Budget cuts and layoffs continue to negatively affect Milwaukee military veterans who use services provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
That was the consensus at a weekend roundtable in Milwaukee convened by Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat.
For about ninety minutes on Saturday, the Democrat heard from veterans, past and current VA employees, and advocates for vets.
Ryan McCants served in the U.S. Army for 11 years, with deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa, sustaining what he calls pretty gnarly injuries in Afghanistan. He said he makes quite a bit of use of VA care, for both physical problems and mental health concerns.
McCants praised the work of VA nurses and other health care providers. But he said access to care has become more difficult over the last few months, and he has had to try to book appointments at least 30 days out.
“Specifically, I just called three days ago to try to schedule a new appointment with my therapist. I can’t get in until August, mid-August," he shared.
McCants said sometimes the VA has to point him toward the agency’s emergency services. “But it’s crazy we have to go through it like that,” he said, as greater use of emergency services can be more expensive for taxpayers and take up resources typically meant for urgent health problems.
Another Army veteran, Kristi Bonnell, spent 24 years on active duty. She’s still a commander with the American Legion and active with the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW.) She said she makes frequent use of the pain and physical therapy clinics at the VA.
But Bonnell said massages for a service-related back injury have been contracted out to community care providers.
“And right now, I’m waiting for a referral to get renewed from February. So, I’m working on that. And, I’ve had to supplement that with paying for myself for those therapies I need for my back," Bonnell said.
Bonnell said she also used to receive, from the VA, massage therapy and chiropractic services, or maybe acupuncture. “Now, I can only have one,” she said.
Bonnell also praised the VA health care staff.
Monica Luecking-David is chapter president of Wisconsin Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals, Local 5000— the nurses union at the Milwaukee VA. She said the training and education the VA provides for nurses is phenomenal. "What I have seen though, on the front line, is we have not hired or replaced most of the staff that has left," she said.
Luecking-David said VA nurses sometimes have to do the less sophisticated work of nursing assistants, including having to go get dining trays for patients. “To me, that’s a waste of resources that could better be utilized providing the staff we need on the units.”
Luecking-David also said in recent months, more nurses have had to transport patients from inpatient wards to therapy, the eye clinic and other locations at the VA because transportation staff are no longer available.
James Stancil is an Army veteran who was terminated from his supply chain job at the VA for 30 days, as Republican President Donald Trump and his advisor Elon Musk made major cuts in several federal agencies. Stancil was later reinstated under a federal court order bringing back thousands of workers.
But he said he and other VA employees are not sure how long their jobs will last. “The morale is (expletive.) The vibe is throughout the building.”
Under orders from Trump, the VA said it’s planning to reduce its workforce by about 15%. What’s known as a Reduction-in-Force (RIF) could affect 80,000 employees.
Baldwin told reporters after the roundtable that job cuts would affect the VA’s essential services. “These are the promises we’ve made to people who donned the uniform, have gone into harm’s way of behalf of all our freedoms. We need to keep those promises.”
Baldwin added, “I, for one, am going to fight back [against the planned job cuts.]"
VA Secretary Doug Collins is promising to bring greater efficiency to the VA, and not to lower the quality of health care. As reported last week by Oregon television station KVAL, Collins said critics of the planned job cuts don’t “know what they are talking about because they have no idea what the plan looks like.” Collins added, “We’re looking at things like interior designers, planning people, people outside the scope of what we do.”
Collins is scheduled to testify before a Senate committee on May 6.
The VA says it will announce its RIF plan next month.
