Murray: Conditions ‘unconscionable’

VA hospitals and clinics around the Northwest have a wide array of maintenance problems such as leaking roofs, mold, peeling paint and broken tiles. And, in one instance, bats.

But the large colony of Mexican wing-tailed bats in the White City, Ore., Rehabilitation Center isn’t necessarily a bad thing, an internal audit of the VA’s 1,400 facilities contends. The bats help keep down problems with bugs.

“It’s unconscionable,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Wednesday after reviewing the report. “It shocks me in my heart that we are treating vets like this. But it is not a surprise.”

A high-ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Murray has for years insisted that the Bush administration was not spending enough on VA programs while it was creating more need for those services with wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“I heard over and over again for years ‘Everything is fine,’ ” she said.

She accused the VA of cutting back on maintenance to pay for health care.

Congress has regularly spent more on veterans programs than the Bush administration has sought, she said. This year it is planning to add $3.5 billion above the Bush budget request and could add more money to the supplemental spending request for the war to address VA maintenance problems. Coupled with problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the report of maintenance problems in the separate VA health system will be “the second shoe to drop,” she said.

In a prepared statement Wednesday, the VA described the problems as “normal wear and tear.”

“The overwhelming majority of issues identified by this special review are the kinds of items you would expect to find – and see being addressed – in an organization with nearly 150 million square feet of space where 1 million patients come each week,” Acting Undersecretary for Health Michael Kussman said.

The department’s maintenance budgets for this year and 2008 “should take care of any maintenance shortcomings.”

The report lists a range of problems around the Northwest:

Spokane’s VA Medical Center has cracked and stained ceiling tiles, settling concrete at the primary care entrance, floor tiles that are cracked and walls that need patching and painting in the nursing home care unit.

Spokane’s Homeless Center at 705 W. Second has ceiling tiles that need to be replaced.

Spokane’s Mobile Clinic has walls that need cleaning or replacement and bathroom flooring that needs cleaning.

Walla Walla Health Center has buildings with stained ceiling tiles and walls that need painting.

Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle and Tacoma has buildings with roofs damaged by windstorms and leaking and deteriorating bathrooms in some housing units. Several buildings have “significantly damaged paint,” and one has “ongoing water infiltration on upper floors.”

Vancouver, Wash., facilities have leaking roofs, and in one building, storm water runs into the first floor during heavy rains.

Roseburg, Ore., Health Care has mold in three buildings and paint and plaster peeling in another.

White City, Ore., Rehabilitation Center has leaking roofs, ripped vinyl floors, leaking plumbing, peeling paint and pest control problems.

“We have one of the largest colonies of Mexican wing-tailed bats in the area. Occasionally they get into the interior areas of the buildings instead of just the attics,” the audit notes. “Eradication has been discussed but the uniqueness of the situation (the number of colonies) makes it challenging to accomplish. Also, the bats keep the insect pollution to a minimum which is beneficial. The bats have been tested…no indication of disease has been present.”