BY ED COLLINS
President Obama has appointed a new boss for the scandal-ridden Veterans Administration and charged him with promptly cleaning up a host of administrative abuses and bureaucratic bungling.
Robert McDonald, 61, a West Point graduate and former Army Captain in the 82nd Airborne Division was brought in from Procter and Gamble where he served as chief executive officer. He replaces retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki who served as VA chief since 2009.
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Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, said reform at the VA would not be easy. “Those who created the VA scandal will need to be purged, “ he said.
An independent federal investigator originally found that whistle-blower complaints were largely ignored by the respective hospital’s administration. However, now they are pointing out some of the serious deficiencies, frauds and cover-ups that have taken place within the massive bureaucratic system over the years.
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In a recent visit to Lake County, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin said many of the nation’s disabled veterans are being denied the timely care that was promised them.
“Remember what we told them,” he said? “If you hold up your hand and swear to serve this country and be willing to risk your life for America, we will never, ever forget you when you come home.”
“We will be here for you with medical care, help you go to college, and provide a helping hand to start your life. And look what we have today. We are not keeping that promise. We must keep this promise to these men and women,” Durbin said.
He praised the administration at Capt. James Lovell Federal Health Center in North Chicago. He said he has heard only good things about the timeliness and quality of their care there from both area veterans and the sailors at adjacent Great Lakes Naval Station.
The new Lovell Health Center is only one of handful of dual hospitals in the nation that provides medical care to both active duty military personnel and area veterans.
