Not for veterens only

Article: Despite vow to protect health care for veterans, VA losing doctors and nurses, by Capital and Main.

“Our staffing in the ER is beyond dire now,” said Heather Fallon, a nurse in the emergency department at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago who had long been dreading the arrival of Sept. 30, the day the fiscal year came to an end.

That was the day she says she lost two nurses — and the facility lost nine staffers in total — whose contracts ended, putting further strain on her team, which has seen an increase in patients this year. Veteran Affairs Secretary Doug Collins had vowed to have reduced the size of the agency by 30,000 positions by that date without impacting health services for veterans.

. . .

Collins’ decision in June to scrap a plan for massive layoffs and his promise to provide quicker services to veterans brought a sigh of relief to many and generated positive headlines.

But the upheaval caused by the Trump administration’s earlier firings of probationary employees who were then rehired months later, the closing of some VA facilities and the cancellation of medical research trials have had a major impact, say nurses who work at VA facilities, staffers at the department and veterans advocates.

Long, but informative, article at: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/11/6/2352263/-Despite-vow-to-protect-health-care-for-veterans-VA-losing-doctors-and-nurses