MY RANT ABOUT THE VETERAN'S ADMINISTRATION
I was in the United States Navy from 1981 to 1985, and yes, I currently get my healthcare through the Veteran's Administration.
What prompted me to write this rant, is my own frustrations with the VA (Which I'll get to in a second or two), but most importantly it was a video posted to my Facebook page by my oldest Nephew. For reasons I won't go into, he is particularly aware of just how bad the VA can be. You see, they almost killed his uncle (me).
And since I'm trying to get this blog off the ground, he thought the video would help motivate me, and boy was he right!
I actually had to wait a few days to even start to write this, so that I could cool down enough to ensure that it wouldn't just be an obscenity filled tirade. The subject deserves much better than that.
The Video - How I missed this on TV, I'll never know, as I watch Fox & Friends just about every morning. Anyway, Steve Doocy is interviewing Secretary McDonald, who is an Obama appointee put in place to help clean up the mess that we call The Veterans Administration, after the corruption charges came to light at one of the centers in Arizona. I'm going to assume that you have been somewhat informed on these problems so as not to beat a dead horse.
In the interview, The Secretary reeled off a bunch of stats on how they have made things better on his watch (Trust me, even IF the numbers were accurate, it is still a sad commentary on just how bad of a job they are doing).
Be that as it may, Doocy then pressed harder by telling McDonald that he had received a text from Rob O'Neill (you know, the former Navy Seal that killed Bin Laden) telling him how bad his experience was at the VA hospital that he went to for care and treatment. One of the many things he said, was that entering the building was like "walking into a homeless shelter", I can tell you from personal experience with the local VA clinic, that he was "dead on" with that description.
O'Neill also said that while the nurses and Doctors were outstanding, the support staff sucks, his words not mine, but I am in total agreement. As further salt in the wound, so to speak, he also had his wallet stolen while he was there. Secretary McDonald told Doocy to have O'Neill call him, because he would love to talk to him about his experience there.
Anyone care to place bets on the fact that he only said that because O'Neill is such a high profile figure with the American public?
When Doocy told him that they did not have his number, McDonald told them to tell O'Neill to go to his website and get the number and to call him at anytime. So a few days later when high profile Veteran's Advocate Pete Hegseth was co-hosting the show, they decided to call the number live on the air. After a couple of rings a recorded voice said that the Message box was full and to try again later.
Pete Hegseth just "lost it" and said this is just what puts the icing on the cake, and is something that every veteran faces when they try to get help. Again from personal experience, I agree with him completely!
Let me give you just a few highlights of those experiences of mine with the VA. These are the cliff notes version, if you will.
1. A few years ago, I started experiencing very, VERY bad headaches over my right eye. We are talking pain that just knocks you down, and won't let you back up. I had to wait a few days to get an appointment with my Primary Care Provider (PCP) so that she could put in a referral for me to be seen by the "in house" eye clinic. I had to wait a few more days for that appointment. Meanwhile, now I can hardly see out of that eye and was developing problems with the left one as well...Oh and the pain was a constant companion. I hope to never feel that level of pain again, it would almost make one wish for death, and I'm NOT saying that to be melodramatic, I am simply stating the truth.
Long story short, I was told that I had a condition that was a "semi - emergency" and that I would need surgery quickly. They set a date, and then moved that date back not one but two times! My brother took pity on me and paid for me to go see his eye doctor. Within 5 minutes of entering the exam room, he told me that I had glaucoma, and even worse, because it had not been treated earlier, the pressure in my eye was so high that there was potential for hemorrhaging and even death. Needless to say, a heroic effort on his part saved my eyes and quite possibly my life.
2. I have a few mental problems from my past that I kept buried for far too long, and as a result I developed Chronic pain in my stomach (which I still have to this day). After all of the tests were done, it was decided that it was due to my state of mind and was sent to the Mental Health clinic within the VA. I have one guy that I see once every 6 months, and that is basically just to get my meds for anxiety and depression re-upped. He has sent me to 4 different shrinks within the system over the years, but the answer they all give me is "get over it"...yep, Dear Reader, trained psychiatrists in the VA can only say "get over it"...I am NOT kidding!
3. I have Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Just getting the diagnosis was a process that took almost a year. I just recently saw my Neurologist for the first time in three years. My last MRI was almost 5 years ago. I told him that I seemed to be losing more of my coordination and was falling more. You would think that that would trigger the need for another MRI to see if I had developed anymore lesions on my brain or spinal chord, wouldn't you? Well, nope. It seems that the last one 5 years ago had shown no progression from the one done 3 years PRIOR TO THAT ONE, so he didn't see a need for another one right now.
Did you see the flaw in that?!!
4. Staying on the MS, I had been taking the "shot a day" brand name drug for about 6 years, and was more or less holding steady as far as the progression of the disease goes. So what happened to bring about the change that I complained of up in number three? A month before that, they had gone to a cheaper generic version of the drug. I haven't "felt right" since they changed it. When I complained about it, you know what I was told?
"If you want to keep getting your meds through the VA, you'll take what we give you"
Pretty damn sad, huh?
As I sit here writing this, I can tell you that I feel myself getting worse by the day.
These are just some of things I've experienced. I won't even go into the time I was prepped for a procedure and they didn't realize until 3 hours later that they had "lost" me, when I had been right where they had left me the whole time!
I could go on and on, but you get the picture.
The Moral of the story here is;
When you hear a Vet complain, DO NOT tune him or her out. We have real problems, and our cries are either not being heard or even worse they are being ignored.
We stepped up to the plate for you. It's time for you to step up for us.
Write to your Senators and Representatives in Congress and demand that they help us.
And know this for certain; Every time you hear that things are getting better at the VA, just know that they are lying to your face!
No Bullshit...No Kidding around, They ARE lying to you! Do you even know WHO they work for?
THEY WORK FOR YOU!
Hold them accountable!
Please?
