In this mornings Washington Post is yet another story from these two fine ladies on the problems facing this nations veterans. They stated when they were interviewed in the Imus show that they would not let this story die. They kept their word unlike the politicians of this nation.
For the most part the Congressmen/ladies and the Senators have played the "game" for the past 50 years, the veterans call their offices for help or write letters requesting help, their offices in turn write letters to the VA, the VA replies "we're working on it" and we get form letter after form letter, and no one ever does anything, yet keep telling everyone how hard they work for us.
Most veterans or their families can tell you the truth about the VA claims process, or tales of bad healthcare from the VA, I have a few stories of my own, yet I will also be the first to admit my own healthcare has improved tremendously since my triple bypass in 1997, I left the VA hospital in May 1997 and swore I would never return because of the poor care I received during my 2 month stay for open heart surgery. Please don't tell me it's only a 4 day operation, normally yes, but there were complications.
I walked away from my career after a meltdown in May 2000 from the Postal Service, 2 years later I had no choice but to go to the VA, I was amazed by the turn around in patient care at the Augusta VA, Augusta Georgia, it had taken a 180 degree turn, people smiled, they enjoyed their jobs, I learned the old adminstrator had been replaced by a competent person, and the care reflected it.
This article from the WAPO is similar to many of the same things I saw while in the VA in 1997, not now though, is it still that way at other VA hospitals,I am sure it is, they reflect their management teams. Anne Hull and Dana Preist deserve this nations gratitude for bringing light to these issues after years of being an open secret in the disabled veterans families of this country read this and learn more of the ugly mess.
Ray Oliva went into the spare bedroom in his home in Kelseyville, Calif., to wrestle with his feelings. He didn't know a single soldier at Walter Reed, but he felt he knew them all. He worried about the wounded who were entering the world of military health care, which he knew all too well. His own VA hospital in Livermore was a mess. The gown he wore was torn. The wheelchairs were old and broken.
"It is just not Walter Reed," Oliva slowly tapped out on his keyboard at 4:23 in the afternoon on Friday. "The VA hospitals are not good either except for the staff who work so hard. It brings tears to my eyes when I see my brothers and sisters having to deal with these conditions. I am 70 years old, some say older than dirt but when I am with my brothers and sisters we become one and are made whole again."
Oliva is but one quaking voice in a vast outpouring of accounts filled with emotion and anger about the mistreatment of wounded outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Stories of neglect and substandard care have flooded in from soldiers, their family members, veterans, doctors and nurses working inside the system. They describe depressing living conditions for outpatients at other military bases around the country, from Fort Lewis in Washington state to Fort Dix in New Jersey. They tell stories -- their own versions, not verified -- of callous responses to combat stress and a system ill equipped to handle another generation of psychologically scarred vets.
If you read the notes at the end of it you will see my notes about it as Mikey30919, the story you will recognize.
I am grateful that this issue is finally starting to get the sunlight it needs to get cleaned up, now it is up to all of us to demand the government fix it, and not just provide lip service, this is not a Democratic nor Republican issue, this truly is an American issue.