Regional leaders of the American Legion say it appears that Spokane Veterans Administration officials are trying to upstage the veterans service organization's efforts to hold a town hall meeting next week in Post Falls.

"We had our meeting all set up a couple of weeks ago and told the director of the Spokane VA hospital that we were having it, but it wasn't intended to be hostile," said Dale Davis, the state adjutant for the American Legion of Washington. "But for some reason she decided to have her own town hall at the last moment."

The Spokane Veterans Administration announced Wednesday that it is holding a town hall meeting Monday in Spokane to explain changes in the health care delivery system at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane.

The Legion town hall meeting will take place Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the Steven H. Nipp American Legion Post 143, 1138 E. Poleline Ave.

Davis said it appears the VA in Spokane is simply trying to preempt the already-planned Legion meeting.

Spokane VA spokesman Brett Bowers did not return a phone call Friday afternoon.

"The VA held a town hall meeting about a month ago, but it really was a silly waste of time," Davis said. "The director spent a lot of time at that meeting telling people how to spell VA."

He said the last VA meeting appeared to be held begrudgingly at 7:30 p.m. on a Friday, in a tent at the facility, where Davis said there were more security guards than veterans.

"They really didn't answer any questions," he said. "For instance, the real reason the emergency room was closed is because the doctor who ran it was arrested on child molestation charges.

"So when he went away they couldn't operate anymore because he was half the staff."

The arrest of Dr. Craig Morgenstern, a Spokane VA hospital emergency room doctor, made national headlines in October. A federal grand jury indicted Morgenstern in November on multiple counts of child sexual abuse and child pornography-related crimes.

Davis said the American Legion was responsible for blowing the whistle on a VA hospital in Phoenix last year over alleged scandals, generally involving delayed appointments amid allegations of falsified records to cover up performance breakdowns.

Since then, national Legion representatives have been traveling the country holding town hall meetings in an effort to move forward and make necessary improvements in VA services and programs.

"We have a program called 'System Worth Saving,'" Davis said. "We like to come in and see if there are things we can do to help struggling VA hospitals."

He said the Legion has received a number of complaints from staff at the Spokane VA hospital, so they have decided to hold a town hall to talk about issues with veterans and VA staff.

"We came in and worked with Spokane a year or two ago, but nothing really happened," Davis said, adding he has been talking with one veteran who told him: "'If you can get past the administration, the health care is fine in Spokane.'"

He said the patient recently visited the hospital, and waited in the waiting room for 90 minutes, and when the patient was finally allowed to see the medical staff they asked him why he was late.

"They had been playing cards for an hour-and-a-half while he was sitting in the waiting room," Davis said. "But we don't want this to be a public flogging of the director. We want to get something accomplished at our town hall."

The Post Falls meeting - hosted by the American Legions of Idaho, Washington and Montana - will offer a forum "to let veterans' voices be heard." The meeting will feature Louis Celli Jr., national director of the American Legion Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Program, and Deputy Director Zach Hearn.

They will be joined by national executive committeemen representing Montana and Washington, along with other Legion leaders to hear concerns related to VA health care and other VA matters of interest from veterans served by the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane.

"These guys really know what they are doing when it comes to health care," he said. "We hope to have a huge turnout to this event."

Bob Wallace, representing Washington and Merv Gunderson, representing Montana, expressed their shared concern that many veterans are still confused by changes in the VA health care system including the issuance of "Choice Cards" and changes in emergency room procedures in Spokane, access to telemedicine in rural areas and other VA-related issues.

"We need to know what our veterans think the problems are," they said, in a press release.

This town hall meeting continues an ongoing effort by the American Legion to work with the VA to improve "the quality of life for veterans," the release said.