I have written this blog for a few years, and it usually deals with Constitutional matters, however the recent problems at the Veterans Administration deals with the very hero's that support and defend this doccument therefore I find this topic appropriate for this Blog. The current accusations that the Veterans Administration is, "Killing Veterans", and "Nationwide VA Care is subpar, and downright abysmal", All the news channels are abuzz with allegations that this is a precursor to Obamacare! I have to say that since late 2008 I have received all of my medical care with the exception of Spinal Cord Surgery and my Cardiologist at the Louisville VA Medical Center named for a World War II Veteran that volunteered at the hospital until he was 102 years old now known as The Robley Rex Veterans Medical Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Am I a heavy user? Yes, I am a very heavy user of the VA. Shortly after I became a patient I was Catagorized as a Category 4 catastrophically disabled veteran. Although my disability was not documented to have happened on active duty, I am working to change that as it occurred during my recall from the Individual Ready Reserve in Support of Operation Desert Shield and later Desert Storm. My health began it's rapid decline in 2000 about 10 years after I had served in Desert Storm. Many Soldiers who served during that time suffered illnesses that could not be explained which all started between one and ten years after the Gulf war, and I am no different. Gulf War Syndrome has taken a serious toll on my body. I had attacks launched on my body from something within me on my immune system causing Crohn's disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Psoriasis, and Psoriatic Arthritis. The later became a major threat after an emergency surgery to repair a ruptured disk in my spine at L5-S1 shortly thereafter I developed Psoriatic Arthritis of the Spinal Cord, followed by Ankylosing Spondylitis, which in simple terms causes my spine to self fuse at multiple levels then break and repeat over and over again. The pain is enormous and only partially controllable, and looks like this:
You can see how on my spine there appear to be white bumps down both the right and left side of my spine (the area pointed out by the presence of the pen is the spinal cord stimulator which was implanted to control pain) which seem to link all of the disks together (fusing) and make my spine appear to look like a shoot of bamboo! Actually this disease is often called bamboo spine. Why am I sharing all of this with a bunch of strangers? To defend the care I get from the VA! This condition is chronic, requires a host of visits, medication in the private care world of over $4000.00 per month and eventually I will succumb to this disease and die. My Primary Care Doctor at the VA...........the Head of the Spinal Cord Clinic. In addition to the problems I have with my spinal cord, I've also developed the condition known as psoriatic arthritis, which has infected all of my joints but most severely, my shoulders, Spinal Cord, Hips, Knees, Ankles, and individual Toe Joints. The spinal cord injury alone has forced me into a wheelchair, and due to the psoriatic arthritis, which infects most of my joints including my shoulder joints I am no longer able to self propel a manual wheelchair. Therefore, the VA provided me with electric wheelchair. In addition to the electric wheelchair, I have to be able to get that wheelchair around from appointment to appointment. Therefore, the Veterans Administration has also purchased an electronic wheelchair lift for me that's fitted to the back of my vehicle. All of this equipment has been at no cost to me, none these things required any longer than two weeks worth of wait time.
I think it's a wonderful thing that America as a whole has stood behind the veterans of The United States Military. It wasn't always that way. Remember after Vietnam, the returning troops from Vietnam, came home to a terrible Veterans Administration Hospital System that was in dire need of an overhaul. The hospitals were poorly staffed, poorly run, and overflowing with wounded veterans from that war. Today's veterans came home to a Veterans Administration Hospital System that had some of the most technologically advanced equipment that veterans have ever seen from any war. However, as in any war, when hundreds of thousands of troops are called to active duty to fight in theater and then they begin to trickle out of the military due to injuries sustained during combat Veterans Administration Hospitals overflow with patients. Attempting to gear up and prepare for an unknown number of patients is a difficult thing to do, if not impossible, but our Veterans Administration is manned by 40% of its employees being veterans themselves.Is the system perfect? Not hardly! . However, witnessing the care every day that I see at my local VA Hospital, both as a patient and a volunteer has made me believe that this system is as close to perfect as we're ever going to get for our Veterans. This is not to say that the system is perfect, merely that the single-payer system run by the federal government, is bound to be problematic. In order to monitor and correct the problems that the Veterans Administration is bound to experience, we must have an advisory board made up of Veterans and Outside Healthcare Providers to police the activities of the Veterans Administration, to ensure that scams that are designed to pay bonuses are never perpetrated on the very people that fought for the freedoms our country enjoys.
