Acting Veterans Affairs Director Sloan Gibson Tours D.C. VA Medical Center

Acting Director of Veterans Affairs Sloan Gibson took a tour of D.C.'s VA Medical Center Wednesday, and noted several improvements that will be made to the facility.

Gibson, who visited Baltimore's center this week as well, said shorter wait times are at the top of the list.

"If we've got in a location an instance of scheduling practices that are inappropriate I'm going to have a medical center director and a visiting director explaining why," Gibson said. 

Patient Elaine Gulotta told News4 she has waited months for an appointment. 

"That's part of the system," she said. "You go with it, and you stay on top of it."

The D.C. center has seen a 6 percent growth in demand from veterans and their families needing care. Wednesday, Gibson admitted the VA has been historically slow in building new facilities.

"We identify space in the local area where we can do some short-term leasing of space and add some additional capacity," Gibson said. 

Gibson added a dozen new doctors are being added for physical and mental care.

"I'm glad he's coming to visit to see what the people under him are actually doing," Leander Williams said.

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