Portland Observer, September 10,1881 Page 8
VA hospital faces trying times
by Nathaniel Scott
The course has been set and it's
full steam ahead. And while we are
battening down the hatches to ride
out the storm o f R eag an ite, le t’ s
look at one o f the places some will
be turnin g to i f disaster should
strike in the form o f illness.
Atop M arquan H ill, overlooking
the W illa m e tte R iv e r, sits one o f
O reg o n ’ s tw o
Veterans A d*
ministration Hospitals.
The V A h o spital in P o rtla n d ,
consolidated October 1, 1980, with
the V A h o spital in V an co u ver,
Washington to become one medical
center that serves an estimated 420
thousand veterans in Oregon and
five o f W ashington’s southwestern
counties.
’ ’ The budget fo r 1981 is $61
m illion, and the *82 budget (which
runs from October *81 through Sep­
tember *82), is $66 m illio n ,” said
C h ie f o f M e d ic a l A d m in is tra tio n
Services, M inor R. Meador Jr.
“ Seventy percent o f the budget
goes toward salaries and personnel
services, w ith m aintenance and
repairs totaling $870,000 annually.
The hospital’ s current 1 ,8 IS em­
ployees will be cut IS positions this
year, in unspecified areas. But ac­
End of Summer picnic drew thousand* to Penin aula Park for music, food, friendship.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
cording to M e a n o r, “ W herever,
they will be critical.”
M eanor said the biggest percen­
tage o f veterans now seeking V A
medical care are veterans whose age
ranges in the SOs and 60s; W W II
and Korean veterans. But, if those
ailment are not service connected or
a life or death situation, there is a
very real possibility the vet will or
cannot be serviced. A nd though the
new facilities that are scheduled to
be in full operation by 1986 will add
add itio n al bed space and support
operations, they do not elim inate
the problem.
“ T he V A has n ot been fu lly
funded since 197 3,“ M ea n o r said.
“ The increase in salaries last year,
to my know ledge, was n ot fu lly
funded by Congress and the V A had
to m ake up the d iffe rn c e out o f
existing budget.”
Currently, with an economic con­
d itio n that promises to get worse,
the hospital is limited in the number
o f “ open heart surgery and total hip
replacem ents it can p e r fo r m .”
(Total hip replacement has a waiting
list o f six m onths). In a d d itio n to
those things are the people who are
“ fin d in g o th er resources non-
a v a ila b le , and are tu rn in g to the
V A ” for what is described as “ elec­
tives.”
“ E lectives” can very w ell be
described as non-service connected
ailments, (glaucoma, podiatry, etc.)
seeking treatment when less than a
30 percent service connected
veteran, and , Spanish A m erican
W ar veterans, o f which, there is an
estim ated one in the State o f
Oregon.
M e a n o r said, " W e are having
problems getting nurses in the inten­
sive care units; the operating rooms
are running 12 to 14 hours per day,
and with the folding o f many other
programs, we are seeing more vets,
and some for the first tim e, that we
are not equipped space- or person­
nel-wise to help. I t ’s mind-boggling
and that’s where I get em otional, it
gets to me.”
The hospital expects a continuing
surge in care seekers, m any who
will be classified as "electives,” and
as things now stand, the sign that
hangs on the gate at the to p o f
M arquan H ill w ill continue to be a
farce: “ M ay I help you?”
S u b s c r ib e
Today
Administration publishes
affirmative action change
Washington— Secretary o f Labor
Raymond J. D onovan announced
that the Labor Department’s Office
o f Federal C o n tra ct C om pliance
Programs (O F C C P ) has published
its proposed affirmative action rules
in the Federal Register.
“ This regulatory package keeps
the necessary safeguards for p ro ­
tected groups, while cutting down
the
paperw ork
burden
for
employers,*' Donovan said.
M ajo r provisions in the proposal,
which appeared in the Aug. 23 Fed­
eral Register, include:
• Requiring w ritten a ffirm a tiv e
action programs only o f contractors
having 230 or more employees and a
contract worth $1 million.
• Eliminating various paperwork
and reporting requirements, such as
a Carter Administration proposal to
require employers to prepare a writ­
ten summary o f their affirmative ac­
tion programs.
• Maintaining the current defini­
tion o f u n d eru tiliza tio n as having
fewer women or minorities in a par­
ticular jo b group than would rea­
sonably be expected by their availa­
bility, but noting that employers will
not be required to declare underutil­
ization or set goals and timetables
for job groups in which the employ­
ment of the two groups is at least 80
per cent o f their availability.
