KENTUCKY — On this week’s program, we’re highlighting the month of May being designated as "National Military Appreciation Month", a time to recognize and honor the service and sacrifice of current and former members of the United States Armed Forces.
United States Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins joins this segment to discuss the department’s efforts to improve services for our nation’s veterans. Since the start of the second Trump administration, Veterans Affairs has launched major reforms to refocus the department on its core mission: providing the best possible care and services to veterans, families, caregivers and survivors.
“Every morning I get up and say how do we make the service for our veteran the most important thing that we do, not the organization itself, but making sure that our veterans get the services, the health care, the benefits that they have earned during this time, and if they want to take part in it, then it needs to be delivered in the most timely, efficient and quality manner that we can possibly do it. So for me, that’s the vision is making sure every employee who works for the VA knows that they have one job and one job only, and as how do we make the experience better for the vet,” Collins said.
The Secretary also reflected on some of his recent visits at VA facilities around the country, including in Kentucky.
“I’ve had a great time in Kentucky as well, but in Lexington, also down in Hazard and some other places we’ve had been able to see up front and working what is actually happening, and have been all over, from coast to coast, literally. And we’re seeing some good stuff. We’re seeing a lot of our hospitals who have good programs. They have good things, but again, many times they’re tied up in bureaucratic slowness and bureaucratic maze. What I’m trying to do when I go to these places is hear about their problems, or hear about what they’re frustrated with, because I can fix some of the issues that they may have had for a long time and I want more of the VA employees to realize that they need to take ownership in just an entrepreneurial kind of spirit, that if they see a problem, let’s fix it, instead of just seeing a problem and letting it go,” Collins said.
You can watch the full In Focus Kentucky segment in the player above.
