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Five hundred and fourteen days. That’s how long it took to get the emergency department at the Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center in my home state of Kansas reopened after it was closed in 2013 due to a staffing shortage.
Only after numerous phone calls, letters, meetings and more were we able to navigate through the bureaucracy of the Department of Veterans Affairs. For nearly two years, our veterans in Topeka and across Kansas were left without emergency facilities in the face of VA immovability, lacking the care they are owed and deserve.
This is a story told across the country. The VA remains inefficient, unaccountable and completely lacking transparency. One in three veterans seeking VA care have died while waiting, equating to hundreds of thousands of lives.
We promise the brave men and women fighting for our country that if you take care of us, we will take care of you. It’s a unanimous principle nationwide, yet for too many veterans, the sad reality is the VA fails time and again to provide the necessary care.
An unaccountable VA, lost in the bureaucracies of Washington, fails to hold accountable employees who do not perform. Before coming to Congress, I spent 20 years working as a certified public accountant. I knew that if I didn’t do my job well, I could expect consequences. But for too many VA officials, there is no downside to incompetence. Getting the firing process started takes an average of six months to a year — all while veterans continue to suffer the impacts of VA mismanagement.
Read more at ...
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/opinion/2015/07/29/commentary-veterans-deserve-accountable-va/30822629/
Only after numerous phone calls, letters, meetings and more were we able to navigate through the bureaucracy of the Department of Veterans Affairs. For nearly two years, our veterans in Topeka and across Kansas were left without emergency facilities in the face of VA immovability, lacking the care they are owed and deserve.
This is a story told across the country. The VA remains inefficient, unaccountable and completely lacking transparency. One in three veterans seeking VA care have died while waiting, equating to hundreds of thousands of lives.
We promise the brave men and women fighting for our country that if you take care of us, we will take care of you. It’s a unanimous principle nationwide, yet for too many veterans, the sad reality is the VA fails time and again to provide the necessary care.
An unaccountable VA, lost in the bureaucracies of Washington, fails to hold accountable employees who do not perform. Before coming to Congress, I spent 20 years working as a certified public accountant. I knew that if I didn’t do my job well, I could expect consequences. But for too many VA officials, there is no downside to incompetence. Getting the firing process started takes an average of six months to a year — all while veterans continue to suffer the impacts of VA mismanagement.
Read more at ...
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/opinion/2015/07/29/commentary-veterans-deserve-accountable-va/30822629/
Posted in these groups: 
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 24
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Rep. Jenkins nails it. We can blame the unions, but that's looking in the wrong direction. The problem is the Civil Service model. It doesn't work because it makes it too damn difficult to remove bad employees. The new act SHOULD help, but after decades of that system, it'll be a slow boat to turn.
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SSG Dwight Amey MSA, MSL, BS, AS
SGT Jeremiah Brookins, I work for the va in topeka. I retired last year from active army, and when I found out union members cannot be supervisors or managers I quickly decided not to join the union. The biggest problem I see in the civil service system is how the cohesive work environment is impossible to accomplish due to the nature of the contentous relationship. Document this conversation and report this evaluation results. I am for fair treatment, but in some instances the heavy man hours devoted to running the unions effects the work load of the rest of the workforce. I am still learning this strange system, because my military values and work ethics do not seem to operate the same.
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Start with the unions. AFGE has many supervisors and administrators I know terrified and it's too hard to fire the usually VETERAN employees who need firing. We're our own worst enemies sometimes. There should be NO unions in public service.
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Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS
Unfortunately, we have Unions in Public Service because Politicians cannot be trusted to not replace Civil Servants as administrations change. Unions are a necessary evil and a product of the Democratic Process. They are bred of the system we use.
I'm no fan of unions either, but when you have elected officials who will abuse the Power we grant them, a safeguard has to be built. In this case it was unions.
I'm no fan of unions either, but when you have elected officials who will abuse the Power we grant them, a safeguard has to be built. In this case it was unions.
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GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad it is sad that the solution to short staffing was to just shut down a necessary service. The sad truth is that it seems the VA is getting a desired effect: wait long enough the veterans die and the number problem is solved.
This is a horrible thing for a "grateful nation" to do to those who have answered the call to serve in her military forces. They need to put a group of VETERANS in charge of the VA. Having one person in charge of fixing this disaster is a recipe for disaster in itself. Need to have a board consisting of an odd number so there are no tie votes working together with Veterans to fix this disaster. So the real question is what can we as Veterans do to help get it fixed? Unfortunately, this is such a huge disaster that it may be better to tear out the old system entirely and rebuild it from the ground up. The big problem there is how many more vets have to die before the new system is up an running. With things moving at the speed of government, our grand children will have a better chance of seeing it than anyone now serving. Making it worse is that because of the difficulty involved in actually repairing the VA, they want to slap a band aid on the problem and hope it goes away. This is not going to be a simple fix. The first thing that is needed is exactly what is mentioned in the title ACCOUNTABILITY. Clean house from the top down. If you are not serving your position effectively, you are out. Once the cancer is removed, begin the healing process bring in well vetted people to fill the positions. People who understand that your customers are the brave men and women who have sacrificed for this nation. Change the culture of the VA. Veterans are not a number, they are people. Great people. Set that as your VA culture. Now you have a jumping off point, move forward.
This is a horrible thing for a "grateful nation" to do to those who have answered the call to serve in her military forces. They need to put a group of VETERANS in charge of the VA. Having one person in charge of fixing this disaster is a recipe for disaster in itself. Need to have a board consisting of an odd number so there are no tie votes working together with Veterans to fix this disaster. So the real question is what can we as Veterans do to help get it fixed? Unfortunately, this is such a huge disaster that it may be better to tear out the old system entirely and rebuild it from the ground up. The big problem there is how many more vets have to die before the new system is up an running. With things moving at the speed of government, our grand children will have a better chance of seeing it than anyone now serving. Making it worse is that because of the difficulty involved in actually repairing the VA, they want to slap a band aid on the problem and hope it goes away. This is not going to be a simple fix. The first thing that is needed is exactly what is mentioned in the title ACCOUNTABILITY. Clean house from the top down. If you are not serving your position effectively, you are out. Once the cancer is removed, begin the healing process bring in well vetted people to fill the positions. People who understand that your customers are the brave men and women who have sacrificed for this nation. Change the culture of the VA. Veterans are not a number, they are people. Great people. Set that as your VA culture. Now you have a jumping off point, move forward.
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