Been spending some time lately at the VA Hospitals. Dad is 91yrs, veteran of WWII and has numerous health challenges- so I help when and where I can.
Having worked with the VA through the years, I have seen, first hand, some of the challenges that they were having and some of the areas which were called into question in the news and television shows. Many were justified. Most were not – however there were a lot of areas that needed attention- and, from my view, they’ve gotten the needed attention and there have been great strides in their levels of service delivery. Yesterday, for example, we had numerous appointments and each one of them offered positive patient service experiences. Even when asking wayfinding directions of an employee, we were pleasantly surprised when other employees and even veteran patients chimed in to help.
Way back in the Clinton administration, I was honored to work with the VA Senior Leadership and the then Sec. Jesse Brown. I had just written Psyched On Service: Creating A Total Service Mentality and they engaged me to work with an assembly of all of their Hospital Directors and Chiefs of Staff. And I was only one small part of that transformation team. Not withstanding the need of the press to find problems and issues in the system, the overall ratings and patient satisfaction surveys have been on the rise year after year. Their shifts in service focus have paid off and I salute them.