Letter to the editor: V.A. response to the war

TheCypressTimes.com ^ | 07/23/2010 | Adam C. Walmus

[Patriot1259]

Recent media reports have declared that timely, dignified care should be provided to returning servicemen and women. At the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, we completely agree.

America's soldiers, Marines, airmen, sailors, and Coast Guardsmen deserve the very finest medical care. Earned at enlistment, it is America's sacred promise to them. Nationally, and here in southeast Texas, VA works hard to honor that promise.

Since 2003, more than 1.5 million military personnel have served and returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. Roughly 40% have enrolled for care in a high-tech, quality-focused VA system, including more than 8,500 southeast Texas sons and daughters.

In the 1970s, some Vietnam War returnees were critical of VA care. But a major transformation in 1994 brought significant improvements, including extensive performance measurement, evidence-based clinical practice, state-of-the-art technology, comprehensive patient safety programs, and conversion to an electronic medical record system.

[Grunthor]

I went to the V.A. clinic in Lakewood Wa last summer to get my self checked out for numbess and tingling in my extremities (I have a spinal cord injury), my appointment was for 10 am. I got there at 930 am. I saw a doctor at 4 pm.

My first, and last voluntary visit to a VA facility.

[Silentgypsy]

VA caregivers worked against incredible odds. A sign over a VA surgical suite in the 70’s stated, “We have done so much with so little for so long, we can now do everything with nothing forever.”