VA Offers Anti-Corruption Whistleblower $305,000 To Go Away

ANOTHER LITTLE PEEK INTO THE WORLD OF THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. HOW HAS ALL THIS GONE SO WRONG?

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LUKE ROSIAKInvestigative Reporter11:09 PM 08/30/2016 After ethics officials blocked the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from firing a woman who refused to lie for top bosses, the bosses took a different tack: paying her $305,000 to quit and agree not to apply to the VA again.Her bosses tried to force Rosayma Lopez to write a critical report to be used to terminate Joseph Colon, who had exposed the drunk-driving and illegal-prescription drug arrest of Dewayne Hamlin, director of the VA’s hospital in San Juan.When Lopez said she would stick to the facts, her bosses filed the termination paperwork intended for Colon against her instead.After she sought protection from the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), a federal agency that investigates whistleblower retaliation in government, OSC ordered VA to restore Lopez to her job. But VA refused, instead paying her to sit at home for nine months.When OSC reiterated the demand, VA reluctantly restored her job, but then offered her $150,000 to quit and agree not to re-apply. Lopez declined the offer, which she had never requested, and made clear she just wanted to keep her job.Lopez’s job involves processing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, so VA officials worried she could disclose embarrassing information to future requesters. She was assigned a new boss, who insisted on handling FOIA responses himself, by telling requesters they would be charged thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. To justify the exorbitant charges, he claimed that simple requests that would take five minutes to fulfill would require dozens of hours of top staffers’ time.Lopez was also moved into a trailer without basic equipment needed to do her job like a scanner. She applied for an identical job at another VA hospital, but was never interviewed. The settlement offer was upped to $305,000.The $305,000 offer is still on the table, but Lopez must weigh it against the loss of health insurance and a pension, and the moral implications of taking money to go away quietly after witnessing misconduct.The offer is remarkable, because the VA officials it appears designed to protect — those who are seeking her ouster — have faced no discipline or other consequences, despite repeated declarations by department leaders in Washington, D.C. that retaliation against whistle blowers will not be tolerated.Financial settlements with employees are generally signed by someone in the department headquarters, but VA spokesman James Hutton would not say if Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald supports the $305,000 payment to Lopez.Spokesman Nick Schwellenbach told The Daily Caller News Foundation that OSC isn’t a party to settlement offers, and simply relays management offers, so the complainant can decide on their own whether to accept them. He said investigations that would lead to OSC punishing retaliators, in cases where an agency refuses to punish its own managers, are separate and would take significantly longer.“Our first priority is to try to make a whistleblower whole. For many whistleblowers, that means simply getting back to work and that is what most settlements involve. There are situations, however, where the two parties negotiate the employee’s departure from the agency in exchange for agreed upon terms,” Schwellenbach said.Colon wrote to OSC expressing disappointment at its handling of the Lopez case.“I have the utmost respect for your office but I am truly disappointed that your office would accept any agreement that requires a whistleblower to resign from their job to protect unethical employees at the VA,” Colon wrote.“There should be no discussions that require money in exchange for a whistleblower resignation. We should be embracing whistleblowers, and not trying to get rid of them. American taxpayer money should be used to treat Veterans, and to hold retaliators accountable and not used to silence whistleblowers,” he wrote.The Puerto Rico facility is among the most troubled VA hospitals in the country. As TheDCNF has previously reported, a convicted sex offender works in the facility’s human resources doling out employee discipline.In addition, the supervisor of a major purchase office was hired only weeks after being released from federal prison for credit card theft.And OSC found in 2015 that hospital staff left veterans lying in their own feces for days. The woman in charge of the troubled unit was subsequently promoted.

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Tags: Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Special Counsel

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/30/va-offers-anti-corruption-whistleblower-305000-to-go-away/#ixzz4IvqWB9vI

VA Conducts Nation's Largest Analysis of Veteran Suicide

VA News Release

07/07/2016 09:01 AM EDT

VA Conducts Nation's Largest Analysis of Veteran Suicide

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has undertaken the most comprehensive analysis of Veteran suicide rates in the U.S., examining over 55 million Veteran records from 1979 to 2014 from every state in the nation. The effort extends VA's knowledge from the previous report issued in 2010, which examined three million Veteran records from 20 states were available. Based on the data from 2010, VA estimated the number of Veteran deaths by suicide averaged 22 per day. The current analysis indicates that in 2014, an average of 20 Veterans a day died from suicide.

"One Veteran suicide is one too many, and this collaborative effort provides both updated and comprehensive data that allows us to make better informed decisions on how to prevent this national tragedy," said VA Under Secretary for Health, Dr. David J. Shulkin. "We as a nation must focus on bringing the number of Veteran suicides to zero."

The final report will be publicly released later this month. Key findings of the analysis will include: 65% of all Veterans who died from suicide in 2014 were 50 years of age or older.

