Pauline DeWenter is a scheduling clerk at the Phoenix VA who told CNN in a Monday interview she was ordered by supervisors to manage and handle the so-called "secret waiting list." At least seven times since last October, her records showed that veterans died while waiting for care. However, these records which DeWenter personally entered in details of veterans' deaths, were physically altered or written over by someone else. DeWenter contends that some of these alterations had even occurred in recent weeks.

Ms. DeWenter had never spoken publicly about any of this: the secret list, the altering of records, the veterans she believes have died waiting for care, until she spoke to CNN Monday evening. As CNN reports:

It was one of DeWenter's roles to call veterans when appointments became available to schedule them to get a consultation. Sometimes when she made those calls, she'd find that the veteran had died, so she would enter that on their records.

But at least seven times since last October [2013] , records that showed that veterans died while waiting for care -- records which DeWenter personally handled and had entered in details of veterans' deaths -- were physically altered, or written over, by someone else, DeWenter said in an exclusive interview with CNN. The changes, or re-writes, listed the veterans as living, not deceased, essentially hiding their deaths.

The alterations had even occurred in recent weeks, she said, in a deliberate attempt to try to hide just how many veterans died while waiting for care, by trying to pretend dead veterans remain alive.

"Because by doing that, that placed (the veterans) back on the wait list," said DeWenter, explaining she believes that the purpose of "bringing them back to life" in the paperwork and putting the veterans back on the electronic waiting list was to hide the fact that veterans died waiting for care.

"I would say (it was done to) hide the fact. Because it is marked a death. And that death needs to be reported. So if you change that to, 'entered in error' or, my personal favorite, 'no longer necessary,' that makes the death go away. So the death would never be reported then."

Beginning early last year, DeWenter said she was also instructed to hide the crisis at the Phoenix VA medical center by concealing new requests for treatment. This was at a time when the VA was paying bonuses to senior staff whose facilities met the goals of providing care in a timely manner for veterans, typically within 14 days.

New requests by veterans wanting treatment were actually stuffed into a drawer, to make the books look better, according to DeWenter.

Asked what happened to the new requests for appointments, DeWenter said: "They went into a desk drawer.... That would be the secret list."

There was "no doubt" it was, in fact, a secret list, she said.

According to Ms. DeWenter, she has "submitted evidence" to criminal investigators about the altering of records and also the secret list and how it worked.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs did not respond specifically to any of DeWenter's allegations. Instead a spokesman sent CNN a generic statement stating:

"As Acting Secretary Gibson has said at VA facilities around the country, we must work together to fix the unacceptable, systemic problems in accessing VA healthcare. We know that in many communities, including Phoenix, veterans wait too long for the care they've earned and deserve. That's why VA is taking action to accelerate access to care and reaching out to veterans to get them off wait lists and into clinics. "

The statement added: "We respect the independent review and recommendations of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) regarding systemic issues with patient scheduling and access, and we await the OIG's final review."