Washington State VA "Blow it up from the inside and blame it on the staff."

Fears for local VA's future aired
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin - Walla-Walla,WA,USA
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."
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