‘HUNTING FOR BUGS’: Surprise VA Kitchen Inspection After Reports of Roaches in Food

Conservative Review ^ | 5-11-16 | Tori Richards

[sally234]

The Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General went “hunting for bugs” in the middle of the night at two VA kitchens Tuesday after a Conservative Review investigation revealed allegations of an infestation so severe that cockroaches were served in patients’ meals.

The inspectors descended upon Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in suburban Chicago at 3 a.m. to “conduct an impromptu walk-through of the kitchens,” according to an internal VA email sent to union leaders at 7:24 a.m. “They were hunting for bugs, I believe that’s what they were doing at 3 o’clock in the morning,” said dietician Kelvin Gilkey, who recently retired from Hines VA Hospital in Hines, Ill., after 33 years. He served as the union steward for the kitchen employees and now works as a volunteer union liaison.

[vetvetdoug]

If the VA would hire retired 908’s or 91R,S, or T's they'd have some decent inspections that would catch this. They are too busy hiring affirmative action PC people to get good qualified health inspectors.

[lafroste]

So, did they find any?

[FreedomOfExpression]

Before posting, you can edit the excerpt so that fellow FReepers can see the findings without clicking through to the article.

[FreedomOfExpression]

Well, I went ahead and clicked through. There are no results given, but this quote reflects the point of the article.
"VA spokesman James Hutton did not respond to repeated requests for inspection logs that would show the time frame for each inspection, the name of the inspecting agency, what was found, and remediation efforts."
Basically the VA is investigating itself and is not held to the same standards as restaurants and hospitals regarding cleanliness of kitchen facilities.

[PeterPrinciple]

“This is unacceptable,” said U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, (R-IL)(20%-F). “We can’t have this – why do we have a lower standard of food service for our veterans where serving cockroaches is acceptable? Any restaurant with this problem would be shut down.” Kirk has been an outspoken critic of sanitation and pest control problems at Hines VA. Documents and whistleblower statements indicate the infestation has been ongoing for years without remedy. “The employees tell me that the bugs are worse since the article came out – not better,” Gilkey said. “The problem with Hines is that they are like the Vatican in a way. They have their own police force and zip code.”

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The cockroaches have their own zip code.............

[Hulka]

“Right now the VA, which has proven themselves to be corrupt, is allowed to police themselves,”

Indeed.

Filed a complaint with the Wash DC VA IG office, citing the Long Beach VA hospital with many unsafe and unsanitary conditions, from patient abuse by staff to disgusting and unpalatable meals, to systemic incompetence by the director of the hospital, and the OIG sent the complaint to the incompetent director to investigate herself and her hospital. Surprised me, the director found herself blameless and her hospital top-tier and a shining example of care of veterans.

[BykrBayb]

You win the Internets for today!

[blueunicorn6]

I am convinced that the VA bureaucrats are organized crime.

[Jim from C-Town]

No one will be held accountable, no one will be fired. All empolyees will receive generous bonuses for doing an ‘outstanding’ job.

[NonValueAdded]

♫ Look for the union label
when you're eating some roach infested food
Remember somewhere the bugs are crawling
their feces dropping ... ♫

[RWGinger]

Hmm I call these reports pretty damming “ results”
from article;
“The officials found outdated food, food that was not labeled correctly or missing labels, and overwhelming filth, said Gilkey, who said he spoke to a long-term care kitchen worker who witnessed part of the inspection. They also followed around a food cart that distributed meals, as news reports had chronicled roaches being served to patients.’

anyone think “overwhelming filth” doesn’t include bugs? -

[butlerweave]

The UN wants you to eat more Bugs ,so what’s the problem

[pfflier]

Good question. Overall filth isn’t very descriptive either.

[hal ogen]

These overpaid va “workers” should be fired. This is yet another example of their hatred of Veterans who they hold in contempt. All they care about is their checks and benefits.

[FreedomOfExpression]

I scanned the article quickly and kept seeing comments and references to other facilities such as restaurants and hospitals and the standards they must meet vs. the VA policing itself. I must have missed that small piece of the article.
If only the part you quoted had been posted in the excerpt, I wouldn't have felt impelled to comment at all.
As to your question, who said that the term "overwhelming filth" meant the exclusion of bugs?

[pfflier]

All they care about is their checks and benefits.

That part I would agree with. I've encountered many govt employees "just doing their job" and little more with a few exceptions.

I don't see that expanded into "Hatred of veterans" although antipathy towards veterans might be a closer match.

My own experience with VA hospitals is they are staffed with a bunch of bored minority drones on the lower maintenance and operations levels and a bunch of overworked certified professionals at the medical staff levels.

[IamConservative]

[hal ogen]

My experience is apparently different. Then, there are the Veterans murdered by criminal neglect. Has anyone been fired?