Wronged Employee
I received a phone call at approximately 10:15 this morning from a friend stating that this woman, a cardiac nurse, was at the main information desk coming into the Gainesville VA Hospital with a sign stating “This is what Administration does to whistle blowers.” She had worked as a critical care nurse in the open-heart unit. She was placed at the information desk on 27 Oct 2013. She placed the sign around her neck because she is sick and tired of being harassed by administration, which is trying to fire her from her job for turning them in. As of about an hour ago, she had been getting messages from co-workers stating that she was going to be fired for talking to the media without permission. This coming on the heels of Acting Secretary of the VA, Sloan Gibson’s visit to Gainesville speech stating that there would be NO reprisals/retaliation for whistle blowers. Regardless of what anyone has said in my previous diary, which I still stand by, this employee was denied access to the meeting, as well as others that Vetwife and I are aware of. There is one employee, a 100% service connected disabled vet that received an email stating, “be careful what you wish for…” a veiled threat regarding the meeting with the Secretary of VA. He is begging to meet with Bernie Sanders or any congressional leaders regarding VA wrong doing in Gainesville. Can anyone advise? There was another veteran that was sent directly to the Vines for mental health on Sunday 29 June 2014.
Vetwife and I have been trying to contact anyone and everyone to protect this employee. TV 20 and the Gainesville Sun did respond. I know that this is the 4th of July coming up, but this issue cannot be swept under the rug. This Critical Care Nurse currently had 38 charges pending against the VA.
8:04 PM PT: Update:
Vetwife and I have been on the phone with the nurse. She is emotionally spent. She currently has 39 charges against Malcolm Randall. They have all been lumped together in an EEO complaint that is being mediated by D.C. Some of these charges should not fall under EEO. My husband was an EEO counselor so we are going up to meet with her to separate out what should be EEO and what needs to be filed separately and to get her paperwork organized.
One of the issues that the nurse brought up was that there was mandatory training for the nurses and the nursing supervisor gave the nurses the answers to the test. She stated "just go online and use these answers because the nursing supervisor didn't feel the training was necessary.
On top of all this, Vetwife and I have also been dealing with a 92 year old legally blind veteran that is being denied special mode transportation "because he uses a walker inside his home." The reason he uses the walker is because Gainesville refuses to give him a power wheelchair because he is legally blind." They gave him a manual wheelchair that he cannot use in his home because he does not have the upper body strength to move the manual wheelchair on carpet. We have been told from an inside source in regards to these veterans that are being denied Special Mode Transport to "let them crawl."
Both Vetwife and I have both been working together on getting him an electric wheelchair. Someone that is legally blind can still get around in their home environment with an power wheelchair. I know this because my husband is legally blind. His house is completely carpeted and that adds to the inability for him to get around. All he wants is to be able to get around in his own home.