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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28
6 -P a k Coke
58
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T urkey
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SUPER
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«
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Organic, 15-oz.
85-oz. Trial Size
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32-oz. Btl.
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Large
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