murray's staff and John Lee, director of state Department of Veteran
Affairs.
The discussion was moderated by Don Schack, commander of Blue Mountain
Veterans Coalition.
When asked about employee morale, Bernasconi replied, "It's the worst I've
seen ... Max Lewis has no regard for individual employees. They have no
idea what's coming."
Bernasconi has a measure of safety several others in the room could only
wish for. The budget analyst retired at the beginning of the month after
working 33 years for the Walla Walla VA. Also a veteran, he continues to
serve as vice president of the local chapter of the American Federation of
Government Employees union.
It was just over a year ago the
mental-health unit at the local VA was considered by some in management to
be one of the best in the nation, he explained. Now many believe it to be
slated for closure.
Bernasconi believes it began with the arrival of former Director Sharon
Helman. "They brought Sharon Helman in to quiet the community," he said.
"She had no management skills, but she quieted things down."
Under Helman's reorganization in July 2007, department chiefs were taken
out of their positions and departments were left to "intentionally fail,"
most especially the nursing home, Bernasconi said.
Others spoke of the rapid shut down of the Community Living Center in
July, a feat accomplished in three days. A woman who identified herself as
a volunteer at the VA told of one man rushed to Kadlec Medical Center in
Richland three days after his discharge from the nursing home. "Now he has
all these bills and he doesn't know who's going to pay them," she added.
"It seems like a brilliant plan," said veteran Russ Acord. "Blow it up
from the inside and blame it on the staff."
Acord, a full-time engineering student, receives medical care at the VA
and has friends who work there, he said.
He blames Dennis "Max" Lewis, the Veterans Affairs regional network
director, and Helman for "pulling this VA apart as quickly as possible,
but they are simply following orders and being paid well to do so.
"Sharon Helman and Max Lewis are brilliant," Acord said. "We shouldn't
underestimate them."
Others, many unwilling to identify themselves to the newspaper, spoke of
their fears about the VA hospital's future. "Who can I call? Where am I
supposed to go?" asked one veteran, who said she has mental-health issues.
And mental health is where money and focus needs to be -- returning
soldiers are not going to come home the same, said Roxanne Hinkle of Blue
Mountain Veterans Coalition. "They'll have traumatic brain injuries and
serious psychiatric issues. We've got to stop the shutting down of that
particular area right now."
Civilian psychiatrists don't know how to deal with the problems we have,"
one veteran noted. "You close that (mental-health unit), you have a bunch
of people with psychiatric problems that are pissed off."
Managers with long, commendable work histories have been fired recently as
scapegoats, while others have fled the situation by quitting, noted a
former employee. And staff members displaced from other areas are being
slotted into spots they are not yet qualified for, she said. "This will
hurt lives."
Rumors are flying that specialty clinics such as podiatry, urology and
gastrointestinal are on the brink of being shut down, the woman added.
"They'll have it closed up before you get out of your committee meetings,"
one man told Murray's staff.
The group spoke, as well, of a gratitude for what this VA has done in the
past. "I'm alive today because of this VA," said Tim Dewald, former
homeless veteran and now a case manager for Corps of Recovery Discovery.
Dewald paused for a moment to choke back tears. "I'm very protective of it
... something needs to be done right away."
It's this sort of spirit that will hold the line for those who will soon
need VA care, Lee told the crowd. "To the Vietnam vets in this room, God
bless you. They said, 'John, you have to make sure we don't screw it up
this time.'"
The city of Walla Walla has matching passion for its piece of that
picture, said Joshua Jacobson, legislative assistant to Murray.
When his boss saw Walla Walla's commitment to saving the VA in 2004, she
responded with her own zeal, Jacobson told those at the armory.
The combined efforts took the facility off the closure list, and Murray
will continue to hold the VA's "feet to the fire," he said.
He and Judy Olson, from Murray's Spokane office, joined Lee in Walla Walla
to gather information and determine action. The group spent more than
three hours on the VA campus before coming to the meeting at the armory.
In a later interview, Jacobson reiterated Murray's "long-standing record
of involvement and advocacy in the Walla Walla area, and she remains
steadfast in keeping a meaningful presence of the VA in Walla Walla."
The next steps will be to sift through the rumors and innuendos, clarify
the situation and decide on a plan of action, he said. "But we're not
going to put this off for a long time. This is not a situation we're
taking lightly.
Murray's office is "very concerned about the level of anxiety among
veterans and the employees who serve them." The senator is paying close
attention and will be pressing the VA for more answers, Jacobson said.
The high degree of community activism surrounding the issue is unusual, he
continued. "This VA has a core unlike any other VA I've ever seen. The
community is incredibly supportive of the mission, it's tied to the
historical legacy and the care that's been provided and in a large part
they are responsible for preventing it from being shut down the first
time."
That activism will remain critical for this situation, Jacobson said.
-------------------------
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