The VA’s federal watchdog has uncovered filthy conditions at facilities across the country. Yet some 40 percent of all VA hospitals recently suffered from severe shortages of housekeeping staff.
On a warm November day in 2017, Representative Mark Takano,
a California Democrat, met with a whistleblower who had serious concerns about
the 270-bed Veterans Affairs facility in Loma Linda. Later that day, Takano
took a tour of the hospital, and was shocked by what he saw. Grime encrusted
the water fountains; the floors of the operating room were noticeably dirty.
Takano called for the VA’s inspector general to launch an investigation, which
found “inconsistent levels of cleanliness” in the main hospital building, and
unwashed floors, dusty cabinets, and a sterile instrument resting on a dirty
rack in the inpatient dental unit. The rate of infection among Loma Linda’s
patients was higher than the agency average, and the housekeeping department
was largely incapacitated by high turnover, poor pay, and shaky management. A
separate investigation found the bacteria Legionella pneumophila, which causes
Legionnaires’ disease, in the water supply—a discovery that the facility had
failed to communicate to clinicians.
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