Watchdog.org has a new article up today about the VA. This time, they’re questioning some activities at the 111-bed VA Overton Brooks Medical Center in Shreveport, LA. At first glance, it certainly seems that the activities in question need questioning.
Seems the VA Medical Center there has some problems. The article lists several. But the one that got my attention most was the fact that it has been running out of things lately.
What kind of things, you ask? Well, things like toiletries – toothbrushes, toothpaste, stuff like that – for patients.
Well, that’s not so bad, you say? True. But they’ve been running out of other stuff, too. Like clean sheets. And serviceable blankets. And clean pajamas.
However, it also seems like the facility has plenty of money. They recently spent just under $74,500 on flat screen TVs. No, not new TVs for each of the 115 patient rooms. New 42″ (and one 50″) flat-screen TVs to be placed in hallways at elevators. The VA issued a statement saying that these TVs were
. . . procured to serve as an electronic bulletin board that “offers an easy way to spread information to a wide audience in a short amount of time. It also provides a way to inform … (about) Medical Center activities, future events and specific health-related topics,” . . .
Hmm. Yeah, that’s a great way to use our tax money instead using it to support basic facility operations. I can’t see why anybody would complain.
They also bought new furniture – at least some of which was made in Canada, not the US – to the tune of just over $134,000. And they spent $3M on solar cells for the facility.
Hey, sometimes you need to replace furniture, and the facility was built in 1950. So maybe the furniture buy was legit – though given employee accounts that much of the furniture previously on hand was in “great shape”, I kinda doubt it.
I also don’t have any data on the payback period for the solar cells, so I won’t dispute that purchase either. Based on previous idiocy we’ve seen from this Administration regarding other so-called “green energy” products (like that $24/gallon biodiesel the Navy purchased), I have my doubts. I’d guess it’s likely a waste, and will never pay for itself. But maybe not.
Further: this hospital is currently sending their soiled items over 100miles to another VA facility to be laundered so that job can be performed by VA employees. (And no, I’m not joking; that’s really their stated reason for periodically running out of bedding and pajamas.) So I think I can recommend an easier and simpler way to save even more energy than spending $3M on solar cells – and one that has a real short payback period.
But the hallway TV procurement for use as an “electronic bulletin board” really bothers the sh!t out of me.
Why? Well, for starters: $74,000 for 24 TVs works out to over $3,080 each. That probably includes the broadcast source, cabling, and installation. But still: close to $3,100 a screen? Damn, that seems pretty excessive for something used to display the weather, inspirational sayings, quotations from modern poets, and healthy lifestyle exhortations at the facility’s elevators – which is what one employee says is all that is routinely displayed on them.
But that’s not what torques me the worst. What galls me most is that I took a few minutes, looked up a few prices for hospital bedding (here) and blankets (here), and did a little math. And the results (and implications of same) were, well, disgusting.
Per those price sources, purchased in case lots (60 each) a set of sheets plus a pillowcase runs somewhere about $20. A decent cover/blanket runs about the same. So a set of hospital bedding runs about $40.
That’s commercial pricing. I’m guessing the government could negotiate a substantially better price – but let’s use those numbers anyway.
$74,000 / $40 = 1,850. That means the money spent on those flat-screen TVs could have bought 1,850 complete sets of bedding for the facility (set of sheets, pillowcase, blanket).
The facility has 111 beds. Assuming a daily change of sheets for each bed, that’s over 2 weeks worth of linen for every hospital room in the facility. Even if each bed needs a 2nd change once a week (due to sickness, accidents, spills, etc . . . ), that’s still nearly 2 weeks worth of linen. Cut back the furniture buy by about 33% and you’re talking about purchasing around 3 weeks worth.
Seems to me that 2 weeks is more than enough time to get the laundry done and returned. And it seems that having a 3-week supply of new bedding on-hand would fix the current problem of periodically running out. But apparently having those damned TVs and that new furniture was more important than making sure patients had clean linen when needed.
The basic article goes on to discuss a number of other problems at that VA Medical Center. Disgusting – there’s really no other word.
. . .
I’ve said it before, but I’ll repeat myself here. IMO, the VA doesn’t have a resource problem. The VA has a leadership, culture, and priorities problem.
The new VA Secretary there needs to f**king clean house among his agency’s management.
