Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 26, 1992 TAG: 9202260143
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
UNION CALLS IT CHAOS; VA MANAGEMENT SAYS IT'S STRESS
A federal government employees' union is charging top administrators at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem with promoting a management system that has employee morale plummeting and patient care suffering."The concern we've had here is that everything is in an uproar," said Alma Lee, president of the 600-member American Federation of Government Employees union at the VA. "Every employee is in total chaos."
Lee said Tuesday that she plans to air her concerns at a news conference this morning.
The allegations appear to coincide with changes related to the scheduled April 3 opening of a new $50 million facility at the VA center, designed to consolidate acute medical and surgical beds into one building.
Employees are upset with what Lee called the "haphazard" way the move has been handled, Lee says. And when employees are upset, patient care suffers, she said.
As an example, she said the center intends to close two long-term care wards at the end of the week, and employees have not been notified whether they will be relocated, or where.
"What is happening is that there is a plan to move to the new building, but it is not thought out, not well-planned," Lee said. "They're not looking at the effects on patients or employees.
"It's a plan without a plan."
Pat Clark, Salem VA public relations officer, said the wards will close, but only temporarily for four to eight weeks.
Many of the center's programs have been reviewed by the Veterans Affairs central office staff in Washington, D.C., which has made recommendations for changes, particularly in the areas of long-term care, psychiatry, surgery and ambulatory care, Clark said.
"We're in the process of implementing those changes," Clark said. "That, along with the activation of the new building, is why we have so many changes at one time."
Lee, the union president, maintains that the center is closing the two wards without final approval from the central VA office.
"We are not fighting a change from the old building to the new building," Lee said. "That's not where the problem is. The problem is poor planning."
Clark said claims of confusion and low employee morale surprised her. She said top administrators and union officials have met monthly to discuss the move.
Clark linked the low morale to the stressful nature of the move.
"It's been a recognized phenomenon in the VA that any time you have new construction, you always have a high level of stress," she said. "Moving into a brand-new environment, getting acquainted with new surroundings - there's a higher level of stress when you have something like this."
It's not stress, Lee argues.
"It's chaos."
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.