Murkowski plans veterans listening session Wednesday

WASILLA — Valley veterans are invited to share their concerns about the Veterans Affairs health care system with Sen. Lisa Murkowski in person Wednesday.

“If there are issues that people are having from their care they can call my office, which is great, but if they want to make sure they are able to deliver it to me eyeball-to-eyeball, I’ll be there on Wednesday,” Murkowski said.

The senator planned to be in the Valley anyway on Wednesday, heading to Talkeenta for the dedication of a ranger station there.

She said she decided to add the listening session from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center after her calls for explanations into staffing troubles at the Wasilla VA clinic prompted an outpouring of interest from veterans with experience with that facility.

The Wasilla clinic was built to accommodate two doctors, but has only ever had one permanent one. The Alaska VA says that the clinic has always had providers, they were just temporary staff rather than permanently assigned doctors.

Murkowski has tasked the VA’s Inspector General with looking into the trouble at the clinic, mentioning in her explanation for that request the suicide of R.K. Butts, who took his life in the clinic’s parking lot in 2011.

The VA has been under scrutiny nationally after reports surfaced of secret waiting lists kept to give the impression that the VA was offering better service than it was. Both Murkowski and Sen. Mark Begich have put out press releases describing their efforts to address the issue.

Begich’s latest came after a meeting he had with Acting Department of Veterans’ Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson.

“I called for today’s meeting because I wanted to hear directly from Acting Secretary Gibson about his plans to improve conditions at VA facilities across the nation,” Begich said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.