Veterans in this country deserve more – and they haven’t gotten it.
The rotten treatment of our veterans came to light after whistleblowers at the Phoenix VA came forward and informed the world that veterans were dying while awaiting treatment. We learned there were secret appointment lists that were hidden by hospital administrators and that appointment records that veterans were supposedly put on in good faith, were nothing more than window dressing. Any pretense of ethical behavior in the Phoenix VA was dashed by this scandal.
In a nation that spends billions of dollars on professional sports where athletes dress in camouflage and giant flags are unfolded to stirring patriotic tunes, the thought that men and women who fought in wars going all the way back to WWII were intentionally being denied treatment was nothing short of outrageous.
The scandal in Phoenix, combined with an awakening among veterans groups and families, led to the firing of former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki who was himself a high-ranking military officer. The Obama administration hired a new Veterans Affairs Secretary, Bob McDonald. He is not an insider, but a former executive at Proctor & Gamble. This alone, makes me like him.
He is not only taking the job seriously, he is swinging a broad ax. In a Fox News’ article by Doug McKelway (November 10, 2014) entitled: “VA secretary pushes major overhaul, firings at agency,” we learn that McDonald will take disciplinary action or fire more than 1,000 VA employees. He wants to completely re-structure the organization (much to the dismay of politicians and bureaucrats) and make it client friendly. In addition, he wants to hire 28,000 physicians and nurses. That will be, by far, his biggest challenge.
It doesn’t end there. According to the article:
“McDonald called the restructuring the largest in the department’s history and said it will bring a singular focus on customer service to an agency that serves 22 million veterans…as part of the restructuring the department will hire a chief customer service officer and create a single regional framework that will encompass all aspects of the agency, from health care to benefits, loan centers and even cemetery plots, McDonald said. The VA now has nine organizational maps and at least a dozen websites, many with their own user names and passwords.”
In other words, the VA has been very much like the government; confusing, non-consumer friendly, Byzantine and resistant to change. Not surprising, the agency must go through all kinds of hoops to fire even the most incompetent of the VA employees.
The Concept of Customer Service
I am quite sure that Bob McDonald is not universally loved within the hallowed halls of the VA or in Washington, D.C. for that matter. He is, after all, an “outsider.” Don’t get me wrong, there are wonderful and committed people across all agencies, there are also tens of thousands more who mark each year only in terms of pay grades, benefits and perks. Their ethical compass is marked by how much they can get, how long they can get it and how they can justify their jobs rather than what they have really accomplished.
Our veterans are not “insiders” either. They come from every walk of life we can imagine. They are America and they have given up so much for this country; too much to be treated in the way they have been treated.
Do all of the thousand or more employees about to face the ax at the VA deserve to get fired or demoted or censured? I don’t know. What I do know is that it is about time that they understand the proper order of things.
I believe that Bob McDonald truly scares many insiders.
What if other government agencies have to justify their behaviors as well? Suppose the FDA or USDA or FTC or IRS also come to be headed by “outsiders” who believe in concepts such as customer service, transparency and good ethical practices?
Imagine them being responsible to us for a change?