Togus doublespeak

If one is to believe the federal government’s pronouncements, cutting nearly 10 percent of the Togus Veterans Affairs Center’s staff will make for better veterans’ care. But proving how Togus can be better, after 77 out of 857 staff members at the Augusta-based hospital are terminated, is going to take more than cheery sloganeering from VA officials.

On Wednesday, Dr. Fred Malphurs, interim director of the New England Veterans Affairs Healthcare Network, claimed that Togus could be bigger and better after this, to have more services instead of less. That is, simply, double-speak (in addition to being grammatically flawed). It’s made so because in spite of that proclamation, veterans still have to wait too long to see a physician at the hospital.

Consider: According to activist Ron Warner, one Maine veteran has had to wait two years to see a doctor at Togus, even though his case was ordered to be handled expeditiously. About 100 veterans who need to see an oncologist are out of luck; Togus has none on staff. Out-of-state doctors, who are not licensed to prescribe medications in Maine, staff Togus’s psychiatric unit. And waiting times for primary care visits leave over 1,000 veterans without reasonable opportunities to see a doctor.

In his comments Wednesday, Dr. Malphurs tied the oxymoron of making Togus better by firing people to the national trend of more outpatient care. In other words, by opening more community clinics and subcontracting more patient care through other hospitals, Togus can use its limited resources on other, core tasks.

But what are those core tasks? What should Togus be doing, and where should it be heading? What is the primary goal of the hospital, and does it have the resources needed to accomplish those goals?

Good luck getting that out of Dr. Malphurs or any other VA official. The interim director claims the transition plan for accommodating these staff cuts could be six months away from approval by Washington; we say, don’t cut workers unless you already know how you’re going to work without them.

Employing tired business-school cliches such as doing more with less and being stronger for the storm doesn’t work. The government has promised, and our congressional delegation has insisted, that Togus be given the tools to serve the needs of Maine’s veterans.

Dr. Malphurs’ attempt at putting a happy face on yet another round of staff cuts does little to inspire confidence in those promises or demands. Destroying villages in order to save them didn’t make sense in Vietnam, and it doesn’t make sense for Togus, either.