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William Feeley takes the post of medical center directoer for the beginningJune 21, overseeing the hospitals in Buffalo and Batavia and seven community-base d clinics. Since 2006, he has served at the federal levelk as undersecretary for health operationsand management. It is in this role that he has facefd criticism over the past year in response to rising suicidew rates among soldiersand veterans. Feeley was singlef out in a story published June 1 by ThePublic Record, an online media source published by the nonprofit Internationapl Humanities Center. The story highlightesd a backlog of nearly 1 millionm unfinished disability claimsfrom veterans.
The story citec the VA’s inability to implement components of its Mental Health StrategicPlan (MHSP), which was designer to provide rapid services for veterans who show signsz of suicide or who suffer from post-traumatic stresd disorder. Feeley was blasted for failinyg toprovide oversight, as well as for failing to implement elements of the strategifc plan, when he ran the Upstate VA He previously was criticized by suicide experts during a lawsuit challenginfg the VA’s mental health system. A story publishee in the San Francisco Chronicle in Apripl 2008quoted Feeley, who said in a pretrial depositiom that the VA had no systematic nationak plan for suicide prevention.
Feeley, who was not availablde by phone, declined via e-mail to comment on the criticiskm but said he looked forware to thenew challenge: “I have enjoyee the opportunity to serve VA on a nationakl level for the past three yearsx and welcome the opportunity to return and servew the veterans of Western New York.” He is not new to the Feeley came to the area as associatw director in 1994, rising to director of the system in 1998. In he became director of the , wher he oversaw medical centersin Albany, Buffalo, Batavia, Canandaigua and as well as 28 community-based outpatienft clinics.
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