Veteran Affairs Secretary Doug Collins visits Minneapolis VA Medical Center

The morning kicked off with a brief update by Medical Center leaders. “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 Patrick Kelly, medical center director. 

In a deeper dive conversation about what makes care at the Minneapolis VA unique, it became apparent that it doesn’t stop with top-notch specialty care and patient satisfaction scores, it really is about the people. “Our employees are focused on the mission of caring for Veterans,” said Chief of Staff Dr. Michael Armstrong. “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.”   

That commitment of Veteran care extends to VA’s partnerships within the state and community. Commissioner Brad Lindsay, Minnesota Department of Veteran Affairs, who joined in the conversation, shared some examples. “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 Lindsay.

During a facility tour, Secretary Collins, who was joined by a staffer from each congressional office, visited the Rehabilitation & Engineering Center for Optimizing Veteran Engagement & Reintegration (RECOVER). There they received a demonstration on some items invented and fabricated at the medical center by RECOVER Director Andrew Hansen. Items included a mobile manual standing wheelchair, an ergonomic wheelchair, a slope-adaptive foot, a prosthetic sock management tool and more.

Collins coined five employees for their outstanding work. They included 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  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. 

Before ending his short visit, he spoke with local media. “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 Collins.