American Legion to Host Town Hall Meeting on VA Health-Care Quality

“The input and feedback that we receive from veterans during these town hall meetings helps us understand firsthand what challenges and recommendations they have for improving their medical care” - Ralph Bozella, chairman of the task force

For more information on the town hall meeting, contact Jacob Gadd at jgadd@legion.org.

(ROSEBURG, OR) - The American Legion, the country’s largest organization of wartime veterans, will host a local town hall meeting for veterans that will focus on the past, present and future of health care at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center in Roseburg, Ore.

The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Jan. 9 at American Legion Post 16 on 406 SE Oak Street in Roseburg. Those who have served in the U.S. military, especially veterans enrolled in the VA health-care system, are welcome to attend.

Members of the Legion’s System Worth Saving (SWS) Task Force will facilitate the meeting. The SWS program was created in 2003 to monitor the quality of health-care at VA medical facilities nationwide.

The SWS team will also visit the Roseburg VA Medical Center on the following day to interview patients, staff and administrators. "We conduct these site visits each year to evaluate and report on the quality of health care our veterans are receiving," said Ralph Bozella, chairman of the task force. “Our next report will take a comprehensive look at VA health care since we first started evaluating it.”

“The input and feedback that we receive from veterans during these town hall meetings helps us understand firsthand what challenges and recommendations they have for improving their medical care,” Bozella said.

The town hall meeting and hospital visit are conducted by members of the Legion's SWS Task Force, which travel to about 15 VA medical centers per year. The task force compiles an annual report based on its findings and submits it to Congress, the White House and senior VA leadership.

For more information on the town hall meeting, contact Jacob Gadd at jgadd@legion.org.