[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 81 (Monday, May 23, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E768]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   TRIBUTE TO ELIZABETH (LISA) JOYCE FREEMAN ON THE OCCASION OF HER 
 RETIREMENT AS DIRECTOR OF THE VETERANS AFFAIRS PALO ALTO HEALTH CARE 
                                 SYSTEM

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 23, 2016

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Elizabeth (Lisa) Joyce 
Freeman, the Director of the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care 
System. Appointed to the position on February 11, 2001, we will 
celebrate her retirement on June 7, 2016.
   Lisa is a 1983 graduate of the University of Notre Dame where she 
earned a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering. She received a 
master's degree in Business Administration from Louisiana Tech 
University in 1987, and is a licensed civil engineer in the state of 
Virginia. She and her husband live in the Willows neighborhood of Menlo 
Park, California.
   Lisa Freeman began her VA career in 1983 as a Resident Engineer at 
the VA Medical Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Later positions 
include Senior Resident Engineer, Shreveport, Louisiana; Project 
Manager, Southern Region, VA Central Office; Health Systems Specialist, 
Southern Region Field Support Office, VA Central Office; Health System 
Administrator Trainee, VA Palo Alto Health Care System; Chief Operating 
Officer, VA Sierra Pacific Network Office, San Francisco, California; 
Associate Director, VA Palo Alto Health Care System; and Acting 
Director, VA Palo Alto Health Care System.
   In addition to her VA responsibilities, Lisa Freeman is a Fellow in 
the American College of Health Care Executives and serves as a formal 
mentor to numerous VA emerging leaders. She is a member of the 
California Hospital Association's Santa Clara County Section and served 
on the 2006 Board of Directors for the Hospital Council. In 2005, she 
received the VA Alumni Association's Honorary Leadership Award. She 
also received a Presidential Rank Award at the Meritorious Level in 
2005 and at the Distinguished Level in 2009 and was named one of the 
top 100 influential women in Silicon Valley in 2011. She also completed 
the Brookings Institution Certificate in Public Leadership Program in 
2012.
   When the shocking failures at various VA facilities in the country 
became public in 2014, there was a beacon of light and excellence at 
the Palo Alto VA, the institution led by Lisa Freeman. Veterans 
surveyed about their satisfaction with the Palo Alto VA consistently 
scored it above the national average and in the top 25 percent in the 
region for access to outpatient care. This level of excellence is why 
Lisa Freeman was called on by the Secretary of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs to lead the effort to reform the Southwest VA system 
in Arizona to correct widespread failures in service to veterans, 
including hidden wait lists.
   During Lisa Freeman's tenure as Director of the Palo Alto VA she has 
managed 3 inpatient clinics, 7 outpatient clinics, 800 beds including 3 
nursing homes and a 100 bed homeless shelter. A Fisher House, a 
Defenders Lodge and a new Mental Health building were built and 
dedicated under her leadership, and funds were secured for a second 
Fisher House to be built on the premises. Lisa Freeman's duties 
included overseeing one of the most complex health care systems in the 
country with an annual budget of over $1 billion, a capital portfolio 
of $2.6 billion and more than 7,000 staff and volunteers. She was also 
responsible for initiating and maintaining a cooperative relationship 
with the Stanford University School of Medicine, other local health 
care systems and the neighboring VA Health Care Systems. Lisa was 
instrumental in the creation of a new rehabilitation facility set to 
open in late 2016, and the joint VA/DoD facility opening in Monterey in 
late 2016. She also implemented a system improvement model that 
utilizes LEAN principles to improve the manner in which the Palo Alto 
VA cares for its veterans.
   Lisa Freeman has served our nation's veterans with extraordinary 
professionalism and with the care and compassion they've earned and 
deserve. She is a gifted leader who has led the VA Palo Alto Health 
Care System with great distinction. I'm very proud to have worked with 
her and like all those who have had the good fortune to know her, I 
will miss her wise counsel, her effectiveness and her love for country 
and those she served.
   Mr. Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me in 
honoring Lisa Freeman's great work and in thanking her for her 
extraordinary service to our nation's veterans.

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