{"id":116308,"date":"2015-07-09T22:03:38","date_gmt":"2015-07-09T22:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2015\/07\/09\/pest-invasion-2-va-hospitals-find-bats-rats-and-more\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:39:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:39:05","slug":"pest-invasion-2-va-hospitals-find-bats-rats-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2015\/07\/09\/pest-invasion-2-va-hospitals-find-bats-rats-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Pest invasion: 2 VA hospitals find bats, rats and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the Veterans Affairs Department, the warm months of summer mean one thing: Time to call the exterminator. Bats, rats and other pests are turning VA facilities into their summer homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The recent discovery of dead bats in trashcans led the Eastern Kansas VA Hospital in Leavenworth to shut down operating rooms and postpone 16 surgeries until next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the hospital is no stranger to bat infestations, as many as 100 bats were found this time, a hospital employee <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kshb.com\/news\/kansas-va-hospital-dealing-with-bat-problem\" title=\"http:\/\/www.kshb.com\/news\/kansas-va-hospital-dealing-with-bat-problem\">told 41 KSHB News<\/a> Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jim Gleisberg, spokesperson for the facility, said the hospital is dealing with the ongoing problem by using devices &#8220;where the bats can leave but cannot re-enter.&#8221; Officials at the hospital are conducting air quality tests to make sure the facility conditions are safe after exterminators removed all of the bats, Gleisberg told 41 KSHB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But that&#8217;s hardly the only VA health care facility with a pest problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa, Florida, had &#8220;dead rats falling from the kitchen ceiling&#8221; last month in addition to cockroaches found on patients&#8217; trays. Two months earlier, facilities management services &#8220;filled multiple buckets with roaches, dead rats and feces,&#8221; the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/military\/veterans\/emails-reveal-pest-control-problems-at-haley-va-hospital\/2234414\" title=\"http:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/military\/veterans\/emails-reveal-pest-control-problems-at-haley-va-hospital\/2234414\">Tampa Bay Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3729\" height=\"2664\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/636047070384465120-rf-nellis-16jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3513\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/636047070384465120-rf-nellis-16jpg.jpg 3729w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/636047070384465120-rf-nellis-16jpg.jpg?resize=300,214 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/636047070384465120-rf-nellis-16jpg.jpg?resize=768,549 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/636047070384465120-rf-nellis-16jpg.jpg?resize=1024,732 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/636047070384465120-rf-nellis-16jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1097 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/636047070384465120-rf-nellis-16jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1463 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3729px) 100vw, 3729px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the fact that dead rats \u2014 rather than live ones \u2014 are now being seen indicates the extermination practices at Haley &#8220;are working,&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/military\/veterans\/haley-va-dead-rats-show-pest-control-working\/2234662\" title=\"http:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/military\/veterans\/haley-va-dead-rats-show-pest-control-working\/2234662\">spokeswoman Karen Collins<\/a> told Tampa Bay Times June 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA centers have been under scrutiny ever since news broke last April that veterans were dying while waiting for care, specifically at the Phoenix VA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shortly after, incidents at the Philadelphia VA sparked a 10-month investigation that revealed employees were working in unsafe and vermin-infested conditions, in addition to deplorable acts \u2014 such as thousands of neglected or unanswered inquiries \u2014 detrimental to veterans and their proper care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VA is &#8220;making progress, we&#8217;re making improvements, but we&#8217;re not where we need to be yet,&#8221; Secretary Robert McDonald <a href=\"http:\/\/www.military.com\/daily-news\/2015\/07\/08\/va-chief-cites-progress-in-boosting-care.html\" title=\"http:\/\/www.military.com\/daily-news\/2015\/07\/08\/va-chief-cites-progress-in-boosting-care.html\">told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Monday<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the VA, the warm months of summer mean one thing: Time to call the exterminator. Bats, rats and other pests are turning Veteran Affairs facilities into their summer homes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":75527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":25,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1727],"class_list":["post-116308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NRMAHAIDPBB5BC2EA7QG4SN5MQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2015\/07\/09\/pest-invasion-2-va-hospitals-find-bats-rats-and-more\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pest invasion: 2 VA hospitals find bats, rats and more - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For the VA, the warm months of summer mean one thing: Time to call the exterminator. 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