• Perm itting contractors having
from 250 to 499 employees to pre­
pare an abbreviated affirm ative ac­
tion program and contractors with
several establishments in the same
“ chain o f co m m an d ” to prepare
one affirm ative action program for
all the establishments.
• Eliminating pre-award reviews.
• A llo w in g an extension in the
duration o f an a ffirm a tiv e action
program fo r up to five years if a
contractor has signed an agreement
to o ffe r jo b o p p o rtu n ities to
members o f protected groups who
are p artic ip a tin g in tra in in g p ro­
grams, or has an internal training
progrm which provides reasonable
opportunities for protected groups
(O F C C P , however, will retain au­
th o rity to investigate com plaints
during the five-year period).
• Reducing fro m 16 to 9 the
number o f affirm ative action steps
required o f construction contract­
ors, and applying the steps and
goals and tim etables only to large
construction contractors.
D onovan said that raising the
thresholds for the written a ffirm a ­
tive action program will free almost
75 per cent o f employers from this
requirement while retaining its pro­
tection for nearly 77 per cent o f the
workers presently affected.
H e also stated that em ployers
having contracts worth $10,000 still
are subject to Executive O rd er
11246, regardless o f whether they
have Io prepare a w ritten a ffirm a ­
tive action program. The executive
order requires federal contractor* to
take affirm ative action to hire and
promote women and minorities.
The new rules will replace regula­
tions issued on December 30, 1980,
by the Carter administration, which
were to become effective January
29, 1981. Donovan stated that the
new administration deferred the ef­
fective date o f those regulations in
January and evaluated them in ac­
cordance w ith Executive O rd er
12291, which requires a thorough
analysis o f all federal regulations.
The e ffec tive date o f the C a rte r
rules w ill continue to be deferred
until the new rules are issued in final
form.
Ellen M . Shong, d irecto r o f
O F C C P in the d e p a rtm e n t’ s E m ­
ploym ent Standards A d m in is tra ­
tion, said, "T h e changes we are pro­
posing will create incentives for vol­
untary compliance and put an end
to mindless confrontations with em­
ployers who have been acting In
good faith.
“ As a consequence, we believe
that employers will be more willing
to work with us and that the end re­
sult w ill be significantly more job
opportunities for members o f pro­
tected groups.”
The publication o f the rules fo l­
lows an extensive regulatory analy­
sis. In a d d itio n , the departm ent
twice has requested public comment
on a ffirm a tive action issues which
w ill be the subject o f future rule-
making.
In the July 14, 1981, Federal Reg­
ister, O F C C P announced that it
would accept comments on four is­
sues until Sept. 14, 1981. Those is­
sues are:
• methods fo r determ in in g the
a v a ila b ility o f women and m in o r­
ities;
• w hether O F C C P should con­
tinue to seek back pay as a remedy
under Executive Order 11246, and if
so, in what manner;
• alternative methods for setting
m in o rity and fem ale u tiliz a tio n
goals for construction contractors;
• whether nondiscrimination and
affirm ative action requirements for
a federal construction contractor
should apply only to its federal and
federally-assisted pro jects, to all
work in any area where the contract­
or has such a project, or to all o f the
contractor’s projects throughout the
nation.
O F C C P published another notice
in the Federal Register on Aug. 21,
1981, requesting public comment on
methods o f determining job groups
w ithin an em ployer’ s w ork force.
Comments on this issue also will be
accepted until Sept. 14.
In a d d itio n to Executive O rd er
11246, O F C C P enforces Section 503
o f the Rehabilitation Act and Sec­
tio n 402 o f the V ie tn a m -E ra V e t­
erans’ R eadjustm ent Assistance
Act, which require federal contract­
ors to take affirmative action to hire
and promote handicapped persons
and disabled and Vietnam-era veter­
ans, respectively.
W ritte n com ments on the p ro ­
posed rules, which will be accepted
for 60 days after publication, should
be sent to: James W . Cisco, Acting
Director, Division o f Program Pol­
icy, O F C C P . Room C -3 32 4 , U .S .
Department o f Labor, Washington,
D .C .. 20210. Telephone: (202) 523-
9426.
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ound Tip
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l-lb. Pkg.
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28
6 -P a k Coke
58
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T urkey
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SUPER
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Bandon Med. Cheddar aa $388
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Arco
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Organic, 15-oz.
85-oz. Trial Size
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32-oz. Btl.
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