VA Hurting Veterans

The VA is going to lay off a vast amount of workers even though they are under staffed. Right now many workers in the VA are having to work mandatory overtime because they do not have enough staff. Veterans are being hurt because there is not enough staff as is to serve them. They have to wait months to years for services and this is impacting their health. Help protect veterans by reaching out to your government representatives and tell them to stop the VA reductions.

From: Humbles, Bernard <Bernard.Humbles@va.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, March 5, 2025 1:01 PM
To: VHAECH AFGE Union Members Local 2241 <VHAECHAFGEUnionMembersLocal2241@va.gov>; VBA AFGE Union Members Local 2241 <VBAAFGEUnionMembersLocal2241@va.gov>
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL]

 

https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/03/va-plans-lay-many-83000-employees-year/403477/

VA plans to lay off as many as 83,000 employees this year.

A leaked memo released Tuesday called for VA to slash its workforce to 2019 levels that were in place before millions of veterans became newly eligible for care.

 

Bernard L Humbles JR. BS,BA, LAC,CSOC, PhD, US Army Retired
District NVAC District 13, Council 219 Representative, CO,  WY, UT, AZ & NM

President, AFGE Local 2241 & Local Legislative Political Coordinator

President, Colorado AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council

AFGE Affiliate Vice President, Colorado AFL-CIO Board/Council Member

VISN 19, Liaison to the AFGE National VA Council  

Denver Area Labor Federation Delegate/Board Member

Colorado Alliance Of Retired Americans/Board Member

Personal Email: afgehwa2241@outlook.com

AFGE National VA Council, Drug Testing Committee Chair

Colorado Notary Public

Office 720-723-6577 Cell 720-891-5084 or 720-937-4602   

Accessible/Adaptive Halloween Costumes 2024

Spooky season 2024 is in full swing and trying to find the perfect costume can be hard. It's even harder if you need an adaptive one for special needs/disability/mobility issues. I've been doing an adaptive costume post for a few years now, and this year I feel like there was a little bit of a stall. I say this because I didn't see hardly any new styles. It looked like mostly the hold overs from previous years.

Disney

https://www.disneystore.com/halloween-shop/costumes/adaptive-costumes/

It looked like Disney cut their offerings in half this year if not more. I hate to say it, but this does fall in line with how Disney also changed their ADA access rules at their parks to be more restrictive. Gone are the days where Disney supported children and their families let alone adults with disabilities that enjoy dressing up as their characters.

Target

This was the first year I noticed places (Target) using visuals of adaptive costumes on social media (this was a screen shot from TikTok). This specific post was a slide show of different costumes, but this picture was of the first slide. Target has been the best at visually showing and giving voices to disability. Last year I noticed in store signage that showed adaptive marketing. I have also found products at Target that shows holiday goods with characters using adaptive medical equipment. For example there is the vampire in a wheel chair that you can see in some of my videos from this Halloween season and last Christmas I found a Santa in a wheelchair. Target has been the leader in showing these types of images and just making it a part of what they do.

At the same time this year access to these costumes were more limited (just for internet shopping). Last year I was able to find some wheelchair covers and wagon covers (that could be adapted to wheelchairs), but this year even the big Targets didn't have these products on shelves. Their online supply also seemed smaller with no new styles that stood out to me. Everything seemed to be last year's holdovers.

Rolling Buddies

This was a new site I found this year (https://www.rollingbuddies.com/). This company sells different accessible products, but has a section for Halloween costumes. Some of the costumes looked really questionable in their quality, but the at least had a spread of options. They focused on wheelchair accessible costumes.

Example 1:

Lots of different emotions on this one. First, why would you make this costume? It does fall into cultural appropriation and the only possible thing I can think of why you would have this is if you were doing a costume of the Monkey King or Mulan. At the same time it dose show people from different cultural backgrounds within the picture while supporting accessibility. This is just an example of how complicated things can get when looking at things from a DEI lens. This is also one of the ones where I was questioning the quality of the product. Picture from: https://www.rollingbuddies.com/collections/halloween-costumes/products/asian-palace-wheelchair-costume-childs 

Everything on this site looks just cutouts for wheelchairs that have been printed on some type of poster board like thing. Nothing is licensed goods and the prices seem high when compared to licensed products or other products from other stores. I wouldn't recommend this place directly for the above reasons, but they do have some variety if you just want something different. 

halloweenexpress.com

https://www.halloweenexpress.com/costumes/adaptive-a1-560518+3435-1.fltr

This is one of the few sites where there seemed to be any new styles this year.

