VA Secretary to visit Asheville

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The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins will visit Asheville’s Charles George VA hospital on Tuesday, March 18. As part of Collins' tour, his staff confirmed he’ll address potential staff cuts in the tens of thousands nationwide. Collins has publicly stated the cuts won’t impact veteran’s medical care. Read more: https://wlos.com/news/local/secretary-department-veterans-affairs-asheville-va-hospital-potential-job-cuts-dei-vietnam _______________ Follow WLOS on social media:  WLOS ABC 13 News on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/News13/ WLOS ABC 13 News on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WLOS_13 WLOS ABC 13 News on Instagram: https://instagram.com/wlos_13  Subscribe to WLOS on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ABC13Channel/?sub_confirmation=1   Listen to AnchorMOMS, the Podcast:  https://wlos.com/news/anchormoms/anchormoms-the-podcast  Watch more top local news stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk8Ge6UXHJs&list=PLkVbaoT-aYbIvnEpR0Ct5QQQqYaORUSUH  For all of the day’s top local and national news, visit http://www.wlos.com Watch our live newscasts and other live video at https://wlos.com/watch  Have a news tip? Send it directly to us:   Email us: news@wlos.com  Call the Newsroom: 828.684.1340   WLOS ABC 13 News serves the Asheville, NC area and the rest of western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina. We keep our audience informed through local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, notices of community events, sports and entertainment programming since 1954.  #wlos #ashevillenews #northcarolinanews #abc13news  This video and all Sinclair Broadcast Group content archives of local news and sports coverage are available for your use. For more information contact us at contentsales@sbgtv.com

Transcript

00:00Veterans Administration Secretary Doug Collins will visit Asheville's VA

00:03Hospital tomorrow. His staff tells News 13 he will address potentially cutting

00:0872,000 VA jobs nationwide. But he promises those cuts would not impact

00:14veterans medical care. News 13's Kimberly King joins us live from the

00:18Charles George Medical Center on Tunnel Road. And Kim, veterans you spoke with

00:22are worried.

00:24Holly, they want specifics tomorrow from Secretary Collins in a news release from

00:30his office. It states that he will meet with administrators here as well as

00:35veterans. For many years veterans have been asking for a more efficient,

00:40accountable, and transparent VA. VA Secretary Doug Collins posts regularly

00:45on X and when it comes to staff downsizing says this. VA will always

00:49fulfill its duty to provide veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors the

00:54health care and benefits they have earned. That's a promise. His promise

00:57isn't keeping veteran Steve Henderson from sending a message. I would tell him

01:02to leave something alone. It doesn't need fixing. Henderson, a Vietnam vet, says

01:08he's had excellent treatment here where doctors helped him with PTSD. I hate to

01:13go over there and see my providers, my doctors, my nurses, my therapists. You can

01:20tell they're in the state of worry that they lose their jobs. What I worry about

01:25is them making cuts. Robert Best is another veteran. And health care going

01:30downhill. They've been miracle workers for me. I get all my medications through

01:35them. The VA here has a full-time pharmacy and ER. On its website it lists

01:40research areas including infectious disease. Another page states in 2018 the

01:45hospital with sites regionwide had over 1,900 full-time employees. We are all

01:50talking about it. Veteran Shuford Edmiston says veterans want Collins to

01:55state specifics. Our biggest thing is looking at when the VA secretary gets

02:02here so that he can identify what these cuts are going to be. The Trump

02:07administration has made it clear it's targeting DEI. Asheville's VA on its

02:12website states on their spotlight programs is health care for LGBT

02:17veterans. Along with another list at the bottom of the homepage listing veteran

02:21programs and services in the top three women and minority veterans which we'll

02:26ask Collins about tomorrow. Secretary Collins is expected to be here around

02:34midday. Media will be setting up at 1115 and we'll be asking him about those

02:39programs and other questions. Reporting live outside the VA in Asheville,

02:43Kimberly King, News 13.

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