Posted on 03/05/2007 12:36:05 PM PST by neverdem
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.
The official reaction to the revelations at Walter Reed has been swift, and it has exposed the potential political costs of ignoring Oliva's 24.3 million comrades -- America's veterans -- many of whom are among the last standing...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
"And I'm sorry, but all the newspaper exposes in the world isn't going to change it."
I can absolutely GUARANTEE you that you are dead wrong on that point. Congressmen and women don't give a darn about ANY issue until they think it might become a re-election issue. Taking the opportunity to write or call them DOES work..
OK, not very well in some instances, but throwing one's hands up in despair is counter-productive. Also speaking from experience, one person CAN make a difference. THIS is one of those times to act...while it's fresh in people's minds. You will not win every skirmish..but, the battle goes to those with the fortitude to win and the stamina to keep hammering away at the problems UNTIL they are solved...
end of sermon.
Exactly. It only made matters worse when vets without service-connected disabilities were given access to VA hospitals in the 90's.
I have used the VA system for the last few years and have been pleased. I even had some minor surgery....excellent care. The VA is the best at preventative medicine....I get a complete physical every 8 months.... Had a scare with a scar on my left lung....turned out to be nothing but the highest praise for the professionals that diagnosed it and the follow up CAT scans to insure it was nothing. After each scan a Doc would call me and tell me everything was OK. I doubt if a Doc would have called from any civilian hospitals. I suspect that most on this board bad mouthing the care have no recent first hand experience.
"I'd like to see the vets receiving their medical treatment at the same hospitals and providers that our congress people do and have our elected ruling class receive their care through the veterans administration. That will straighten everything out."
SAD, but true....!!!
I said the other day that you can BET this problem would have been fixed in a week, if not over night had the Hospital Honchos been put in Building 18 at Walter Reed.
Lifetime bureacrats are DESTROYING this country.
"I had excellent treatment as a dependent under Tricare while husband was stationed at Norfolk. Gave birth to a healthy baby at Langley AFB. No complaints."
Like I said, it varies WIDELY, depending on the location and individual in question.
Just for the record...I am 100% service-connected disabled.
I won't go into the horror stories from my experiences at the Denver VA in the early 70's. Let's just say things have improved IMMENSELY.
The heart operations I received in 2002 and 2003 were literally "state of the art". Thank GOD the Denver VA is three blocks from the University of Colorado Medical Center and one of THEIR well-known surgeons decided to save my life....!!
The BATTLE that it took to GET that health care left a bit to be desired, however. That's why I'm saying the disconnect between the administrative and medical "sides" of the VA is where most of the problems arise.
The other cause of many of the problems is that the VA Budget is FIRST on the list in Congress to steal from for other "critical" matters.
The vet across the street from me was sent home with a broken collarbone and broken ribs. They knew about them, but they said they couldn't treat them?
When home, the rib pierced his lung and it collapsed. He's been in and out of hospital ever since, and his shoulder is completely frozen.
Something is rotten.
I'm not saying they are making it up, I am saying they reported it *now* because it worked for them. I know they aren't making it up. But it's been like this for a long time. If they cared so much, why wait so long. Why not report on this ages ago. Why have our Vietnam Veterans been dealing with this for decades if the WaPo cares so very much.
I'm not saying the story isn't true, I'm just saying it isn't a new story, nor will all of this hand-wringing that the WaPo is doing right now change anything if the general public doesn't stick with their anger over it. But, unfortunately, and I don't believe that they will. Another pet cause will come along.
Again, I don't mean the general FReeper public, but the American public in general.
::sigh:: I forgot all my question marks. Please pretend there are question marks at the end of all the questions.
The Lefty's always point to the VA medical system as proof that socialized medicine works. What a joke!
Why is no one identifying the contractor in charge of healthcare at Walter Reed? The contractor needs to be identified and better managed though everyone knows the bottom line is profit first and foremost NOT the welfare of our soldiers.
Well that sure makes me feel better. Should my son come back from harm's way in need of medical care, I can assure him the medical care has always been crap and to expect nothing more. There you go -- it's all better now, right? Just stack the wounded up like cord wood, pay big $$$$ to the contractor in charge and shut up. Not hardly...
Oh, then I won't tell you about the student I had in one of my classes at Naval Submarine School. He got to sit in the ER at the Naval Hospital for six hours after his appendix burst.
Many decades ago, families did not join the service member until housing, whether on the base or the economy, was secured. I do not know how it is today. Also, back then, some tours were considered "unaccompanied" and thus no base housing would ever be available. Sometimes the service member could choose to go for one year unaccompanied or three years accompanied.
My experience with military health care was terrible for routine care, sicknesses and injuries (seemed like socialized medicine to me), but excellent for a life-threatening situation.
Rush Limbaugh brought up a good point today - the politicians are posturing and acting like spectators (again) in this affair.
When home, the rib pierced his lung and it collapsed. He's been in and out of hospital ever since, and his shoulder is completely frozen.
Something is rotten.
I'm not an orthopod, but I'm not sure about that. My friend had a fractured rib. NY Presbyteraian Hospital Medical Center, the one associated with Columbia University, sent him home without further treatment, except pain meds. I doubt your friend had much more than a chest tube to re-expand his lung. It's not like casting fractures in long bones.
Non-displaced fractures are frequently left as is if there aren't any complications. My mother fell fracturing her pelvis. She recovered in a nursing home with physical and occupational therapy. There was no surgery or casting done. Your friend got a "frozen shoulder" because he didn't move it for too long. It's very common after injuries to the upper arm and shoulder. Patients need to get exercise ASAP, possibly even physical therapy, but they have to move those joints involved with the shoulder. People "baby" it too long, and voila, you have a frozen shoulder.
Off topic, Whitefish, Mt.?
Staffed with (some?) doctors who can't recognize a heart attack or pneumonia.
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