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Blumenthal demands action to help veterans served by the West Haven VA hospital

New Haven Register - 3/12/2019

March 12-- Mar. 12--WEST HAVEN -- U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal appeared on the front steps of VA Connecticut Health System in West Haven Monday to convey an urgency to Washington D.C. officials in correcting surgical sterilization facility issues that have left the facility's operating room at 30 percent capacity.

Blumenthal said veterans in many cases are having their surgeries delayed or outsourced to Yale New Haven Hospital or other facilities.

"That's unacceptable. The veterans deserve so much better," Blumenthal said. "The veterans who depend on this facility deserve first-rate surgical care without delay."

The problems are in the Sterile Services Processing Unit, a facility that Blumenthal says has "antiquated infrastructure," that breaks and prevents surgeries. There are plans for a new permanent facility to be completed in five years and a temporary mobile unit within a year, but Blumenthal has said it's not good enough.

Blumenthal has been on the case for a year, but in a recent letter to Robert Wilkie, secretary of Veterans Affairs for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington D.C., the senator upped the urgency.

Blumenthal wrote: "As my office continues to receive whistleblower reports regarding canceled patient operations due to SPS failings, there is an urgent, immediate need for you to personally intervene to expedite and rush both the installation of a mobile SPS unit and construction of a new SPS facility."

The VA issued this response to Blumenthal's letter and call to action:

"VA appreciates the senator's views and will respond to him directly. It's important to note, however, that VA Connecticut Healthcare System is and has been providing continuous surgical care for West Haven-area patients both on campus and through nearby non-VA providers at government expense. As we work toward construction of the sterile processing service facility, VA Connecticut will continue providing the best possible care to Connecticut-area veterans -- whether on or off campus."

Blumenthal said at the press conference that it wasn't done sooner because of, "A lack of attention in DC management."

Last October, Blumenthal called for an investigation after hearing complaints regarding the policies and procedures for sterilizing surgical tools and equipment at the West Haven VA.

According to Blumenthal, the West Haven VA's sterilization facilities last year were shut down for three months, from November through January, as a result of a flood, with surgeries transferred to Yale New Haven Hospital as a result.

"They have the money," which was part of $17 million Blumenthal requested last June for a new sterilization plant at the West Haven VA, "but (delivery and installation) has to be expedited," he said. In order to get there, "they have to do the design, have to make contract," and the process, done through the VA in Washington, moves very slowly, Blumenthal has said.

Blumenthal in his letter requested several pieces of information from Wilkie, including: -- A thorough update on the status of the two projects; -- When a mobile SPS unit be purchased and when it be installed; -- How soon the design phase of the SPS facility be done; -- The emergency procurement options available to expedite these two projects.

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