Local vet to raise issues specific to female veterans’ care at epicenter of 2014 VA scandal

WHAT: President Barack Obama will join Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Bob McDonald, VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix, Ariz., on Friday, March 13. The presidential visit includes a roundtable with VA stakeholders and representatives from four veteran service organizations, as well as local Phoenix-area veterans.

During the intimate roundtable, IAVA leader Cara Hammer Campbell, an Iraq War veteran, will ask how VA is implementing care to meet the needs of female veterans. She will also address perceptions from the vet community about the agency’s efforts to restore trust and accountability within their troubled health care system.

Campbell enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1997, serving with the 348th Transportation Company based out of Phoenix, Ariz., and the 310th TACCOM in Fort Belvoir, Va. In 2002, she joined the active-duty Army, serving with the First Infantry Division in Germany, before deploying to Iraq. She is an active IAVA member and supports scholar selection and community engagement for the Pat Tillman Foundation.

WHO: Cara Hammer Campbell, local IAVA leader

President Barack Obama

VA Secretary Bob McDonald

VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson

Representatives from four leading Veteran Service Organizations

WHEN: Friday, March 13, 2015

WHERE: Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center, 650 E Indian School Rd, Phoenix, Ariz. 85012