Meetings to be scheduled for veterans concerns

SPOKANE – Two members of the state’s congressional delegation will hold town hall-styled meetings in October and November relating to veterans.

The meetings will take place in Spokane and Walla Walla; the times, days and days have yet to be announced.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Shoreline, will join the Department of Veterans Affairs for the public sessions.

The meetings at the request of McMorris Rodgers will provide forums for veterans to voice their concerns about wait times, limited health care access, harm cared by the new electronic health record system, reduction of services and more.

“We are pleased the VA has agreed to hear directly from veterans in Eastern Washington and answer their questions,” Rodgers said. “For months, we have heard from veterans and providers frustrated by the new electronic health record system and the rumors of services being reduced at the facilities they rely on for care.

“It is imperative that VA’s Central Office leadership understands the struggles veterans and front-line providers deal with every day at these facilities. The botched roll-out of the new electronic health record, and years of attempts to cut care and services, has undermined trust and made providers’ jobs immeasurably harder.

“Department leadership needs to hear directly from veterans about these issues and then act immediately to implement real solutions.”

Earlier this year, the two lawmakers rejected a Veterans Administration request to cut services at the Jonathan M. Wainwright VA Medical Center in Walla Walla.