I have advocated for Veterans at the Southern Arizona VA Healthcare System to have this one privilege for over six years. While on staff at this VA medical center (VAMC), I was threatened with a Letter of Admonishment from my supervisors if I continued to advocate for Veterans for this one privilege. Since my chain of command did not back me up, I backed off. I knew that I would retire in two years and could then take up this matter as an administratively unfettered Veteran. Since retiring, I have written to the VA OIG, Office of Special Counsel, Congressman Grijalva, Senators Kelly and Sinema, and the Vice President and President of the United States about this well-deserved privilege for Veterans. Nothing has changed concerning this issue to date.



The director of this VAMC in Tucson, Arizona has mandated that all conference rooms be reserved by authorized VA staff members. Seemingly innocuous, this policy essentially bans all non-Christian Veterans from using the "Chapel and Conference Room" (Building 4, Room 110) since there are only Christian VA chaplains on staff who can reserve this room for worship services. This policy therefore essentially barring non-Christiams from using the chapel since there are no non-Christian VA chaplains at this VAMC. VHA Directive 1111 (July 21, 2021), Chapter 9, a. (6), clearly states that: "Chapels must remain available at all times for use by Veterans and their families.”



I use the phrase "Chapel and Conference Room'' because that is the description of this room on the official 2015 Southern Arizona VA Healthcare System’s blueprint. When not being used for worship, this room is either locked up or used by VA staff members for their meetings. Congress sets the budget for the VA and therefore ostensibly condones this, restrictive at best and prejudicial at worst, “Chapel and Conference Room'' reservation policy.



The other VA Medical Centers in Arizona, which are in Phoenix and Prescott, allow Veterans and their families to have access to their chapels at all times. Why is the Tucson VA Medical Center the outlier concerning this policy? Why won’t upper management not give Veterans a decent place to pray and meditate? Instead they get a repurposed, ugly, and austere waiting room, which has been named a “meditation room.”



In light of the horrendous suicide rate of Veterans, why not do something that says Veterans and their families are important instead of looking out for the dubious need of upper management to have one more conference room when they already have over sixty other conference rooms to have their meetings? There is no shortage of conference rooms at this VAMC. Some conference rooms are hardly used. A policy change to give Veterans what they deserve, according to a VHA Directive, would cost taxpayers nothing. The chapel already exists.



The “Chapel and Conference Room” at Tucson’s VAMC is used for less than four hours on Sunday mornings as a chapel. Four hours equates to 2.4 % of the hours in a week. In the other 97.6 % of the week, this room is treated exactly like any other conference room by VA staff. Why do Christian Veterans and their families get the extremely short end of the stick in this so-called "dual purpose" deal? Worse still, why do non-Christian Veterans and their families get no access to their chapel whatsoever?



The "Chapel and Conference Room" at the Tucson VAMC has a vestry, an altar, a massive church organ, and a chancel, which makes this space more like a chapel than a conference room by anyone's estimation. Why relegate Veterans to dingy, dinky, repurposed “meditation rooms” when there is a perfectly good chapel on this VAMC campus?



I worked at this VAMC for ten years as a VA staff chaplain. I know there is no conference room shortage at this VAMC. This top-tier VA Medical Center receives over half a billion dollars of taxpayer money annually to provide healthcare for over 170,000 Veterans; yet Tucson VA upper management refuses to provide this one privilege for Veterans, a privilege that would honor Veterans and cost the taxpayers nothing.



During my entire military career, my commanders never let their staff or anyone else use the chapel as anything but a chapel. The chapel was available for military members and their families at all times. Even in Afghanistan, when we only had a tent as a chapel, that tent was treated as sacrosanct. This draconian conference room policy at Tucson’s VA Medical Center does not honor those who “...have borne the battle…” (President Lincoln’s 1865 Second Inaugural Address).



This Southern Arizona VA Healthcare System (SAVAHCS) conference room policy: 1) violates VHA Directive 1111 (July 21, 2021), Chapter 9, a. (6) which clearly states that: "Chapels must remain available at all times for use by Veterans and their families.” 2) prohibits non-Christian Veterans and their families from having any access to their VAMC chapel; 3) disregards what the other VA medical centers do regarding chapel availability for Veterans and their families in Arizona; 4) contradicts the VA mission of being Veteran-centric; 5) offends me personally because, as a former USAF chaplain, I believe a chapel belongs to everyone, not just one faith group; 6) needlessly relegates Veterans and their families to inferior “meditation rooms'' when there is a perfectly good chapel on campus; and 7) does not honor what Veterans experienced during their time in military service, which is having access to their chapel at all times.



Another issue: There are six-inch steps in the chancel and vestry areas of the Tucson VA Medical Center that make it unsafe for those who have ambulatory challenges. This violation is covered in multiple, federal regulations for VA hospitals. I have complained repeatedly to the Congressional Oversight Committee, the VA OIG, and the Office of Special Counsel. Nothing has been done so far to make the chancel and vestry areas safe for those who have ambulatory challenges. VHA Directive 1111 (July 21, 2021), Chapter 9, a. (4 ) clearly states that: “All spaces to be used for spiritual purposes must be fully accessible to persons with disabilities.” Veterans and their families set up, participate in, and neutralize worship services in the “Chapel and Conference Room” by walking back and forth from both the chancel and the vestry area.