Going back to the current scandal, is it a national problem affecting every single Veterans Administration Hospital? Absolutely not. I believe that once all of the investigating and probing and all of the hearings on Capitol Hill are through they'll come to the same conclusion. That these were isolated incidents perpetrated mainly throughout the southwestern portion of the United States that are heavy traffic areas for soldiers exiting the military. It is important to note that the problems that exist within the Veterans Administration as far as wait times are concerned all pertain to the approval of initial benefits. When active duty military member's leave military service through an Honorable Discharge, they then become eligible for medical benefits at the Veterans Administration Medical Center's throughout the country. Herein lies the problem. In many cases, the Veterans Administration Medical Centers in various cities are not able to instantly verify the discharged soldiers records immediately. Hence the waiting times. Aditionally in some VA "Markets" there are heavier than usual outprocessing amounts of Veterans which in turn lead to a shortage of the very Doctors necessary to care for these Veterans.
No one likes see veterans suffering politicized. However, this is exactly what is happening in this instance, while the Republicans scream disgrace and corruption about the Veterans Administration . They are unknowingly or unwittingly scaring patients away from what may be their only form of healthcare. This is where the politicizing comes in, and God help them if they scare one single Veteran away from his/her only healthcare and one of these Veterans should die as a result! Conservatives immediately began to call for the resignation of General Eric Shinseki. The Obama administration as well as a majority of Democrats were not ready to pass judgment immediately on a man with an impeccable military record of over 30 years service. An American service man who rose to command being the first Asian-American to reach the rank of Four-Star General. An American servicemen who served two tours in Vietnam who left a part of himself on the battlefield.
Gen. Shinseki, to be sure, is an American hero. The general commanded NATO forces, and was the secretary of the Army. Gen. Shinseki was well-liked and was a holdover from the Bush administration. He is most well known for being a student and believer in Gen. Colin Powell's belief that if America had to go in theater for war. It should be with a large footprint and large contingency of soldiers. However, this caused him to run afoul of then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who believe that America's technological advancements made it possible for smaller footprints and smaller contingencies of soldiers during full-scale operations in theater. This disagreement caused general shinseki to resign in 2008. He was then appointed secretary of the Veterans Administration in 2009 by President. Barack Hussein Obama. The Conservatives were successful on May 30, 2014 when President Obama accepted General Shinseki's resignation, keeping it fairly quiet it was dumped into Friday's news dump, although by this point many Democrats were calling for General Shinseki's resignation as well. Now comes the tricky part, tieing this into the politicizing part of veteran suffering. When all is said and done, and all the examinations hearings investigations and finger-pointing is through, I believe they will find out this was in fact an isolated incident, mainly contained to the Southwest.
Dr. Samuel Foote, who originally made the allegations after his resignation in 2013 from the Phoenix VA Medical Center that there were some 80 veterans that had died while awaiting medical care, has seen his original number declined from 80 to 47, all the way down to 16 in the Senate hearings late Wednesday night. Of those 16 patients remaining 12 died due to terminal cancer, while in the care of a medical professional. The remaining four patients are the focus of the investigation.
Watching the attack on the Veterans Administration from the sidelines is like watching a NASCAR race, both political parties have been racing around the track trying to point the finger at each other and trying to deny at the same time. I find the timing of this scandal to be particularly interesting, in that, should we find that there was no nationwide scandal at all, that this was in fact tied to just a few Veterans Administration locations in the Southwest. This revelation could come just in time to save the Democrats from a miserable midterm loss by pointing a finger at conservatives and accusing them of making up a false scandal for the purpose of politicizing the suffering of America's Brave Heroic Veterans. Could it be possible that this was some masterminded preplanned program to rescue the Democrats from a sure fire loss on midterm day? Will Batman and Robin ever catch the Joker in the act? Is iron man really made of iron? For all you older folks...... only the shadow knows! In a perfect world, our heroes would be honored for their service, provided a lifetime of immaculate medical treatment, and given a send off to heaven befitting a hero. No one would be left behind. No one would be forgotten. You and I know that this is not a perfect world though, we have political parties and in today's day and age there is no civility between the parties. My heart harkens back to the days when President Ronald Reagan would fight with Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill Monday through Friday. Then come Friday afternoon Speaker of the House O'Neill would be at the White House having a beer with President Reagan for the work week was over and friendship could then resume. It may seem crazy to even think that this whole scandal could be a drummed up political event, but that's what this country has become! The current administration's approval rating is so low that there is no trust. For the first time in many, many years, Americans are unsure if the America we grew up in will survive. the progressive liberals that elected Barack Hussein Obama, President of United States of America are now disenfranchised with their great leader. However, the Grand Old Party has done very little to unite itself with the tea parties and thus a fractured conservative movement exists, leading to further confusion from everyone from centrists to far right.Who do the disenfranchised follow now?