Picture From: https://www.halloweenexpress.com/costumes/adaptive-a1-560518+3435-1.fltr

Their selection also felt smaller when compared to past years.

Walmart
https://www.walmart.com/browse/adaptive-and-diy-halloween-costumes/c2hlbGZfaWQ6MjMwMzMzOQieie

They had many of the same costumes as the places listed above.

This was one of the more interesting costumes they had this year that I didn't see on the other sites. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Disguise-Boys-Minecraft-Pig-Wheelchair-Cover-Adaptive-Costume-One-Size-Fits-Most/3882141793?classType=VARIANT&selectedSellerId=737

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/stores/DisguiseCostumes/AdaptiveCostumes_Themes/page/5421B702-BA97-484B-8708-4C39F3B82895

Even with a big company like Amazon that has the most random and diverse products, they had a super small selection of adaptive costumes. They actually had even less then some of the other stores when I expected them to have more.

Party City

https://www.partycity.ca/en/cat/halloween-costumes-decor/halloween-costumes-accessories/adaptive-costumes-DC1000367.html

For a place considered a party headquarters their selection this year was also super small, only having 8 options.

Spirit Halloween

Spirit was the most disappointing. On their website when I searched for adaptive costumes only 1 costume popped up.

Additional Places to Look:

https://www.etsy.com/market/adaptive_halloween_costumes

Overall, this year was mostly disappointing in what adaptive costumes that were out there. Since I started to do these posts each year there had been slow increases in what could be found and some stores were actually starting to get competitive with each other on who could offer the most. This year there was a decrease in what could be found and many of the stores just had the same products. Shopping around may not bring you variety like it has in the past, but you may find the same costume for cheaper. I'm hoping that this is just a slump and that next year store will start offering more again. We'll just have to wait and see.

2024 October News

10/1/24: "New FDA rule requires mammogram reports to include information about patient's breast density"- https://abc17news.com/news/health-news/2024/10/01/new-fda-rule-requires-mammogram-reports-to-include-information-about-patients-breast-density/ "Breast cancer rising among younger women at 'troubling' rate: report"- https://nypost.com/2024/10/01/lifestyle/breast-cancer-rising-among-younger-women-new-report/

10/5/24: "Study of 500,000 Medical Records Links Viruses With Alzheimer's Again and Again"- https://www.sciencealert.com/study-of-500000-medical-records-links-viruses-with-alzheimers-again-and-again

Breast Cancer: Learning Fast

When a family member got diagnosed with breast cancer I felt that I had to do a deep dive into the subject matter in order to help them navigate the situation. The first place I decided to look for information was in books. I know that info in books can be very dated, but it is usually good for basic information and you can carry it around with you and read on the go. For this article I'm going to highlight two different book experiences I had that in a way shows some of the extremes you can run into using books to do medical research.

Of the books I found, The Breast Cancer Survival Manual by John Link, was one of the best. It goes into a lot of detail and helped us to figure out which questions we should be asking the doctors. It also let us know when the doctors were withholding information from us. I tell people that they have to become experts on their medical conditions because both doctors and the American medical system can not be trusted. My specific example of this is that the doctors would only tell us the stage of cancer and not the type. It took me asking very pointed questions and talking about the specific types to get them to tell us the type of breast cancer she had. Knowing the specific type makes a big difference in the options you have and by doctors withholding this information they block you from knowing what your options are. This book was pivotal in helping me build specific questions and hold the doctors accountable for what treatment options we had. I would highly recommend this book to both people diagnosed with cancer and their families. I also found this at the local library.

Taking Charge of Breast Cancer by Julia Eriksen was less then helpful. During this time I had access to a college library. To be specific the Auraria Campus library that serves 3 different colleges including students in different medical programs. For a library that supports medical students I found their medical and health books really lacking compared to the public library. I thought that this would have been the reverse, but was super disappointed. This was actually the best book on breast cancer that they had. It mostly was just a collection of different peoples' experiences, which is great to know how varied the breast cancer journey experience can be, but it didn't really have any useful information in it. It was too personal and not educational enough. When you are going through the breast cancer experience you don't have a lot of time to educate yourself, and reading this book was a waste of time when compared to other books out there that had information that you could put into instant use. I would say don't waste your time on this book, there are better options out there to help you in your breast cancer journey.

