VA Secretary McDonough visits Cleveland, capped by memorable time with USAF Veteran
Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough visited VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System’s Louis Stokes VA Medical Center May 15, meeting with healthcare system leaders and engaging with staff and Veterans.
The visit also included a facility tour and was highlighted by a Veteran Experience Town Hall and media session.
VANEOHS is one of a handful of large, complex VA Tier 1a systems in the country. The last visit by a VA secretary to Cleveland was in August 2020 when VA Secretary Robert Wilkie visited the LSCVAMC.
McDonough began his visit meeting with the local VA leadership team alongside representatives for state and federal elected officeholders, where he received updates on the impact of the PACT Act and recent construction projects on health care services provided to the approximately 135k Veterans in the 21 northeast Ohio counties served.
He then toured several notable departments within the medical center while receiving updates from medical teams making specific contributions to enhancing Veteran care. McDonough was fascinated by the work of the Medical 3D Modeling and Virtual Reality Lab and new capabilities afforded surgeons in preparing for complex operations.
A primary focus of each of the Secretary’s visits to VA facilities includes taking the opportunity to speak to, and listen to, a wide range of Veterans receiving their care.
McDonough’s visit included a 90-minute town hall to gather direct Veteran feedback to hear how the VA can improve and do better. The town hall was devoted to hearing directly from Veterans, encouraging their questions, and registering both their compliments and complaints, and making notes for follow up to help drive agency improvements.
The Secretary also visited with staff and Veteran residents in VA hospice including Robert ‘Bob’ Salo, a U.S. Air Force Veteran, who spoke emotionally of the tremendous care he receives at the VA.
Salo served in the U.S. Air Force in the late 1960s and ‘70s and has lived in the Cleveland area most of his life. It was decades after he left the Air Force when Salo first realized he could take advantage of healthcare services due him for his military service.
Following a fall in December 2023, Salo spent time at various local medical centers for various illnesses before receiving care at the VA’s hospice facilities in Cleveland.
Salo’s brother and sister-in-law became his advocates in helping him to find hospice care at the VA, and he credits them with helping to sift through his options at the time, with many costing as much as $15,000 per month. At the VA, Salo said his hospice care is free, his service has earned him his care, and he loves the VA.
Salo explained to McDonough how impressed he has been with both the quality of his care, and the concern he sees from all his caregivers.
“I had a choice. I could pay a lot of money to be somewhere I would get just a few hours of care each day, or I could come to the VA – where I felt at home,” Salo said. “I mean, when I call for assistance here, they are right there to help… This is the best care I’ve ever gotten in my life. The best. And you can see it in their eyes—and when they give you a friendly pat. They are constantly checking, is this ok, is that ok. I just can’t say enough good things about them.”