Veterans accounted for 18% of all deaths from suicide among U.S. adults. This is a decrease from 22% in 2010. Since 2001, U.S. adult civilian suicides increased 23%, while Veteran suicides increased 32% in the same time period. After controlling for age and gender, this makes the risk of suicide 21% greater for Veterans. Since 2001, the rate of suicide among US Veterans who use VA services increased by 8.8%, while the rate of suicide among Veterans who do not use VA services increased by 38.6%.

In the same time period, the rate of suicide among male Veterans who use VA services increased 11%, while the rate of suicide increased 35% among male Veterans who do not use VA services.

In the same time period, the rate of suicide among female Veterans who use VA services increased 4.6%, while the rate of suicide increased 98% among female Veterans who do not use VA services.

Please also see our Suicide Prevention Fact Sheet at the following link: http://www.va.gov/opa/publications/factsheets/Suicide Prevention Fact Sheet New VA Stats 070616 1400.pdf

VA is aggressively undertaking a number of new measures to prevent suicide, including: Ensuring same-day access for Veterans with urgent mental health needs at over 1,000 points of care by the end of calendar year 2016. In fiscal year 2015, more than 1.6 million Veterans received mental health treatment from VA, including at over 150 medical centers, 820 community-based outpatient clinics and 300 Vet Centers that provide readjustment counseling. Veterans also enter VA health care through the Veterans Crisis Line, VA staff on college and university campuses, or other outreach points.

Using predictive modeling to determine which Veterans may be at highest risk of suicide, so providers can intervene early. Veterans in the top 0.1% of risk, who have a 43-fold increased risk of death from suicide within a month, can be identified before clinical signs of suicide are evident in order to save lives before a crisis occurs.

Expanding tele-mental health care by establishing four new regional tele-mental health hubs across the VA healthcare system.

Hiring over 60 new crisis intervention responders for the Veterans Crisis Line. Each responder receives intensive training on a wide variety of topics in crisis intervention, substance use disorders, screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment.

How can you be tired and angry all at the same time?

Does being tired of the B.S. swirling around you make you angry? Or, do you get angry first, then get tired of being angry? Either way, I’m learning that what comes first really doesn’t matter much. If the correct mix of people, places, and things exist in your life, this combination of emotional and physical feeling have the ability to create some very powerful thoughts. If these thoughts are personally positive, they can make your life much simpler and easier to deal with. The polar opposite is letting these thoughts get to you in a negative manner that can ruin an otherwise pleasant day.

To keep this all on the positive side of the coin, there are choices you can make that will give you the best chance for success in achieving a good outcome. The power of the word “NO” is something that I have found almost impossible to grasp until now. It’s such a simple little word, but its correct usage in everyday life might make the difference in whether you succumb to life’s constant attacks, or allow yourself to rise above the day-to-day trivialities that can drive you into the gutter.

The human element in interpersonal relations and perceptions play a huge role in how you ultimately feel about your surroundings; including the people around you. I guess some of us, myself included, have a personality set that somehow signals a character flaw that others feel they can take advantage of, or exploit, in some way beneficial to their own agenda. The outward projection of a quiet, introspective personality has led to family, friends, and casual acquaintances attempting to control, and/or manipulate, me for their own, mostly questionable and selfish, purposes.

The work I have done on my own feelings, emotions, and thought patterns over the past four and a half years has led me more to the positive side of that coin. It’s not always an easy task to stay on the positive side, and, occasionally, the negative side sneaks up and bites you in the butt. I have learned not to run from these negative situations, as I would be doing in the past. I now possess the tools to express my anger in such a way that is beneficial to my own wellbeing. Even if I find myself quickly sinking into the doldrums of anger and self-pity, I no longer feel the need to wallow in the mire for weeks and months on end. I have drastically shortened the time in which I blame myself, and get bogged down in self-doubt and self-recrimination. I can now realize that, just maybe, it’s not me. I can now realize that other people, places, and things can either share the blame, or fully accept the blame. I can now accept that maybe, just maybe, I don’t need these negative forces working against me. To this end, it is very comforting to know how to take command of that little word “NO”. There is a full list of other expletives that convey the sentiment of “NO”, and it is nice to have a command of those words when the situation calls for something a little stronger.

But, some things will probably never change. The biggest, most threatening thing that will probably ever change is the learned fear I have of losing control in a fit of rage and anger. I have seen what that looks like, and it simply is not a pretty picture from any perspective. My learning curve will be a long one that, hopefully, will lead to my ability to portray a more confident, outgoing public persona. Unfortunately, the people closest to you are the ones who will be the last to recognize the change, and the first to continue abusing your perceived character flaws.

A short word of caution: Do not keep pushing your own agenda on me. You might not like the outcome. Have a nice day!