I cannot speak for the level of care at all of the nations Veterans Administration Hospitals, but only that of my own. The Robley Rex Veterans Administration Medical Center here in Louisville, Kentucky. What I can say about my home VAMC. I am almost always seen within 15 minutes of checking in.I am always treated with dignity and respect and believe it or not you can get tired of being thanked for your service even though it is said with a true air of honesty! I often times compare it to the private sector medical care I use to receive before my body decided to fail on me. I never ever have to leave work telling my assistant I have an appointment at one O'clock knowing that I will sit in the waiting room for two hours then the exam room for another thirty minutes waiting on my Doctor because he makes more money triple booking patients, I like being seen in fifteen minutes.
I like the fact that if I need a brace or crutches or even a wheelchair I simply visit prosthetics with the order entered by my doctor and pick them up. Additionally the VA has implemented a new website the www.myhealth.va.gov site where once your account is set up you can be on vacation, experience a medical situation that is non emergency in nature and simply log into the site's secure messaging portion and send a message to yourt medical care team and receive a message back sometimes the same hour! Try that Aetna!
Many people say that the ills of the Veterans Administration are only a precursor to what will come with Obama care, or are inevitable with a single pay system, such as the VA. I will say this. If the news media will conduct interviews of veterans nationwide and asked them how they felt about the VA and the care they receive. I believe the approval rating would be close to 70%. Conversely, if you asked that same question of the private sector medical care I think that number would be 50% or lower. It's not that the Veterans Administration's government run, it's that the Veterans Administration is modeled off military healthcare. The Veterans Administration medical centers are run by a set of rules that are very reminiscent of the military. Many veterans joke about the hurry up and wait, which is nothing more than doctors rushing you down to get an x-ray only to wait in line for the other people that are ahead of you. What a good problem to have. I suppose it's no surprise to see that a veteran who's getting the kind of care that I'm receiving is happy with my service. I simply hope and pray that this current investigation into the VA medical centers in the Southwest and other areas of the country reveal only minor repairs that are necessary to restore the faith in the medical system for our nation's heroes.
However, if we find that this is been nothing more than politicizing our veterans and heroes difficulties, then we should not blame the Veterans Administration, but rather go after the politicians that tried to use this for their own personal gain.I hope and pray that that is not the case. Additionally I pray for all of those people that say they lost a love one due to failure to see a Doctor. I feel bad for them because every single veteran waiting for approval of benefits or even once approved and waiting for the initial Drs visit is given a personalized book that tells them what to do in case an emergency like this arises, they all state that until the first appointment used for assesment of the Veterans health is completed they are to use the Emergency Room at the local VAMC ( Veterans Administration Medical Center ) why did these 1700 people who supposedly died not simply follow those directions and go to the Emergency Room as a volunteer at my local VAMC I know from the moment the Veterans information is entered into the computer even before verification they are told they can now use the ER for emergencies and if asked for their VA ID card, they are told to tell Hospital staff they are in the computer but have not received their card yet. No One Had to Die! May God Bless each and every one of our Veterans, particularly those that lost love ones. May God bless the Doctors at the VAMC's and help them to provide the best care they can. Lastly May God Bless the United States of America and help us as a nation to find our civility to reach across party lines, stop the progressive liberal nonsense that is killing the country I grew up in and heal our wounds. I ask a special prayer for my Friend MH battleing Breast Cancer that God be with this friend every step of the way and help my friend battle to a victory.
Lastly as my friend Wayne Kyle's son, CPO, Navy SEAL, Chris Kyle use to say, "every single soldier who wore the uniform wrote a blank check for up to and including the value of his/her life so help a veteran, mow his lawn do something kind for them" we miss you Chris!