These two books show the differences in quality of the books you can find on a subject and how where you can find quality books on a subject can be surprising. I would have thought that a college would have held the more useful and information packed books, but in this case my local library was much more helpful. At the same time I felt that both locations had very few books on a subject that impacts the lives of so many people. The breast cancer center had posters up where they talked about 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer. That's really high. Then even if you don't get it, more then likely a friend or family member will get it. Breast cancer is very impactful to our society and I feel that there needs to be easier access to more information on it in general. For my own learning experience I had to focus more on medical journals and peer reviewed articles. Which for the general population, understanding the language alone used in those type of resources makes the information out of reach for them. I'm lucky because of my background in science and medicine, but for most the information is very much gate kept by the medical profession. There are a few basic places people can turn, like Web MD, but you need to be careful of what you find on the web. As always I recommend doing research on not only where your info comes from, but on the authors of any books or articles you turn to.

I will try to share more of my experiences of the breast cancer journey as I can. It is a lot of appointments and then also trying to support someone on the emotional path can also eat up a lot of time. I wish all who have to deal with this in any way the best of luck.

Picture 1 From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33574220-the-breast-cancer-survival-manual
Picture 2 From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2190850.Taking_Charge_of_Breast_Cancer

2024 April News

 

4/20/24: "For The First Time, Scientists Showed Structural, Brain-Wide Changes During Menstruation"- https://www.sciencealert.com/for-the-first-time-scientists-showed-structural-brain-wide-changes-during-menstruation

4/25/24: "Health conglomerate Kaiser notifies millions of a data breach"- https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/kaiser-notifies-millions-data-breach-2024-04-25/

Poor Leadership in the VA Leads to Abuse of Employees

This is the first in a series of articles that will look at the Veterans Administration (VA) and how it is failing both the employees and the veterans. The VA is one of the largest health care providers in the US and is government run. This has allowed it to do things however it wants to and it is not held accountable for all of the people it steamrolls. The goal of this series is to bring more attention to what the VA is doing and to have those in power in the VA held accountable for what they have been doing.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) stands is a crucial institution responsible for the well-being of millions of veterans across the United States and is one of the biggest health care providers in the US. It’s mission statement is “To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s veterans” (“Federal VA Overview”). Then its vision statement is “to provide veterans the world class benefits and services they have earned and to do so by adhering to the highest standards of compassion, commitment, excellence, professionalism, integrity, accountability, and stewardship” (“Federal VA Overview”). The problem is in order to do this it takes a large workforce to provide these services. They may have noble mission and vision statements but there lies a troubling reality: the pervasive abuse of employees by bad leaders within the organization. This post will look at the horrible leadership that is sending negative impacts reverberating throughout the VA system.

Mismanagement within the VA shows up in various forms, ranging from toxic work environments to blatant disregard for employee well-being. Both of these are largely influenced directly by leadership since it is the leaders that create a business culture. A large aspect of this mismanagement is evident in the prevalence of workplace harassment and discrimination. One example of this is Dr. Lisa Brenner where the VA union had to file a formal report on her that included reports of “emotional, mental and psychological abuse” of employees (Tabachnik). Another current example of this is James Edward Stafford who was hired and has moved up into leadership positions within the VA even though his criminal record is well known by VA staff. Does is name sound familiar to you? A while back he was forced to resign from the Lafayette police force for abuse of power before the police department could fire him. He was trying to save face from the horrible things he had done while sporting a badge. He used his police power to give tickets to his ex-girlfriends boyfriend, stalked her, and lied about her stealing money to try and get her fired from her current job just to mention a few things (The Associated Press). His legal team was able to work wonders and got him out of a felony if he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor (The Associated Press). This doesn’t mean that he didn’t do crime equal to a felony, but that he was able to wiggle his way out of the harsher charges. Unfortunately, this is the state of our legal system where we don’t fully hold people accountable for what they do even if they had been abusing their power when they were supposed to be helping people. Now Stafford is at the VA making it a nightmare place to work for the people under him while he abuses the power that the VA has given him. One example of this is that he has taken Medical System Administrators (MSAs) and thrown them into a call center because he could not handle managing a normal call center. The MSAs were not hired to work in a call center and when they started working at the VA many were told that they were not being hired to work in a call center and that their job would never be call center work. This was the only reason why some of these employees took the job. Now Stafford is breaking the hiring contracts and having workers do call center duties (which is not on their job descriptions) because he can not hire enough staff to work an actual call center due to the mental and emotional abuse that those workers experience under the VA call center structure. He has also been caught lying about having the VA union’s support in his actions and has been reported to HR for it. He has also even told managers to yell at employees to get the work done. There has been report after report to both the union and the VA HR about Stafford, yet the VA continues to employ him. He likes to tell people that he has reformed since his ‘misdemeanor’, but he continues to abuse people in other ways. Some people never change.

