Paula Pedene

What would you do if you learned your bosses were illegally making veterans wait for their VA health care, causing some veterans to die? Paula Pedene, a decorated U.S. Navy Veteran with military service during both the Cold War and Operation Desert Storm, fought diligently to stop them. When she discovered management's unethical practices of keeping a false waiting list at the Phoenix VA, she raised numerous concerns internally to senior leaders, the VA's Office of the Inspector General, and others that fell on deaf ears. Risking her career, she reached out to a tenacious VA doctor whose care for veterans spanned decades, and they worked together to expose the national VA Wait Time Scandal. Before the news of the scandal was over, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs resigned, Pedene's disclosures were verified, and she obtained a settlement from VA, winning her whistleblower case. She went on to help advocate for laws to further community care for veterans, improving their health care access so they wouldn't wait for VA health care again. Her book "A Sacred Duty" is a first-person account of her whistleblower journey and her spiritual, physical, and emotional challenges. The book earned first-place honors in the national Book Pipeline Competition in 2018 and was considered the best book for adaptation to a screenplay or film. In 2021 her book won first place in the national Skyrocket Press competition. To find out more about Paula, please visit her website at www.PaulaPedene.com.