ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 1997              TAG: 9703120090
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY THE ROANOKE TIMES

PANEL INVESTIGATES SALEM VA DIRECTOR PROBE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PATIENT CARE, OFFICIAL SAYS

The committee is interviewing staff about the director placing the associate director on administrative leave.

John Presley, who became director of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem in 1992 when the previous director was removed because of management problems, is himself the subject of an investigation.

A four-person administrative panel is at the VA hospital interviewing staff about Presley's recent decision to place associate director William Delamater on administrative leave, said Dr. Rajiv Jain, the center's chief of staff who is acting director.

Jain said the issues under review do not involve patients but that he could not be more specific.

He said the panel should complete its work in a couple of days.

The Salem VA is part of a Veterans Integrated Service Network based in Durham, N.C., and Dr. James Gross who heads the network called for the panel, Jain said.

Presley has taken leave during the inquiry. Reached at his home, Presley said he could not comment during the inquiry. Delamater, who has an unlisted telephone number, could not be reached.

Presley, a former college professor, went to work for the VA about 1970 and became nationally known as a "trouble-shooting" director for problem VA centers.

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