
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 10, 1992                   TAG: 9203100354
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VETERANS' GROUPS WAITING, WATCHING OUSTER OF VA MANAGEMENT NOT ADVISED YET

Representatives of veteran service organizations say they are not calling for the removal of top management at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, as a VA employee suggested last week.

But one representative said if relations between top management and a government employee union at the Salem VA continue to deteriorate "there may not be any other choice."

"We've certainly not preferred to become part of these issues, but we have a moral and legal obligation to protect the interest of veterans," said Roy Spicer, managing national service officer with the Disabled American Veterans.

"Any time you have a situation where there are morale problems and unrest among employees like there appears to be, it can't help but have an impact on the delivery of patient care."

Veterans met Sunday with Clark Graninger, Salem VA director, in part to discuss concerns raised in recent weeks by the American Federation of Government Employees local at the medical center. Employees' complaints focused on low morale and a stressful work environment that they said has led to poor patient care.

The complaints were linked to the move next month to a new $50 million facility that will consolidate acute medical and surgical beds into one building.

An employee said in an interview with the newspaper last week that the recent clamor was an attempt by the union and service organizations to force top officials out.

"I'm unaware of any concerted effort on the part of veteran service organizations to remove management of the hospital at this time," Spicer. "That is not to say that there could not in the future."

Rick O'Dell, who heads Virginia's Office of Veterans Affairs, said there was concern for patient care but "we're not interested in involving ourselves in a labor dispute out there."

Organizations met with Graninger last week to discuss issues concerning outpatient care for veterans in Southwest Virginia, including the rural health care project, O'Dell said.

"The VA has been so severely funded in the past 12 years," he said. "Cuts have been deep and we're aware of a lot of complaints. A lot flows from budgetary constraints."

Bob Bowen, state commander for the American Legion, said he'd be "less than truthful" if he said he wasn't concerned about the situation at the Salem medical center.

"Inasmuch as it has the potential of affecting quality health care - that would be my concern," said Bowen, of Woodbridge. "We wave no flags on either side of this dispute. But the byproduct of that process appears to be impacting on the quality of health care there at the hospital.

"I'm terribly concerned about that."

by CNB