
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 30, 1992                   TAG: 9203300160
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SALEM VA CENTER PROBERS TO REPORT FINDINGS THIS WEEK

A review team investigating the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem on claims raised by a government employee union is expected to report its findings by the end of the week, the team chairman said.

James Farsetta, director of the VA medical center in Brooklyn, N.Y., said a report will be furnished to the Eastern regional VA director in Fort Howard, Md.

From there, "I don't know what will transpire with the report," Farsetta said.

Team members include Farsetta; Dr. Ernest Barsamian, chief of staff at the Brockton/West Roxbury, N.Y., VA medical center; Carol Coulter, chief of nursing services at the Boston VA medical center; Sara Gurwitz, chief of personnel services at a VA medical center in New York; and Mike Clark, regional accreditation consultant for the Eastern Regional VA office in Fort Howard, Md.

"Each of us has an area that we're looking at," Farsetta said last week. "The nurse on the team is looking at nursing issues. The personnel individual is looking at labor management and personnel issues. I'm there to look at management issues and the overall climate of hospital. The physician is looking at clinical issues."

The American Federation of Government Employees local at Salem has charged that a stressful work environment and low employee morale are affecting patient care. A union request that one of its members be appointed to the team was denied by the VA central office in Washington, D.C.

"It's a management-review team conducting an internal-management review," said Ozzie Garza, eastern regional director for the Veterans Affairs office of public affairs in Washington, D.C. "It would be inappropriate for representatives outside the VA management" to participate on the review team, he said.

Walter Glockler, second-executive vice president of the AFGE's National VA Council, was at the Salem center last week to assist the AFGE local in Salem in the review process.

Glockler, of Maine, said council members tried to negotiate representation on the review team. When they were unsuccessful, the council persuaded VA officials to allow them to meet with team members last week, before their visit to the Salem center.

"They didn't mind us being around," Glockler said. "But they're still not going to give us the results. This is not normally what I would call a fair and objective evaluation."

Farsetta chaired a review team that investigated the VA medical center in Togus, Maine, five years ago, after complaints were made about the way the director was running the center, Glockler said. Shortly after, the center's director retired and the associate director transferred to another VA center, Glockler said.

"I don't want to say it was a cause and effect," Farsetta said when asked about the Togus review. "The director elected to retire and I honestly don't know what happened with the associate director."

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB