This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 4, 2011 - Four nurses who work at the John Cochran VA Medical Center were the focal point of today's news conference by U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, who touted their "ongoing concerns that are affecting patient care at the facility."
According to Carnahan's staff: "The nurses, who work in the telemetry and intensive care units at Cochran, have experienced chronic problems with response from management to concerns about absent or broken equipment, staffing levels, and other issues relevant to patient care."
Joining Carnahan was U.S. Rep. Bob Filner, D-California, until this week the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. With the Republican takeover of the House, Filner must step down, but is remaining on the panel as the top Democrat.
After a private and public meeting with the nurses and area veterans, Carnahan and Filner traveled to Cochran to tour parts of the facility cited by the nurses for poor care.
According to Carnahan's release, "some of the problems detailed by the nurses include:
- "Equipment, such as oxygen tubing for respiratory assistance, is chronically broken or unavailable;
- "Tools that could provide time-critical diagnoses, such as fundoscopes, are" unavailable;
- There's a lack of disposable equipment in "isolation rooms," which is important in preventing the transmission of infectious diseases from one patient to another;
- "Too few nurses and nursing aides are assigned to too many patients, compromising nurses' ability to provide proper care and resulting in patients going days without baths or clean linens."
The nurses included Wes Gordon, who said he came forward because "these veterans deserve the very best care possible."
As the release explained: "Gordon presented hundreds of emails he had sent to management requesting their attention to these and other problems over the past year -- many of which had gone unanswered. He noted that even the simplest of requests -- applesauce for patients who cannot swallow, and thus need medication ground into soft food -- took over two years to be addressed. And when he brought in his own supply of applesauce, he was immediately reprimanded."
Carnahan, who called such reports "unacceptable," noted that he has been involved in previous probes of Cochran. A field hearing was held last year in the wake of reports that 1,800 veterans may have been exposed to life-threatening diseases because of improperly sterilized dental equipment. Since then, Cochran has changed its sterilization procedures.
"I have been pleased with some of the improvements that have been made in the sterilization process, but it would appear that incident was a symptom of a much larger problem," Carnahan said. "We can't be satisfied with small changes around the edges. We have to get to the bottom of this so that we can make the fundamental changes that clearly are necessary to make sure veterans get the care that they deserve."
At issue now is what happens next, and how much impact Carnahan will have as a minority member of Congress. Carnahan does not sit on the veterans panel.
A spokeswoman said Carnahan plans to keep public attention on veterans' care, and Cochran, and he cited today's event as an example. The congressman also is pressing the veterans committee's new GOP chairman, Rep. Jeff Miller of Florida, to pay attention to the matter and hold a follow-up hearing in St. Louis.
Carnahan's staff cited veterans' centers in Florida and elsewhere that are deemed to be far superior to what is available for veterans at sites in Missouri, including Cochran. Carnahan is banking on more attention after reports come out this spring from two federal agencies probing Cochran: the Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office.
Carnahan and Filner also are asking why an internal VA investigation of Cochran, reportedly finished in November, has yet to be made public.