This past weekend, Evita Simone Allen visited the St. Louis VA medical center at Jefferson Barracks to tend to an ailing uncle.
“Vita” spoke exclusively to Jim Hoft of Progressives Today on Monday about the filth, feces, urine and trash she saw piled up in her uncle’s room at the VA.
The story was covered by national news outlets but not the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
On Wednesday the Veterans Administration at Jefferson Barracks apologized for the lax care at the facility.
CBS Local reported:
The Veterans Administration medical center at Jefferson Barracks is apologizing after a woman says her relative was kept in a room brimming with trash and filth.
When she went to visit her uncle lying in bed recovering from a stroke, Evita Allen couldn’t believe the smell that walloped her as she walked in.
“The trash can was full to the top of feces and trash,” she says.
Allen says when she complained to staff, they told her to just wait until the cleaning man can come by, but Allen said the smell was so overpowering she tried to put the cans out in the hallway. That’s when the supervisor got upset.
“I would like to say that he placed them back in the room, but he did not place them back in the room,” Allen says. “He kind of tossed them a little bit, where they slid, and said, ‘No. These are going to stay in here with you, and you better not remove them. If you do, I will call the Veteran Affairs police to escort you out the building.’”
A guest on the Mark Reardon show, Allen says another visitor told her that her father had been lying neglected in his own urine for five hours at the facility.
On Wednesday, the St. Louis VA issued the following response:
“VA’s primary mission is to care for Veterans, providing the highest quality of care in a safe and comfortable environment. We strive to serve Veterans with compassion and respect. We are deeply troubled and sincerely apologize for the recent incident wherein a hospitalized Veteran and his family did not receive the first class standard of care we work very diligently to provide. These allegations are being taken very seriously and we are actively investigating the situation.
We have reached out to the Veteran and his family and extended our sincere apologies.
