Goal is ‘Seamless Care’ for Veterans, Shalala Says

By Lesley Clark and Amy Driscoll, The Miami Herald

Mar. 8–WASHINGTON — Calling the Walter Reed scandal “an embarrassment for the country,” University of Miami President Donna Shalala said Wednesday that her healthcare work in the Clinton Cabinet and at the university will help a presidential committee she now co-chairs build a “seamless system of care” for the nation’s veterans.

Shalala, returning to Miami after an Oval Office meeting with President Bush to announce her appointment as co-chair with former Sen. Bob Dole, said the task before her is broad but clearly defined: “To look at what improvement should be made for soldiers from the moment they’re hurt on the battlefield to the day they return into civilian life.”

The former health and human services secretary said her knowledge of the healthcare system, including UM’s partnership with the Miami Veterans Medical Center, will help guide her work on the bipartisan panel, the Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors.

Dole, who was wounded in World War II, offers a personal perspective on military medical care, she said.

“He brings enormous credibility,” she said.

Shalala, noting that generations of her family have served in the military, including a cousin now in Iraq, promised a tough examination.

“This is going to be comprehensive, it’s going to be vigorous, and neither one of us is afraid of talking to the brass,” she said, “whether it’s the president of the United States or a general.”

Shalala, a Democrat who served as former President Bill Clinton’s health secretary, and Dole, a Republican who long represented Kansas in the Senate, were asked to chair the panel following disclosures by The Washington Post of poor care at the nation’s premier military hospital, Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

After her meeting with Bush on Wednesday morning, Shalala said she sensed his anger over the reports and said he’s intent on a speedy and comprehensive fix to problems facing wounded veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

“He made it very clear that if one soldier doesn’t get high-quality treatment and isn’t transitioned back into civilian life, or back into the military, that’s unacceptable,” Shalala said outside the White House. “You could sense his anger and his anxiousness that we move as quickly as possible.”

While Walter Reed’s troubles have gotten the most attention, she said, the role of the new commission is to focus on what happens to soldiers in the rest of the nation’s military medical facilities and aftercare programs.

Bush, in the Oval Office meeting, said “any report of medical neglect will be taken seriously by this administration” and that he is confident the commission “will bring forth the truth.”

Under Shalala, a two-month labor strike at UM last year that had its roots in janitorial workers’ dissatisfaction with their pay and health benefits brought unwelcome attention to the university. The strike included a student sit-in before the university settled it, increasing wages, offering health coverage and allowing union representation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid praised Bush for appointing the two, but suggested that the commission should also include service members and members of Congress.

By Lesley Clark and Amy Driscoll

—–

To see more of The Miami Herald — including its homes, jobs, cars and other classified listings — or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, The Miami Herald

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

WPO,