14 Asheville VA workers laid off, Secretary Collins confirms

BPR 瓜神app | By ,

Published March 18, 2025 at 5:24 PM EDT

U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins at the Asheville VA Medical Center on March 18th

In the Veteran Affairs Asheville Healthcare System, 14 employees have been laid off, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins confirmed during a visit to the facility on Tuesday.

According to a statement from U.S. VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz to and then confirmed by Collins on Tuesday, 2,400 probationary employees across the country working at the VA were fired. The positions affected are considered non-critical like publicists, interior designers, and diversity, equity, and inclusion officers.

鈥溾€奣here's nothing that troubles me more than letting people go,鈥� Collins said. 鈥淏ut also at the same point, taking the funds and directing it toward patient care. We've had hundreds of millions of dollars that are already being redirected toward patient care.鈥�

Collins鈥� visit and recent terminations come weeks after the reported the Department of Veterans Affairs plans to cut over 80,000 jobs.

Tana Suddreth outside of the Asheville VA Medical Center on March 18

Addressing reporters about these staffing cuts, Collins said the money will be reinvested into 鈥奵ommunity care budgets and back into facilities.

鈥溾€奌ow about we move it toward recruiting and hiring doctors and nurses and making our facilities so that they don't have the shortages and staffing that every hospital around here has.鈥�

Collins also met with local veterans, staff impacted by Hurricane Helene, leadership and recognized staff members for their contributions to the facility.

On Tunnel Road, a group of over 20 protesters gathered outside the Asheville VA Medical Center. Some held signs that read: 鈥淭rump hates vets鈥� and 鈥淧rotect our veterans from DOGE.鈥�

One demonstrator, Tana Suddreth, said she was there to support veterans. Suddreth joined the Women鈥檚 Army Corps in 1971.

鈥溾€奍 get excellent care here,鈥� Suddreth said. 鈥淭here are people that I know that are disabled, they can't work, and everything they've got is wrapped up into their small little disability check, their medical, and it starts with the military. 鈥奍 have come from a long line of veterans. 鈥奍 pledged to the Constitution of the United States. I did not pledge to any president.鈥�

BPR's Laura Hackett contributed to this report.

Jose Sandoval is the afternoon host and reporter for Blue Ridge Public Radio.

Laura Hackett joined Blue Ridge Public Radio in June 2023. Originally from Florida, she moved to Asheville more than six years ago and in that time has worked as a writer, journalist, and content creator for organizations like AVLtoday, Mountain Xpress, and the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce. She has a degree in creative writing from Florida Southern College, and in 2023, she completed the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY's Product Immersion for Small 瓜神approoms program. In her free time, she loves exploring the city by bike, testing out new restaurants, and hanging out with her dog Iroh at French Broad River Park.