10
S moke S ignals
JUNE 15, 2016
'He’s looking for ways to break down the silos'
SECRETARY continued
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School and the Indian Health Ser-
vice’s Western Oregon Service Unit
in Salem in the morning, McDonald
traveled to Spirit Mountain Casino
for a luncheon with Grand Ronde
Tribal Council members and invit-
ed Tribal leaders.
He was accompanied by his wife,
Diane, Oregon Rep. Kurt Schrad-
er and an entourage of Veterans
Affairs employees including Assis-
tant Deputy Under Secretary for
Community Care Dr. Baligh Yehia,
Portland Veterans Affairs Regional
Ofice Acting Director Carol Roane
and Deputy Director Tracye Da-
vis, and Terry Bentley, a familiar
face in Grand Ronde in her role as
Western Region Tribal Government
Relations specialist.
Tribal Council Chairman Reyn
Leno escorted McDonald on an af-
ternoon tour of the Tribal campus
with stops made at the Health &
Wellness Center, the West Valley
Veterans Memorial, the Tribal
Community Center for a Town Hall
meeting and a tour of Tribal hous-
ing and facilities, including Uyxat
Powwow Grounds and achaf-ham-
mi, the Tribal plankhouse.
“He’s looking for ways to break
down the silos and work with Tribal
communities,” Schrader said as Mc-
Donald listened to Leno explain the
history of the West Valley Veterans
Memorial and how it was designed
by Tribal Elder and fellow Vietnam
War veteran Steve Bobb Sr.
“He’s on to something, trying to
see if the VA can work with Tribal
governments to service Tribal vet-
erans,” Schrader added. “As Reyn
(Leno) said at lunch, why should he
have to go to Salem for a checkup
when he could do it right here.”
McDonald received a briefing
from Health Services Director Kelly
Rowe at the Health & Wellness
Center. “This is a gorgeous build-
ing,” he said while admiring the
Native-themed carpeting. “It feels
like home.”
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Secretary of Veterans Afairs Robert McDonald, left, meets Tribal Elder and
former Tribal Council member Wesley West while visiting the Grand Ronde
Health & Wellness Center on Wednesday, June 1. Tribal Council member Tonya
Gleason-Shepek saw West at the clinic and made the introduction.
During the visit at the clinic,
Tribal Council member Tonya Glea-
son-Shepek introduced Tribal Elder
and former Tribal Council member
Wesley West to McDonald.
West told McDonald that he
served three tours in Vietnam. In
return, McDonald thanked West
for his military service and gifted
him a medallion that included the
Department of Veterans Affairs’
seal and McDonald’s name and title
embossed on the edge.
McDonald graduated from West
Point in 1975 and served ive years
in the Army, primarily in the 82nd
Airborne Division, attaining the
rank of captain. Upon leaving the
military, he received the Meritori-
ous Service Medal.
He went on to be successful in
civilian life, work-
ing for Proctor
& Gamble from
1980 to 2013. He
became president
and chief executive
of the company in
2009 and assumed
chairmanship of its
board of directors
in 2010.
In July 2014,
President Barack
Obama nominat-
ed him to succeed
Gen. Eric Shinseki
Secretary of
Veterans Afairs
Robert McDonald
looks at the U.S.
Army pillar at
the West Valley
Veterans Memorial
during his visit to
Grand Ronde on
Wednesday, June
1. McDonald is an
Army veteran.
as Secretary of Veterans Affairs
and he was conirmed by the U.S.
Senate in a 97-0 vote.
McDonald assumed the leader-
ship of the Department of Veterans
Affairs while it was dealing with a
public relations crisis concerning
veterans waiting long periods to
obtain appointments at medical
facilities across the country. Some
veterans reportedly died while they
waited for appointments.
It was a controversy he and
Schrader addressed head-on during
the Town Hall meeting held in the
Community Center.
“I want to honor the Secretary
for being out here,” Schrader said.
“It’s not many communities that get
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs
to come out and visit. I think that
speaks volumes about the Grand
Ronde. The commitment you have
to health care for Indian Country
and, frankly, for the rest of the com-
munity. You have a broad reach out
here and I think that is recognized
by the folks in D.C.
“The Secretary is walking into a
tough spot. As you know, the VA
has been under siege. Some of it is
resource based and that depends
on Congress, to be frank with you.
The Choice Act ills a hole, but I
think we need to work on the VA
in general. … With his private ex-
perience and with his service to our
country like many of you here, he
has a unique background to bring
a problem-solving attitude toward
this whole enterprise. He doesn’t
have to do this. He could have re-
tired, but he is willing to serve his
country one more time.”
McDonald said that the Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs, the sec-
ond largest federal agency after the
Department of Defense, is going
through the largest transformation
in its history. If Veterans Affairs
was a company, it would be the
sixth largest in the United States
with a $185 billion budget and
360,000 employees.
He said there are 23 million
veterans in the United States of
which 9 million are signed up with
Veterans Affairs and 6 million re-
ceive their health care daily at VA
facilities.
“I loved my time in the service,”
McDonald said. “When I got the
call from the White House to come
back and serve again, I saw that
there was no greater honor than
to serve the brothers and sisters
that I had served with. And when
people ask me what is the greatest
thrill I have today, it’s being able
to do something to help at least one
veteran.
“What we’re trying to do is get
much more centered on the veteran.
Making sure that every time you
contact us that somebody on the
other end of the phone will help you
solve your problem, and that all of
us are accessible.”
McDonald said Veterans Affairs
is currently concentrating on im-
proving access to care by increasing
the number of places where veter-
ans can receive medical attention.
“That’s why things like a stra-
tegic partnership with the Indian
Health Service is so critical,” he
said.
McDonald said that Veterans Af-
fairs has added 4 million square feet
of space to its facilities nationwide,
1,200 new physicians, more than
2,300 nurses and expanded clinic
hours to evenings and weekends.
He said women’s clinics have been
added since female veterans will
soon increase from 11 percent of the
veteran population to 20 percent.
McDonald said Veterans Affairs
is working on a ive-point strategic
plan that includes improving the
veterans’ experience, the employ-
ee’s experience, improving internal
support services (computers, etc.),
instilling a culture of continuous
improvement and looking for stra-
tegic partnerships.
“We want to create irreversible
momentum in this transformation,”
McDonald said, acknowledging
that a new administration will
take ofice in January 2017. “We’re
committing that by the end of the
year, assuming we get the funding
from Congress, that any veteran
who contacts the VA for health care
will get same-day service for their
individual need.”
McDonald said the appointment
controversy of two years ago was
something that should have been
anticipated. In 2017, an estimated
10 million veterans will be older
than 65.
“The crisis that occurred in 2014
at the VA most of us would think
was because of the fact that we’ve
been ighting wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq for 12 years,” he said. “It
actually wasn’t that much the case.
The biggest issue was the aging of
the veteran population. In 1975,
which was the year I graduated
from West Point, there were 2 mil-
lion veterans over the age of 65.
As you have a population age, the
issues that didn’t bother us when
we were young begin to bother us.”
In 2009, Veterans Affairs re-
ceived 950,000 claims for disability
with about 1.5 issues per claim, he
said. In 2016, the department will
receive about 1.6 million disability
claims with about six issues per
See SECRETARY
continued on page 13