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8 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us MARCH 2023 EDITION Medical Center and its affiliated clinics across the Inland Northwest. As the top VA official charged with overseeing the high-stakes project, Remy assured a congressional panel in November 2021, "The Cerner system works." The following July, the VA Office of Inspector General revealed that Remy had been informed prior to that hearing that the system had delayed care and harmed scores of veterans, a fact he did not mention to lawmakers. take Remy's place as acting deputy secretary. In a statement, McDonough called Kiyokawa "a lifelong public servant and tireless advocate for his fellow Veterans." VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT MHCE.US "I am confident that VA is on the path to delivering a modern electronic health record that is useable, reliable, and enhances Veteran outcomes," Remy wrote in his message. "I will be celebrating you as you make these goals a reality for VA and for those we serve." The news of the deputy secretary's departure comes less than a week after the executive in charge of the system's rollout, Terry Adirim, left the VA after roughly a year on the job. In congressional testimony on Tuesday, VA Inspector General Michael Missal said "frequent turnover in key positions" has deprived the VA of "stable leadership that fosters responsibility." In a statement, McDonough thanked Remy and said it had been "an honor to serve alongside him." "Deputy Secretary Remy is a great leader, a true friend, and a steadfast public servant who has fought like hell every day for our nation's Veterans," McDonough said. "He's helped lead VA through the pandemic and to the point where we are delivering more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before." Guy Kiyokawa, who currently serves as the VA's assistant secretary for enterprise integration, will Navy Reduces Child Care Waitlist but Needs Workers to Keep up Momentum The Navy waitlist for child care has been reduced by more than 3,200 kids across the service in the last two years, but officials said they need more workers to keep making progress in providing adequate facilities and services for all families. The service has approached the problem in several ways, including an increase in the fee assistance for off-base day cares and in-home
WWW.MHCE.US Monthly Newsletter | 9 nannies, revitalizing unused space to be child-safe and beefing up employee incentives to get more workers on board, according to the Commander, Navy Installations Command, or CNIC, the headquarters responsible for managing bases and quality-of-life programs. “It's something that's improving, but we continue to try to look for solutions to make it even better,” said Command Master Chief Jason Dunn of CNIC. The coronavirus pandemic, which began in March 2020, strained child care facilities across the U.S., and the Navy and other military service branches felt that pinch, said Leslie Gould, director of Fleet and Family Readiness Programs for CNIC. Temporary closures in the early months of the pandemic caused many civilian child care businesses to permanently shut down and many of those workers to leave the field, she said. Now, the Navy is struggling to attract enough workers to operate its facilities at capacity in some places and finding it difficult to locate space for kids off base in day cares that meet the Defense Department’s standards. However, the immediate solutions put in place are making a difference, Gould said. In December 2020, the Navy had its nationwide child care waitlist reached nearly 9,000 children in need of immediate care. That waitlist now stands at about 5,576, Gould said. Meanwhile, construction is ongoing to complete new facilities that have been approved by Congress in the regions where the Navy has a high density of sailors, such as San Diego and Norfolk, Va. “Getting that waitlist down and getting those children in care is the No. 1 priority,” Gould said. “It all has to happen at the same time to mitigate this waitlist. It’s an aggressive strategy.” The number of kids in on-base facilities has stayed relatively the same, she said, because families have been able to utilize some other offbase and in-home care options that have helped reduce the waitlist as well. That includes raising the monthly fee assistance for approved civilian day cares from ,500 to ,700. At Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego, child care facilities are operating at 70% capacity because there are not enough employees, said Tamara Lo-Ray, director of Child and Youth Programs at the base. To fill the gaps, they’ve been hosting job fairs where they tout the Navy’s new hiring incentives, which seem to be helping, she said. There are a 0 signing bonus and a retention bonus of ,250 that are making an impact, Lo- Ray said. The Navy also offers a starting wage of .24 an hour in San Diego. But the employee discount on their own child’s care is what is really moving the needle on hiring — 50% off for the first child and 20% for additional children. “It’s a huge difference because outside the fence line child care is extremely expensive,” Lo-Ray said. There’s also the added savings that children at Navy child care facilities have their meals, including infant formula, provided. Parents only must drop kids off with diapers and wipes. The Defense Department regulates the cost of child care at its facilities based on a family’s income. It ranges from about 0 to 0 a month.