VA has consistently ranked among the top federal agencies for whistleblower complaints, highlighting systemic issues within its leadership structure. The Office of Special Counsel has more than 1/3 of its cases coming from reports of the VA retaliating against whistleblowers (Patricia Kime). Such complaints often cite instances of retaliation against employees who speak out against misconduct, fostering an environment of fear and intimidation. This fear and intimidation creates a toxic work environment and negatively impacts employees mental, emotional, and physical health. Studies have found a direct link between a toxic work environment and employee engagement (Rasool SF and others). For the VA this means that the toxic work environment that leaders is creating is then also directly impacting the service that veterans are receiving.

Also, the lack of accountability among VA leadership makes the problem worse. Bad leaders within the VA frequently escape repercussions for their actions, emboldening further abuse and undermining the organization's integrity. Some like Dr. Lisa Brenner are just moved to other locations where they can abuse a different set of employees (Tabachnik). Another example of this is the supervisor that multiple investigations recommended be terminated from the Veterans Medical Center in Loma Linda was kept by higher level administrators (Rob McMillan). Even with many of these abuses going public, which would make most companies change their ways, the VA continues to foster and environment of toxicity. 

The negative impact of mismanagement extends beyond individual employees to the overall effectiveness of the VA in fulfilling its mission. High turnover rates among staff, attributed in part to poor leadership, disrupt continuity of care for veterans and impede efforts to address pressing healthcare needs. The loss of workers then also adds to the workload of employees that are already overworked. Moreover, the erosion of employee morale resulting from abuse and neglect hampers productivity and innovation within the organization, hindering its ability to adapt to evolving challenges.

The VA's failure to address these systemic issues reflects a broader pattern of neglect towards its workforce and a knowing disregard for overall human decency. Despite numerous internal investigations and external audits, meaningful reforms have been slow to materialize. In a large meeting of VA employees that had the goal of listening to employee complaints, employees found out that the toxic work environment was impacting most employees. Leadership in this meeting said that they were trying to make changes, but they are moving to slow to help employees that are suffering. The inherent bureaucratic complexities of the VA, coupled with political pressures and budgetary constraints, have contributed to a culture that encourage misconduct and undermines accountability.

Overall, epidemic of employee abuse within the VA underscores the urgent need for comprehensive reform. Bad leaders within the organization continue to exploit their positions of power, perpetuating toxic work environments and compromising the well-being of employees. Employees are given no relief from poor leadership even when they make formal complaints. Addressing this crisis requires a concerted effort to hold accountable those responsible for misconduct, implement robust safeguards against retaliation, and foster a culture of transparency and accountability. Only through such measures can the VA fulfill its commitment to serving those who have served our nation.

Works Cited

Associated Press, The. "Former Lafayette officer receives probation in stalking case." The Denver Post. May 26, 2009. https://www.denverpost.com/2009/05/26/former-lafayette-officer-receives-probation-in-stalking-case/

“Federal VA Overview.” Colorado Division of Veterans Affairs. Accessed March 4, 2024. https://vets.colorado.gov/federal-va-overview#:~:text=To%20provide%20veterans%20the%20world,integrity%2C%20accountability%2C%20and%20stewardship

Kime, Patricia. “Majority of VA Whistleblowers Report Retaliation after Calling out Agency Wrongdoing.” Military.com, May 5, 2023. Accessed March 4, 2024. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/05/04/majority-of-va-whistleblowers-report-retaliation-after-calling-out-agency-wrongdoing.html. 

McMillan, Rob. “LOMA LINDA VA INVESTIGATED FOR ALLEGATIONS OF EMPLOYEE ABUSE AND HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT.” Los Angeles and Southern California News, Weather, Traffic - ABC7 KABC, June 19, 2023. Accessed March 4, 2024.  https://abc7.com/amp/va-loma-linda-healthcare-system-abuse-hostile-workplace-allegations-whistleblower-complaints-rep-jay-obernolte/13391540/. 

