U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI)
Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind says he’s happy to see action to fix a problem with opiate prescriptions at the Tomah VA Hospital.
Kind talked about his meeting in Tomah at the VA Hospital during an appearance at UW-Stevens Point on Wednesday. He met with VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson at the facility on Tuesday and talked with veterans and their families.
Kind stresses that despite the obvious missteps with prescriptions, that’s not the whole story at the Hospital. “We don’t want the narrative to develop that it’s all bad at Tomah. There’s a lot of quality care being given to our veterans there.” He says that he’s had many veterans come forward since the start of the controversy to say the care they’ve received from the VA is excellent.
A full congressional hearing is planned at the Tomah Hospital on March 30, and Kind says that sort of attention is crucial. “The point of these investigations is simple. If there’s a problem, we need to fix it so that all the veterans going there are getting quality care and treatment they’ve earned and they deserve.” He is also looking for Congress to take a step back and look past the Tomah hospital and to the nation’s hospitals as a whole. “I think we’ve got an opiate pain medication problem systemwide. Not just within the VA system, but the entire healthcare system.”
Kind has also asked the VA Medical Centers in Madison, Milwaukee and Minneapolis to explain what steps they are taking to implement improvements in pain management.
Raymond Neupert, WSAU