Press of Atlantic City - Veteran's Suicide Prompts South Jersey VA Changes

News Article

By Nicholas Huba

South Jersey's veterans clinics will no longer be overseen by the Wilmington Veterans Affairs Medical Center, as part of reforms designed to address long waiting times and staffing issues at area facilities.
All South Jersey community-based outpatient clinics will now be overseen by the Department of Veterans Affairs under the direct supervision of the Veterans Integrated Service Network 4. There are three VA clinics in South Jersey: Cape May, Northfield and Vineland.
U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and representatives of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, along with Janet Murphy, Veterans Affairs deputy undersecretary for health for operations and management, announced the reforms Friday morning at the Stillwater Building on South Shore Road.

"The medical care South Jersey veterans have been receiving from local VA facilities is inconsistent and deteriorating in quality," LoBiondo said. "While medical and support staff on the ground at South Jersey's CBOCs do an outstanding job to care for our veterans, it is clear they do not have the resources, manpower or support from their leadership needed to consistently provide the highest-quality care."
The announcement comes nearly two months after Egg Harbor Township Navy veteran Charles R. Ingram III, 51, died at Temple Health's burn unit in Philadelphia hours after dousing himself with gasoline and setting himself on fire outside the Northfield Veterans Clinic on March 19. The clinic at 1901 New Road was closed at the time, as it always is on weekends.
No note of explanation for his actions was left at the scene of the fire or at Ingram's home.

To address staffing issues at the clinics, four additional behavior health staff members and six additional medical staff members will be hired. The plan also calls for the creation of an on-site clinic manager position at the Northfield Clinic.
The increase in behavioral health staff members will help address the growing need for them at the Northfield Clinic. It has a higher percentage of behavioral health patients than the national norm, according to the VA.
At the clinic, 954 of its 2,244 patients utilize behavioral therapy, which is 42.5 percent of the clients there, officials said. The national average is 20 percent to 25 percent, officials said.
"We recognize that there is an issue in Northfield," Murphy said. "Last Friday, I met with the staff and got a really good picture of what some of the problems are. I think that we have a pretty good plan going forward to address these issues.We are committed to making the necessary improvements and getting this right for our veterans who depend on us for care. "
Murphy said Veterans Affairs will work quickly to fill the new positions. In addition, Veterans Affairs will survey veterans for their preferences for extending hours at the facilities, Murphy said.

The lack of staffing at the Northfield Clinic has become an issue over the last couple years, Menendez said.
"Within a year after the clinic opened its doors, my staff began calling the VA and demanding answers to troubling reports of staffing shortages and reduced hours of operation that made it nearly impossible for some veterans to receive care," Menendez said.
Advocates for veterans have said Ingram was a patient at the Northfield Clinic. He served in the Navy from 1985 to 1992, according to his obituary.
"Sadly, it took the recent tragedy on the clinic's very own doorstep for the VA to act," Menendez said.
Robert L. Frolow, veterans services officer for Atlantic County, said he believes the changes will have a positive impact.
"This is long overdue," Frolow said. "The treatment that you get at the clinic is great. I think that things are going to get done now. I think things are going to change."

Source