Secretary McDonough

Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors can now report incidents of sexual assault or sexual harassment at VA facilities by calling 1-800-MyVA411 (1-800-698-2411, option 9).  

VA police officers will begin to use in-car and body-worn cameras. All VA police officers will be using body-worn and in-car cameras by the end of 2023, beginning June 20 with police officers in VA's Desert Pacific Healthcare Network.

Medicare’s latest nationwide survey of patients shows VA hospitals outperformed non-VA hospitals on all 10 core patient satisfaction metrics. This is part of Medicare's award star ratings for surveys between July 2021 to June 2022.

Lourdes, thank you for that kind introduction. More importantly, thank you for your distinguished career of service, which continues with your invaluable leadership of the Center for Women Veterans

Nichole Coleman, thanks for that kind introduction, and thanks for inviting me to join you. I know this is your last conference as President of NACVSO.

Dr. Clark [Kaily], thanks for that kind introduction and, more importantly, for dedicating yourself to serving Veterans, for doing so much to help prevent Veteran suicide—our #1 clinical priority. Please tell your father how grateful we all are for his courageous service in Vietnam. I know he’s rightly proud of the work you’re doing at VA—for him and his fellow Vets.

Thanks everybody for joining. I similarly don't have much for opening comments. We’ll get into questions here quickly, but we do have two great guests with us today; Lisa Pozzebon, who is the Director of Cemetery Operations at the National Cemetery Administration and James LaPaglia the NCA Digital Services officer,

I’m honored to join all of you here today at the beautiful Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery. Memorial Day commemorations are an important moment for all of us to honor those who sacrificed their lives in service to our nation. Your presence here is testimony to your commitment to those fallen heroes—and to the forces that stand guard the world round every day.

Bonnie Carroll, thank you for those very kind words of introduction, for your steadfast leadership of this incredible organization, and for the vital work that you and your colleagues have done to organize this National Seminar for the past 29years on behalf of the survivors of our fallen Veterans and servicemembers.

Thank you, Conrad Washington, for hosting us and for that warm welcome—and thanks to all the Veterans and VA employees who will be joining us over the next couple days.

Chairman Tester, Ranking Member Moran, and distinguished Members of the Committee—thank you. VA will be strengthened by this Committee’s work. I attach great importance to our relationship, and I pledge to each of you my candor and transparency.

Thank you, Robyn Sunday-Allen for that kind introduction and, more importantly, for your exemplary leadership and service to Native people.