Rasool SF, Wang M, Tang M, Saeed A, Iqbal J. “How Toxic Workplace Environment Effects the Employee Engagement: The Mediating Role of Organizational Support and Employee Wellbeing”. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021 Feb 26;18(5):2294. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18052294. PMID: 33652564; PMCID: PMC7956351. Accessed December 17, 2023. https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.aurarialibrary.idm.oclc.org/pmc/articles/PMC7956351/

Tabachnik, Sam. “Aurora VA’s Suicide Prevention Center Rife with ‘Emotional, Mental and Psychological Abuse.’” The Denver Post, December 22, 2023. Accessed March 4, 2024. https://www.denverpost.com/2023/12/10/aurora-va-hospital-suicide-prevention-center-abuse/amp/. 

Resources

“7 Things You Didn’t Know Happening at VA Hospitals.” AFGE, May 22, 2023. Accessed March 4, 2024. https://www.afge.org/article/7-things-you-didnt-know-happening-at-va-hospitals/. 

-AFGE is the VA union. They are putting out information on the VA that the VA doesn’t want people to know about.

Bunch, Joey. "Lafayette cop faces stalking charge." The Denver Post. July 30, 2008. Accessed September 15, 2023. https://www.denverpost.com/2008/07/30/lafayette-cop-faces-stalking-charge/

Casey, Michael. “Federal Watchdog Finds VA Ignored Bullying Complaints.” AP News, December 13, 2023. Accessed March 4, 2024. https://apnews.com/general-news-df3d5468b5395bf3b2022b941b6f89d6. 

Estes, Andrea. “Veterans Affairs Administration Ignored Complaints of Harassment and Bullying, Federal Watchdog Says.” The Boston Globe, March 5, 2021. Accessed March 4, 2024.  https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/03/04/metro/veterans-affairs-administration-ignored-complaints-harassment-bullying-federal-watchdog-says/. 

Gooding, Mike. “VA under Fire for Retaliating against Workers Who Disclose Wrongdoing.” 13 News Now, June 16, 2022. Accessed March 4, 2024.  https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/national/military-news/va-under-fire-retaliating-workers-disclose-wrongdoing/291-322e99b5-47cc-4091-92f8-400142f712ea. 

Gray, Justin. “VA Worker Says She’s Being Forced to Work with Supervisor Who Judge Found Harassed Her.” WSB-TV Channel 2 - Atlanta, October 30, 2023. https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb-county/va-worker-says-shes-being-forced-work-with-supervisor-who-judge-found-harassed-her/6DPSIDB47JEIPJNSCQCLVXUJGE/?outputType=amp. 

-They VA had no right to force the woman to work under a person that a judge found had harassed her. At that point that supervisor should have been fired. This shows a total failure on the VA’s part to protect employees from abuse and shows the VA actually support the abuse.

“Largest Veterans Affairs Employee Union Calls on VA to ‘do Better’ after Arbitrator Finds Agency Guilty of Violating Federal Labor Law.” AFGE, March 13, 2023. Accessed March 4, 2024.https://www.afge.org/publication/largest-veterans-affairs-employee-union-calls-on-va-to-do-better-after-arbitrator-finds-agency-guilty-of-violating-federal-labor-law/. 

-This one I found interesting for the picture. My past information was that the union couldn’t strike, but this image shows that if workers aren’t able to strike then they can march. This makes me wonder why the union here in Colorado is sitting on its butt when it has received so many complaints about the working conditions and bad leadership in Colorado, and wonder when it is going to do something big to make the VA actually do some change. Or will the union just sit back watching while people like me work to expose the abuses that the VA are actively doing.

Lukitsch, Bill, and Cortlynn Stark. “‘Ghetto,’ ‘Boy’: Former Kansas City VA Employee Files Race Discrimination Lawsuit.” Kansas City Star, July 6, 2021. Accessed March 4, 2024.  https://amp.kansascity.com/news/article252606338.html. 

-This one shows how VA employees suffer from discrimination from their managers.

“Nurses at Aurora VA Hospital Rally Today.” YouTube, July 17, 2023. Accessed March 4, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrKzSxL0Y_U. 

-This shows actual VA staff telling you about their experiences.

