VA union letter asks for top-level changes

Citing low morale and high attrition among medical providers, the union that represents doctors and other professional employees of the Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center has asked for changes in management and removal of the hospital’s chief of staff.

In a letter posted on the Web site of the National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1641, the union criticizes a lack of communication by Department of Veterans Affairs managers, from the regional director in Portland to middle managers at the Spokane medical center.

Management “dictates changes without regard to how the professional employees or veterans are affected,” said the Oct. 17 letter to medical center Director Sharon Helman, which was signed by union Local 1641 President Dena Corwin. “This lack of communication has contributed to morale at this medical center being at an all-time low.”

Helman attributed the union’s grievances to employees’ resistance to needed improvements at the medical center and performance goals established recently by the VA’s regional headquarters. “Spokane has not done well in prior years,” Helman said. “In order to do well you need to make changes.”

The Spokane center and its outreach clinics in Wenatchee and Coeur d’Alene provide health care to about 25,000 veterans in Eastern Washington, North Idaho and northwestern Montana.

The union said members were ready to help management address problems facing the medical center, but they were certain the chief of staff, Dr. Nirmala Rozario, could not be part of the solutions.

“Dr. Rozario embodies the problems in communication between management and line staff,” said the letter.

Helman said Rozario will not be removed from her job.

“Dr. Rozario was making changes,” Helman said. “Some people have struggled with that.”

Rozario served as an acting director of the Spokane medical center from January until Helman became permanent director in June. Rozario, who has worked for Veterans Affairs for many years, is “very passionate and caring,” Helman said.

Corwin said the letter to Helman was the result of a consensus among the union local’s 50 members, including physicians, registered nurses, social workers and lab technicians.

The union denounced what it calls Rozario’s “disrespectful approach in dealing with employees,” her “micromanagement of clinical issues” and her “authoritarian” leadership style that union members find “demeaning and demoralizing.”

The union suggested changes to alleviate employees’ concerns, including “forums of communication” between management and staff and face-to-face announcements of major changes rather than announcements made via e-mail.

The letter suggested cooperative approaches to solving problems “rather than just mandating fixes that are not workable, leave staff overworked, stressed and demoralized, and eventually lead to staff attrition.”

Corwin said there has been high employee turnover at Spokane VA: 20 doctors and other health care providers have left in the past two years.

Helman said she is recruiting new doctors, she has hired 184 employees since last year and has spent $172,000 in training and $138,000 in physician recruitment bonuses. She has raised the average salary for doctors and dentists by 12 percent, she said.

The average waiting period for new appointments is between 30 and 50 days and the caseload for health care providers is 900 patients.

Helman responded to the union’s criticisms in a Nov. 6 letter that is posted on the union’s Web site. In the letter, she agreed that major changes should be announced in meetings and that staffers should be involved in solving problems and planning.

“I can assure you that the leadership team will continue to use these kinds of communication techniques as we move forward,” Helman wrote.