Veteran Affairs Secretary Doug Collins visits Minneapolis VA Medical Center
MINNEAPOLIS — U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, toured the Minneapolis VA Medical Center on Tuesday, May 13. The visit included a leadership briefing with medical center leadership, the VISN-23 deputy network director and Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Brad Lindsay.
During a facility tour he visited the Rehabilitation & Engineering Center for Optimizing Veteran Engagement & Reintegration (RECOVER) for a demonstration on some items invented and fabricated at the medical center. Items included a mobile manual standing wheelchair, an ergonomic wheelchair, a slope-adaptive foot, a prosthetic sock management tool and more.
He coined five employees for outstanding work. They include Debbie Biffle, a registered nurse and accreditation program manager of the Quality, Safety and Value Department; Alicia Halverson, a specialty licensed practical nurse at the Northwest Metro Community Based Outpatient Clinic; Annette Stanlake, supervisor of the environmental management; Karen Armbrust, MD, PhD, a staff surgeon, Ophthalmology and Ophthalmologist; and Elvis Leighton, a supervisory program specialist in the Credentialing and Privileging Department.
“I ask our senior leaders to think about great ideas to make the ways we can help our veterans even better. It’s not going to be about 170 hospitals in our system acting individually anymore, it’s going to be about a VA system that will unleash the full power of VA to help our veterans,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins.
“As a CMS 5-Star Rated facility, we take pride in our employees, and partners within the community that take part in the care of 106,000 veterans within our catchment,” said Minneapolis VA Health Care System Director Patrick Kelly.
“Our employees are focused on the mission of caring for veterans. We recruit and retain top-tier medical professionals, not because we can offer similar salaries they could earn in the community, but because they are committed to the mission of taking care of Veterans.” Dr. Michael Armstrong, chief of staff
“We are a big National Guard state and have a long history of providing innovative benefits for all veterans. We work close together with the VA on outreach opportunities like Beyond the Yellow Ribbon and reintegration events, to connect with veterans and let them know about the benefits they are earned,” said MDVA Commissioner Brad Lindsay.