The Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins visited the Columbus VA Ambulatory Care Center on Monday and applauded some recent innovations.
Collins took a tour of the facility North James Road facility and met with staff and veterans. He applauded the center for its innovation and said he was “very proud” of what he saw.
“So what we've seen here is, they've improved their times, they’ve opened up clinics, they've opened up the urgent care center on weekends. These are all things that are designed to help our veterans,” Collins said about the center.
He also awarded six staff members for their work in a coin recognition ceremony. The coin recognition recipients were: chief of environmental management service Novella Fulmore, chief of surgical service Dr. John Kosko, registered nurse and and chief of quality, safety and innovation Michelle Love, assistant director Dan Pignatelli, chief logistics officer Bernard Reuille and clinical pharmacist and Lynn Ryan.
Collins’ visit to the VA Ambulatory Care Center comes a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order terminating collective bargaining agreements for most VA bargaining-unit employees. This ends union contracts for people employed by the VA.
The president of the American Federation of Government Employees last week called the decision "illegal" and “anti-veteran.”
“We have a fourth mission here at the VA, which is encompassing more than just the health care system that you see here,” said Collins. “It's also taking care of national security, national disasters. This actually gives us a chance to make sure that we're able to do that without the restrictions that we found in our collective bargaining room.”