Exclusive: VA director’s first 100 days

Director Michael Amaral just passed his 100 days as the head of the El Paso Veteran Affairs Health Care System.

After spending more than three full months as director, Amaral says while progress is being made, the system still has a long way to go.

“There is no reason that this VA cannot be in the top three of this size in the country,” Amaral said in a one on one interview with reporter Evan Folan. “It is going to start with the things that we have already started, which is making a more pleasant place to walk into.” That proposed change is something veterans have already picked up on. “Greeters are greeting people now and I am seeing more happy faces,” one veteran said. Another veteran said the staff in X-ray was more pleasant. “They were really cheerful and it’s good to see that,” adding “a smile always helps out during the day.”

However, Amaral’s plans go much further than a smile. “I wanted to change the image of the organization because it is not positive,” he said, going on to say, “It’s not positive within the walls of this building and it’s really not positive out in the community.”

An employee who wished to remain anonymous agreed. “Getting other employees to feel like they are a valued part of a team helps,” the employee said.

Another promise Amaral has made to his employees is that he is “not going anywhere.” He says he is “here for the long term.” Which is something that employees aren’t use to. “It feels good that we have someone who wants to be here,” the anonymous employee said. ” There has always been a turnover, a different mindset, always been a different voice that we hear. So to have a consistent voice for a while is going to help out.”

Amaral says one of the biggest challenges he has faced is bringing future employees to El Paso, which comes at a critical time as he says he is down six physicians. ” How do you get people to understand, if they have never been here, what a great community [El Paso] is.”

He says each physician he currently lacks could each serve a thousand veterans more. However, for the past six months, the VA has scheduled 96 percent of it’s appointments within 30 days. Amaral says he would like to see that number reach 99 percent, which he believe is possible if patients would show up to their appointments and if he’s able to hire the appropriate number of providers.