Further proof that the VA not only needs an overhaul, but some of the officials belong in jail for misappropriations of funds and endangering patients.
This is absolutely deplorable. Aside from being deprived of life-saving care on the infamous VA waiting list, you can still expect the same shitty treatment at your local veterans’ hospital.
From Watchdog.org
Veterans at the Shreveport, La., Veterans Administration hospital have been going without toothbrushes, toothpaste, pajamas, sheets and blankets while department officials spend money on new Canadian-made furniture, televisions to run public service announcements and solar panels, a Watchdog investigation has revealed.
Sources inside the hospital told Watchdog.org that patients also have had to contend with substandard care, as many nurses spend less time on work than on cell phones, iPods or accessing personal data on hospital computers.
“It shouldn’t be like this. These are our veterans,” one employee said. “When I saw those solar panels out there and they waste money on things like new TVs that just play (public service) announcements, it really made me angry.”
According to the VA, the department spent $74,412 on 24 flat screen TVs for “patient/employee information” — one 50 inches wide and the others 42 inches. The furniture cost $134,082 and the solar project was approximately $3 million.
……By the weekend, the hospital runs out while waiting for its supply of laundry to arrive from 125 miles away, where it was cleaned at another VA hospital in Pineville, La.
The VA said it doesn’t contract with a local vendor because the employees in Pineville are veterans, but it did not address why it would spend $3 million on solar panels to help the environment yet condone burning millions of gallons of gasoline.
……The VA said in a statement that laundry is inspected before it is delivered. To this, the employee laughed in amazement.
“I can’t tell you how many times a blanket will be opened and there will still be the electrode pads stuck to it from the last patient,” he said. “And the pajamas still have tape on them from the last person’s IV.”
Which means they have not been properly cleaned.
Kathy Scott, a former nurse at the facility, echoed the first employee’s complaints. She recalled, “I know there were times when we didn’t have any sheets and we would put a pillowcase over the patient.”
……Scott said she left her job in December 2012, afraid that “something bad would eventually happen to one of the patients and I could be implicated” just by merely working the same shift as some of her inattentive colleagues.
“Nurse assistants were allowed to sit around and disappear and talk on the phone or listen to headphones,” she said. “Supervisors never supervised and didn’t know what was going on on the floor and didn’t want to hear about it. If I wanted something done, I had to do it myself.
“I didn’t want to lose my license I’ve had all these years,” Scott said. “If you can’t trust people you work with, you are in a bad situation.”
She recalled some nurses sitting at a computer doing personal business for an entire eight-hour shift while aides refused to bathe patients.
Scott said aides complained that patients often waited hours to be bathed. She said one aide complained that it was useless to keep patients clean early in a shift. The aide told her, “If I have to do it now, I will just have to do it again before the end of my shift.”
A third employee confirmed the lack of nursing oversight. She recalled a patient who was left unattended in a room for nearly 24 hours, wishing to take a shower but unable to make the trek alone to the hallway where the facilities were located.
Instead, a nurse merely dropped towels onto his in-room sink, and told the patient to wash himself.
“Nobody paid attention to him,” the third employee said. “Nurses just shrugged their shoulders.”
……In response to allegations regarding lack of care, the VA said in a statement: “Each veteran has an assigned registered nurse to ensure he/she receives appropriate and timely care. In addition, nursing staff conduct veteran care rounds on all inpatient units at designated intervals to ensure needed care is provided.”
Translation: that’s our prescribed talking points and we’re sticking to them.
U.S. Rep. John Fleming, R-La., whose district includes Shreveport, said, “The care of our veterans is crucial and has been under an intense microscope since reports of veterans dying while waiting for care.”
Fleming said he has “engaged with” the hospital’s interim director about “concerns” at Overton Brooks.
What in the hell is going to be done about this maltreatment besides being “concerned” and “engaged”? Any staff recognized as incompetent, uncaring, and derelict should be fired like ASAP. Funds allocated to the VA should first be used for proper care and amenities for the veterans, instead of having to rely on donations alone. Those items should be part of the VA’s inventory, period. The priorities of these corrupt officials is proof that nothing has changed in the VA system.
Reblogged this on Rowan County Veterans Corner.