VA planning to hold “Listening Session”

WASILLA — Local veterans who have something to say about their healthcare will have the ear of the program’s statewide director Thursday.

Susan Yeager, director of the Alaska Veterans Administration Healthcare System, will visit the Menard Sports Complex from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

The local healthcare system for veterans has been the subject of added levels of scrutiny since Sen. Lisa Murkowski sought and won an investigation of the Alaska system and the Wasilla clinic in particular.

The clinic on Seward Merdian Parkway seemed to have greater than average trouble in finding and retaining doctors to work there, according to Murkowski. The clinic has been without a physician since August, though it does employ a nurse practitioner and provides care through the Benteh Nuutah clinic on Knik-Goose Bay Road.

Murkowski has held her own listening sessions here, which were very well attended and elicited emotional testimony from veterans assembled to speak to her.

For more information about Thursday’s meeting, contact Samuel G. Hudson at 907-257-5490, or Samuel.hudson@va.gov.