Fayetteville VA town hall draws large crowd
FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- More than 100 veterans packed the third floor auditorium at the Fayetteville VA Medical Center Friday afternoon. It was standing room only for two town hall meetings where veterans had a chance to speak uninterrupted in front of VA leadership, including the facility's director, Elizabeth Goolsby.
Goolsby first spoke about the latest major change at the facility-the emergency room closure. Friday marked the first day the ER turned into a 12 hour urgent care facility, after a contract dispute led to there not being enough doctors to staff The announcement was made Thursday, and Goolsby reiterated that the indefinite move was made for patient safety.
"It's absolutely indicative of the care that veterans have received, (and ) it's a disgrace," said Kathleen Volandt, the state director for Concerned Vets for America who's been attending VA town halls. "Senior leadership clearly knew that they were running out of ER doctors or contractors. This is not 'Oh we woke up and all the ER doctors disappeared.' They knew."
"Someone literally needs to get fired over this one."
Veterans said they remain frustrated with unanswered questions about the ER situation.
"What is the difference between Urgent Care and Emergency Room [conditions]?" asked Katherine W. Williams, a Desert Storm veteran, following the meeting. " That has not been defined to us."
"Are we still faced with another long bill from [Cape Fear Valley Medical Center]? Do fee-base cover us? What do we do and where do we go?"
When veterans got a hold of the microphone, the meeting had tense moments.The first veteran to speak was a former VA employee who blasted the director for "shutting the door" in his face Monday when he said he tried to reach her for what he described as a crisis situation. When he accused the VA of lying to and discriminating against patients, she shut the notion down.
"We have no secret lists," Goolsby said. "We have been transparent. We will always tell the truth."
Some veterans took time to compliment doctors and certain specialty care, but still complained of long wait times to schedule appointments. It's an issue that's put Fayetteville at the top of an unfavorable list, ranking it as a facility with some of the longest appointment wait times in the country.
The Fayetteville VA also services a 21 county area, and is home to the largest concentration of veterans in the nation.
When one veteran complained about having to wait three months for primary care, Goolsby said the issue would be taken care of immediately.
"If you're not happy with your primary care provider, we will change your primary care provider," she said.
Goolsby also reminded the crowd that newly leased space in both Fayetteville and Jacksonville should help alleviate those wait time issues as early as November.
Other concerns included access to Goolsby when junior leadership did not respond to certain issues, and overall customer service.
Tina Turner Jones brought her toddler with her and told the crowd she'd been waiting more than a year to get through to a benefits specialist and was recently told to stop calling about her status.
"She [operator] told me 'Don't call anymore, you'll get it when you get it. You'll know when you get approved.'"
Goolsby and a director from Winston-Salem's facility explained that type of interaction is not condoned.
"Veterans deserve to be treated with dignity and respect," Goolsby said.
Goolsby often directed veterans to the back of the room where Kim Johnson, an administrator, would take their name, number and concern and try to coordinate a time to resolve the problem. Others were able to get claims processed immediately in a room outside the town hall.
Goolsby also encouraged veterans to get in touch with her if they continued to have certain problems, but many complained that she is not accessible on a regular basis.
"In my personal opinion, this is Veterans Affairs attempt to, I think they're trying to toot their own horn to pretend or make themselves believe that they're actually doing something," said Ronnie Mayo, a veteran who brought his Vietnam-vet father to the meeting.
"Why should we go to a war to put our life in danger only to come back here to the same problems?" asked Williams. "These problem have been recurring. This has been going on for awhile."
At the end of the first meeting, Goolsby noted the public town halls would be scheduled quarterly to keep communication open between VA leadership and veterans.
