Veterans win battle over VA physician

Clients call for more services in Pahrump

Veteran Bob Tamaro, wearing a Korea T-shirt while standing outside the Valley Professional Center, said he fought many battles, and he felt confident he was going to win this one too.

When John Hempel, chief executive officer of the Veterans Affairs Southern Nevada Healthcare Association emerged from the Pahrump VA Outpatient Clinic March 6, it appeared the veterans won another battle -- Pahrump VA physician Dr. Frank Toppo will stay. Veterans lobbied to keep the doctor in light of reports he may leave, but they also complained about the need for more VA medical services in Pahrump.

Veterans said Dr. Toppo met with the Disabled American Veterans chapter the night before at the Comstock mobile home park clubhouse and talked about the upcoming visit by his superior at the VA.

"What's happening is the doctor is under review for his annual review and is being, shall I say, reprimanded," veteran Richard Uncapher said while the group waited for Hempel to leave the office. "The doctor went to one of the pharmacy companies and was able to get us prescriptions."

Hempel explained, under VA policy, the doctors are only supposed to write the initial prescription for a 30-day supply, after that refills are by mail out of Los Angeles. But veterans, like Bill Nedrow, said it sometimes takes a while to get a prescription filled by mail.

"I was supposed to get one Dec. 10. I still haven't got it," said Nedrow, a cancer patient. "If it wasn't for him (Toppo), what would I do?"

"We need a regular veterans clinic and I think there's more than enough to support it," Nedrow said. The Pahrump veteran's clinic caters to 1,231 of the 4,167 veterans in Nye County.

"He told us last night if they force him to stop writing prescriptions he would leave," Uncapher said. "You ever go down to the clinic in Vegas? Last time I waited five hours."

Veteran Allan Kintzler said patients that are referred to Las Vegas for specialized care have to wait a month to six weeks to get an appointment at the VA Clinic. Kintzler said the Pahrump VA clinic should be open more than four days per week with its heavy schedule of patients. Hempel said it's common for patients in Las Vegas to wait six weeks to see their regular doctors, especially for urologists and obstretrician/gynecologists.

"One thing he (Toppo) brought out last night, he needed some drugs that weren't available and he got some free samples from the drug companies," veteran Bob Schruise said.

Hempel said he sought to calm any fears the doctor was leaving, when he was cornered by the crowd after spending slightly over an hour meeting with Toppo. Hempel applauded Toppo's work in Pahrump and said there would be an announcement in the next few weeks about expanding the Pahrump VA clinic.

"He's not going anywhere as far as I'm concerned. You don't have to worry about that," Hempel said. "Frank is a bit of a maverick. He takes great pride in it."

"We have a genuine agreement in what we're going to do and how we're going to do it," Hempel said. But he said the VA needed some assurance the program would be run the right way.

"The only issue with the drugs is to make sure we're not getting drugs here we can't get through the mail-out program much cheaper," Hempel told the veterans. "Frank's got to work within the rules. We've got to help Frank be successful."

Hempel said the VA will try to improve primary care at the Pahrump clinic, adding services and staff, including a mental health worker and possibly visiting specialists traveling on a circuit.

"Specialty care will always be in Las Vegas. Eventually if we get enough patients to justify it, we could rotate our specialists," Hempel said.


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