New Orleans veteran to VA: We need our hospital

Flooding from Hurricane Katrina caused the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in New Orleans to close down. Delays have pushed back completion of construction of a new facility by more than a year.

And that’s made things difficult for Army veteran Gayle Clark, who pleaded with VA officials July 6 to open the new hospital as soon as possible.

“(The) VA (hospital), we need it,” said Clark during a July 6 American Legion town hall meeting at Post 175 in Metairie, La. “I’m standing out there: ‘Open, open, open.’ Please. We need it. I’ve had seven hospitalizations since Katrina. I love my VA hospital here in New Orleans. I don’t get care anywhere else – not even in another VA hospital – the way I got it here. I want my hospital open. I need it.”

Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System CEO and Director Fernando Rivera Jr., who took his current position in January, was at the town hall meeting and assured Clark and others in attendance that the $1 billion project is about 70 percent complete. The center is in the process of hiring staff and reviewing policies; Rivera said the plan is to work through the end of year and into 2016 and see the facility’s first patient shortly after that.

“We have the direct responsibility of serving 66,000 veterans in Southeast Louisiana,” Rivera said. “That’s our No. 1 priority: How can we take care of those veterans that we’re serving now as fast as we can with the highest quality of service – while at the same time we work hard to open up the new hospital. It’s difficult to go for over a decade without having …. a VA medical center that will serve our veterans in the region. We’re working feverishly to do it.”

The dozens who attended the town hall included Department of Louisiana Commander Les Cromwell, local Legionnaires, VA staff and representatives from the offices of Sens. David Vitter and Bill Cassidy. The setting presented the opportunity for area veterans to voice their concerns and praise for VA staff in the area.

Clark said she’s had issues with VA’s Choice Program, holding up a stack of papers she said has been the result of attempting to schedule one appointment through the program. “That needs to be reworked completely,” she said. “It took from the third of March to the third of April … to get (my) consult into the system. It took another 38 days for me to get an appointment.”

Rivera said he agreed with Clark but said that because VA has to buy so much care in the community, “coordinating that purchased care is the No. 1 challenge. (And) in some instances, the capacity in the community just isn’t there because we’re using it.” Rivera said that once the hospital is open, the Choice Program should be working within the 30-day window it was intended to follow.

“Right now, it’s a challenge,” Rivera said. “We have some more kinks to work out. The big challenge is connecting the dots.”

During the meeting, Legionnaire James A. Mitchell praised Rivera for his work thus far and “hitting the ground running,” and said he liked the direction the center’s management team is headed.

Progress also has been made in handling Veterans Benefits Administration claims, said Casey Kvale, assistant service center manager at the VA Regional Office in New Orleans. A claims inventory of more than 15,000 with an average age of 280 days has been reduced to 4,600 claims with an average age of 100 days in the past two and a half years.

“Our staff in our office is over 50 percent veterans,” Kvale said. “They’re invested in the mission. For the past two and half years they’ve been working mandatory overtime to ensure that we drive down those numbers.”

Kvale said his staff can’t take full credit for that improvement and cited the work of Legion service officers who file Fully Developed Claims on behalf of veterans – leading to quicker decisions by VA. “We do owe The American Legion a huge debt of gratitude for making sure that happens,” Kvale said.

Rivera said that the Legion was one of VA’s strongest advocates and thanked it for the support it provides. Past National Commander Bill Detweiler, who practices law in New Orleans and represents the Legion on the Louisiana Veterans Affairs Commission, said that relationship is critical.

“We all like to say that the Legion is the best advocate that the VA has. In a time of need, when it’s necessary, we have to be the worst adversary. But we work together, we try to come together, (and) we try to work for the benefit of the veteran. We want the veterans to get what they’re due.”

The Legion will conduct a Veterans Benefits Center at Post 175 starting at noon today. The hours are noon-8 p.m. today, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday. Attendees can get help with scheduling VA appointments, filling out claims for benefits, answers to GI Bill questions and general enrollment in the VA system.

“We hope that veterans will take advantage (of the services),” Detweiler said. “Come and let people help you. We’re all in this together.”