Newsmakers, April 9, 2015

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• New Administrator Looks To Move Tomah VA Forward

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  The new interim director of the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center says it’s his job to move the center beyond a series of investigations into staff intimidation and the over-prescription of narcotics to veterans for pain.

  John Rohrer was appointed to the post in March around the same time that rare congressional field hearings were held in Tomah to address problems brought to light by a report by the Center for Investigative Journalism in January.

  Rohrer, a La Crosse native, has 25 years of experience managing in the VA medical system and is formerly the director of the VA hospital in Madison. His initial approach has been to engage staff and veterans who are getting care.

  “I think the number one priority for me is to open up the lines of communication with staff, to be visible, to establish some accountability and to increase staff morale,” he said.

  A preliminary investigation by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs after January’s media report found patients at the Tomah VA were more likely than veterans at other facilities to receive high doses of narcotic pain medicine. It also found there was a culture of intimidation for some employees at the Tomah VA among some staff involved in patient care.

  Rohrer says the best way to improve worker morale is to improve communication, show accountability and ultimately empower the staff at Tomah to speak out if there’s a problem.

  “If you (Tomah VA employees) see something that is not safe in your opinion, or it’s not adding to a patient’s care and you’re concerned with it, you should be able to bring that out, no matter what level you’re at,” said Rohrer

  He adds that retaliation at any level cannot be tolerated.

  Rohrer says the Tomah VA won’t likely be tackling the over-prescription of narcotic pain medicine on its own, noting that there’s an industry-wide attempt to reduce the use of narcotics to control pain.

  “This is not just a VA thing, I think everybody (in health care) is going through additional education on what alternatives are out there for pain medications,” Rohrer said. “This is a health system issue across the country. I think we’ve come a long way already, and we’ll continue to work on that.”

  The Tomah VA Medical Center cares for 26,000 military veterans.

• Hear, Here Launches

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  A new audio history program in downtown La Crosse kicks off April 12. Hear, Here is being produced by UW-La Crosse students, faculty and staff in conjunction with community leaders.

  The program is designed to create a sense of place in 30 different locations in downtown La Crosse that are designated by signs. Each location will tell a series of stories about something that’s happened in the location, from historic oral histories preserved at UW-La Crosse’s Murphy Library collection to everyday stories by someone who’s lived, worked or visited downtown. People will be able to hear the stories collected by calling a toll-free number at each location. There are plans to expand Hear, Here to 30 more downtown locations in the future.

  The Hear, Here launch party is Sunday, April 12 from 2-6 pm at the Pamperin Tobacco Company Building at 115 S 2nd St. in downtown La Crosse.