On a two-day visit to Atlanta Monday, VA Secretary Robert McDonald gave Atlanta VA Medical Center director Leslie Wiggins a ringing endorsement, despite meeting with veterans who have been highly critical of her leadership since she took charge of the hospital in May 2013.
“By all measures Leslie is off to a great start,” McDonald said. “Talking to members of Congress, talking to employees, talking to stakeholders, they see a change in the leadership. They see the increase in resources. They see the wait times are down. They see things are moving in the right direction.”
He said: “I trust her and it looks like everyone else does as well.”
McDonald’s statements came just hours after he met with two veterans who serve on Wiggins’ advisory council and have been critics of her leadership. They describe a culture at the Atlanta VA that is too often indifferent to the needs of veterans.
“For him to say Leslie Wiggins is doing a good job, it’s a 100 percent fiction,” said Bob Teets, a Marine veteran. “It’s ridiculous.”
Teets and veteran Sherman Howard met with McDonald Monday morning after the secretary extended an invitation to them on Saturday. Both veterans have previously expressed their concerns about Wiggins and the leadership at the Atlanta VA to McDonald through phone calls or text messages. Teets recently started a Facebook group to air concerns about the hospital and its leadership.
Both men had positive comments about McDonald and said they thought he was serious about changing the VA, which has been buffeted by charges of mismanagement and poor patient care. Teets said he trusted McDonald and said believed he was there to shake things up for veterans.
Teets seemed disheartened later in the day when he heard the secretary’s endorsement of Wiggins.
“Just shock,” Teets said. “It’s like he didn’t hear a thing we said in the whole meeting. Leadership was brought up. It’s just amazing.”
Wiggins, who rarely grants press interviews, did not respond to an email request for comment, delivered through the hospital’s spokesman.
Howard, a Navy veteran, said he’s told McDonald about leadership problems at VA Atlanta that serve to scare away good doctors and staff, negatively impacting the care available to veterans.
McDonald made his comments Monday afternoon after a packed morning schedule at the Atlanta VA that included a meeting with Congressional leaders and their staffs as well as leaders from veterans service groups. McDonald also held a town hall with employees at the medical center. He’s been touring VA facilities across the country and meeting with veterans groups and employees since taking charge of the scandal-plagued agency in late July.
McDonald said the agency, which includes 152 medical centers across the country, is moving aggressively to address poor managers. He said they are moving as quickly as possible to hold leaders accountable and remove them when they fail.
“My job is to get the right leaders on the bus and get them in the right seats on the bus,” McDonald said. “I’ve got Leslie here now. I’m confident in her. The veterans service organizations I met with are confident with her leadership. Senator (Johnny) Isakson, who I’ve spoken with, is confident with her leadership. Members of Congress who are here today are confident with her leadership. I think we should all get behind her and help her get the right people on her bus and get them in the right seats on her bus and I think we’ll be fine.”
McDonald’s visit to Atlanta will conclude Tuesday with a recruiting pitch to medical students from Morehouse School of Medicine as he tries to put a dent in patient wait times by hiring more doctors. He will also tour VA facilities at Fort McPherson.
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