On the recordApril 30, 2014
Now, the purpose of this inquiry was to discuss some health care alternatives for the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System. Our hospital for 170,000 area veterans is in serious disrepair--boilers, HVAC, emergency generators. The very sewer and water pipes are literally duct-taped together. We have heard that it is the second worst hospital infrastructure in all of their hospital inventory. Even last March, the operating rooms had to be closed down due to failing humidifiers. We are talking about the basic functioning of this hospital that is out of date. Without replacement soon, the hospital could face additional major shutdowns for the complex and costly replacements of this infrastructure. Currently, we are on the list to be built somewhere around '18-'20, but the reality is, for years now, the list hasn't moved. Now our VA employees are being told that it will be somewhere in the 2021-2022 range. I fear it will be even later than that before the new inpatient tower can be built. Why do we need to talk to the general, or to Secretary Shinseki, about this hospital? It is that there are alternatives available in our community that we need to discuss with the decision maker. I will tell you that, even though we made the request in June of 2013--as we head into May of 2014 now--they did get back to us in November of '13 when they said that we could meet with a low-level employee.…
