The VA Health Care System in Iowa City, which serves veterans and their families in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois, would not be included in the list of hospitals or outpatient clinics facing closures under a federal plan.
Fred Horn, 62, has never served in the military. But on Oct. 5, he was admitted to the Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Iowa City under the “fourth mission,” a policy that allows the VA to assist in times of crisis.
To date, no Iowa City VA Health Care System employee has left their role or faced disciplinary action as a result of a federal mandate for all workers to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Front line workers had until Oct. 18 to get the shots or request accomodation. All other VA employees have until Nov. 22.
Four years after Jeff Dettbarn raised concerns about veterans’ diagnostic exams being canceled without doctors’ orders at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City and two years after he testified about it before Congress, the VA ordered him back to the same unit with the same bosses and no protections as a whistleblower.
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