Letter to the Hon. Robert Wilkie, Secretary of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs - Schumer reveals: As COVID-19 spreads in facilities, VA healthcare sites across Upstate NY have reported weeks of shortages or total lack of PPE; senator demands VA immediately send supplies & PPE to Upstate NY and fix distribution strategy
Letter
Dear Secretary Wilkie,
I write to request an immediate update on the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) response to the findings in last month's VA Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) troubling report highlighting potential shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) in two Veterans Health Administration (VHA) health care facilities, including many in my home state of New York, the epicenter of the global pandemic. The OIG Report (#20-02221-120) issued on March 26th, 2020 summarizes the inadequacies of VA facilities to screen, test and prepare for COVID-19 cases after site visits to 237 VA facilities, including VA medical centers, community based outpatient clinics (CBOC) and community living centers (CLC). It is abhorrent and unacceptable that the VA has moved so slowly in providing essential protective equipment to its workers and patients, our nation's heroes, at facilities throughout New York and raises serious concerns about the Department's efforts to ensure the safety and health of its workforce and veteran beneficiaries in all its facilities across New York and the rest of the country.
The March 2020 report found that 21 out of 54 VA facilities interviewed held inadequate supplies of medication and key equipment needed to care for COVID-19 patients. This includes the Buffalo VAMC and VA Finger Lakes HCS in New York, who faced shortages of PPE within 14 to 28 days of the report's issuance. According to a Buffalo News article published May 5th 2020, even after the VA report was issued and following the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) April 3rd announcement recommending the use of masks, "it wasn't until April 13 when the VA started issuing masks" in the Buffalo and Batavia VA facilities, causing the disease to spread and patients and employees to be infected. According to an April 25th article, The Hill claims more than 6,000 VA patients have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and 400 have died.
The VHA serves over 20 million veterans nationally and 775,000 New Yorkers, over half of whom are seniors that are most at-risk for COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death. Current reporting states that over 2,200 of the VA's national workforce have contracted the coronavirus and at least 23 employees have died. The VA's patient and caregiver populations are at serious and potentially fatal risk due to COVID-19, and this risk would be severely exacerbated by any deficiencies in PPE. The VA and VHA must provide an immediate update on these troubling reports and account for and correct any shortages of equipment and medical supplies that compromise the safety and well-being of VA workers and patients in New York.
We ask that the Department provide answers to the following questions:
1. Since the Department's March 2020 report, what steps has the VA and/or VHA taken to meet the identified shortages of PPE and other critical supplies and equipment, including ventilators, respirators and medications needed to administer the aforementioned equipment and treat COVID-19 patients at VA facilities?
2. Do all 81 of New York's VA inpatient and outpatient care sites and vet centers have sufficient supplies of PPE, other supplies, equipment and medicines to protect their workforce, safely provide care to VA patients and treat VA patients for COVID-19?
3. Has the Department identified any VA facilities in New York that are at risk of PPE shortages or other supplies, equipment and/or medicines within the next two weeks? If yes, which and how will you address these potential shortages?
4. What barriers if any continue to limit the VA or VHA in their ability to fully supply and equip VA facilities as they provide care to veterans being treated for or at risk of infection from COVID-19?
Thank you for your attention of this very important issue.
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