U.S. Rep. Jason Crow is demanding an accounting from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs over an alleged scheme inside Aurora’s Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center that left veterans without needed prosthetic devices.
In a letter submitted Friday to the VA’s undersecretary of health, Dr. Shereef Elnahal, Crow requested records outlining how many prosthetic department orders were deleted and what the hospital is doing to ensure veterans receive proper care.
“There is a sacred promise in America that if you step up to serve, the nation will be there for you when you take off the uniform,” Crow, a Democrat and former Army Ranger who represents Colorado’s 6th Congressional District, wrote in the letter.
Friday’s letter comes a month after The Denver Post reported that the former head of the Eastern Colorado VA’s prosthetics department instructed lower-level employees to delete orders from veterans seeking artificial limbs, wheelchairs, surgical implants, glasses, hearing aids and other devices needed to help them live more functional lives.
Three former department workers told The Post that Norma Mestas, the department chief, wanted to keep these orders from hitting the VA’s system in an effort to make the department look like it didn’t have a backlog and was hitting its metrics. The ex-employees also said the department kept an off-the-books spreadsheet with veteran orders that acted as an illegal, unofficial waitlist.
Crow requested a list of all ongoing reviews and investigations related to the Aurora VA system and any remedial actions.
The Post on Sunday also reported that the Eastern Colorado VA’s suicide prevention department had reassigned its nationally renowned director following a union report outlining “emotional, mental and psychological abuse” towards its employees.
The union’s report, compiled from interviews with 28 current and former workers, said the center’s chief, Dr. Lisa Brenner, promoted a culture of fear, retaliation and racism. The union also accused Brenner of misusing VA money for personal endeavors.
The Eastern Colorado VA system is in the midst of a crisis. In October, leadership reassigned the system’s director, Michael Kilmer, and his chief of staff amid investigations into unspecified concerns over “operational oversight, organizational health and workplace culture.”
“As these reviews/investigations progress and conclude, we expect a transparent account of the current state of (Rocky Mountain VA), and any remedial action taken in response,” Crow wrote in the letter.
The VA, through a spokesperson, did not address the contents of the letter, only saying that the agency would respond directly to the congressman’s office.
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