Parker, Cherie. “Effects of Harassment on Mental Health.” VA News, July 29, 2022. https://news.va.gov/104031/effects-of-harassment-on-mental-health/. 

-When I found this article I had to sickly laugh since the VA does nothing to help the mental health of employees that experience workplace harassment.

“Rubio Blasts Biden Admin for Disregarding His VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act.” Senator Rubio, July 27, 2023. Accessed March 4, 2024.  https://www.rubio.senate.gov/rubio-blasts-biden-admin-for-disregarding-his-va-accountability-and-whistleblower-protection-act/. 

-You won’t find me agreeing with conservatives that often, but I the case of VA reform, it is massively needed.

Schwebke, Scott. “Mother of VA Loma Linda Employee Who Died by Suicide Files $5 Million Claim.” Redlands Daily Facts, October 2, 2023. Accessed March 4, 2024.  https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/2023/10/01/mother-of-va-loma-linda-employee-who-committed-suicide-files-5-million-claim/amp/. 

-This article shows that VA employees are so negatively impacted by the work environment that they have even committed suicide. Why is the VA not paying attention to the impacts that leadership is having on workers? Why has the government not directly held the VA accountable for these abuses of power?

Schwebke, Scott. “Va Loma Linda Whistleblowers Mount, Probe Widens into Harassment Allegations.” Redlands Daily Facts, June 19, 2023. Accessed March 4, 2024.  https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/2023/06/16/va-loma-linda-whistleblowers-mount-probe-widens-into-harassment-allegations/amp/. 

-This shows how the Loma Linda situation kept escalating.

Tabachnik, Sam. “Head of Aurora VA’s Prosthetics Department Canceled Veterans’ Orders to Eliminate Backlog, Ex-Employees Allege.” The Denver Post, December 12, 2023. https://www.denverpost.com/2023/11/12/aurora-va-hospital-veteran-affairs-prosthetics-department-colorado/. 

-This shows an example of how leadership in the VA make bad decisions that negatively impact veterans and then staff are also impacted by then having to deal with all of the angry veterans and those veterans have a right to be angry.

Titus, Jennifer. “New Report Shows VA Has a Way to Go on Handling Harassment Cases.” 10 Tampa Bay, September 9, 2022. Accessed March 4, 2024.   https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/investigations/new-report-va-handling-harassment-cases/67-f7095b04-3177-4e07-b4a7-133c0e310d0e. 

Urie, Heath. “Lafayette Police Officer Pleads Not Guilty to Harassment/Stalking.” Boulder Daily Camera, August 15, 2009. Accessed September 28, 2023. https://www.dailycamera.com/2009/08/15/lafayette-police-officer-pleads-not-guilty-to-harassmentstalking/

-This article goes into some of the best detail about Stafford and shows just how crazy of a situation he created and how scary he can be.

U.S. Office of Special Counsel. “2021 Annual Whistleblower program report to Congress.” Accessed March 4, 2024. https://www.sec.gov/files/owb-2021-annual-report.pdf

Wagner, Erich. “Vast Majority of VA Employees Have Either Witnessed or Experienced Racism at Work, Survey Finds.” Government Executive, April 14, 2021. Accessed March 4, 2024. https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/08/vast-majority-va-employees-have-either-witnessed-or-experienced-racism-work-survey-finds/167583/. 

-There is no way that the issue can be this high of a percent unless the VA was actively ignoring the issue.

Watson, Kathryn. “Trump Signs Bill Making It Easier to Fire Bad VA Employees.” CBS News, June 23, 2017. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/trump-signs-bill-making-it-easier-to-fire-bad-va-employees/. 

-This is basically the only thing that Trump did in office that I agree with. The sad thing is even with this, the VA is still holding on to managers/leaders that negatively impact the employee experience.

Wolf, Jeffrey. "Police officer arrested for stalking." 9 News. July 30, 2008. The Denver Post. July 30, 2008. Accessed September 15, 2023. https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/police-officer-arrested-for-stalking/73-342686551

Living with PTSD By Lindsay Wyskowski

What was really good about this book is that it went into the different forms that PTSD can take. It also didn't focus on just military forms of PTSD like most books focus on, but on how trauma can have many different forms and impact people of all ages. This is a good quick introduction to PTSD and I would recommend it for people in any field that may come in contact with people with PTSD. To be truthful that really could be anyone since there are so many forms of PTSD.

Picture From: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61049110-living-with-ptsd