"I would rather be exposed to the inconvieniences attending too much Liberty, than to those attending too small a degree of it"
Thomas Jefferson
I think it's a wonderful thing that America as a whole has stood behind the veterans of The United States Military. It wasn't always that way. Remember after Vietnam, the returning troops from Vietnam, came home to a terrible Veterans Administration Hospital System that was in dire need of an overhaul. The hospitals were poorly staffed, poorly run, and overflowing with wounded veterans from that war. Today's veterans came home to a Veterans Administration Hospital System that had some of the most technologically advanced equipment that veterans have ever seen from any war. However, as in any war, when hundreds of thousands of troops are called to active duty to fight in theater and then they begin to trickle out of the military due to injuries sustained during combat Veterans Administration Hospitals overflow with patients. Attempting to gear up and prepare for an unknown number of patients is a difficult thing to do, if not impossible, but our Veterans Administration is manned by 40% of its employees being veterans themselves.Is the system perfect? Not hardly! . However, witnessing the care every day that I see at my local VA Hospital, both as a patient and a volunteer has made me believe that this system is as close to perfect as we're ever going to get for our Veterans. This is not to say that the system is perfect, merely that the single-payer system run by the federal government, is bound to be problematic. In order to monitor and correct the problems that the Veterans Administration is bound to experience, we must have an advisory board made up of Veterans and Outside Healthcare Providers to police the activities of the Veterans Administration, to ensure that scams that are designed to pay bonuses are never perpetrated on the very people that fought for the freedoms our country enjoys.
Going back to the current scandal, is it a national problem affecting every single Veterans Administration Hospital? Absolutely not. I believe that once all of the investigating and probing and all of the hearings on Capitol Hill are through they'll come to the same conclusion. That these were isolated incidents perpetrated mainly throughout the southwestern portion of the United States that are heavy traffic areas for soldiers exiting the military. It is important to note that the problems that exist within the Veterans Administration as far as wait times are concerned all pertain to the approval of initial benefits. When active duty military member's leave military service through an Honorable Discharge, they then become eligible for medical benefits at the Veterans Administration Medical Center's throughout the country. Herein lies the problem. In many cases, the Veterans Administration Medical Centers in various cities are not able to instantly verify the discharged soldiers records immediately. Hence the waiting times. Aditionally in some VA "Markets" there are heavier than usual outprocessing amounts of Veterans which in turn lead to a shortage of the very Doctors necessary to care for these Veterans.
No one likes see veterans suffering politicized. However, this is exactly what is happening in this instance, while the Republicans scream disgrace and corruption about the Veterans Administration . They are unknowingly or unwittingly scaring patients away from what may be their only form of healthcare. This is where the politicizing comes in, and God help them if they scare one single Veteran away from his/her only healthcare and one of these Veterans should die as a result! Conservatives immediately began to call for the resignation of General Eric Shinseki. The Obama administration as well as a majority of Democrats were not ready to pass judgment immediately on a man with an impeccable military record of over 30 years service. An American service man who rose to command being the first Asian-American to reach the rank of Four-Star General. An American servicemen who served two tours in Vietnam who left a part of himself on the battlefield.
Gen. Shinseki, to be sure, is an American hero. The general commanded NATO forces, and was the secretary of the Army. Gen. Shinseki was well-liked and was a holdover from the Bush administration. He is most well known for being a student and believer in Gen. Colin Powell's belief that if America had to go in theater for war. It should be with a large footprint and large contingency of soldiers. However, this caused him to run afoul of then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who believe that America's technological advancements made it possible for smaller footprints and smaller contingencies of soldiers during full-scale operations in theater. This disagreement caused general shinseki to resign in 2008. He was then appointed secretary of the Veterans Administration in 2009 by President. Barack Hussein Obama. The Conservatives were successful on May 30, 2014 when President Obama accepted General Shinseki's resignation, keeping it fairly quiet it was dumped into Friday's news dump, although by this point many Democrats were calling for General Shinseki's resignation as well. Now comes the tricky part, tieing this into the politicizing part of veteran suffering. When all is said and done, and all the examinations hearings investigations and finger-pointing is through, I believe they will find out this was in fact an isolated incident, mainly contained to the Southwest.
Dr. Samuel Foote, who originally made the allegations after his resignation in 2013 from the Phoenix VA Medical Center that there were some 80 veterans that had died while awaiting medical care, has seen his original number declined from 80 to 47, all the way down to 16 in the Senate hearings late Wednesday night. Of those 16 patients remaining 12 died due to terminal cancer, while in the care of a medical professional. The remaining four patients are the focus of the investigation.
Watching the attack on the Veterans Administration from the sidelines is like watching a NASCAR race, both political parties have been racing around the track trying to point the finger at each other and trying to deny at the same time. I find the timing of this scandal to be particularly interesting, in that, should we find that there was no nationwide scandal at all, that this was in fact tied to just a few Veterans Administration locations in the Southwest. This revelation could come just in time to save the Democrats from a miserable midterm loss by pointing a finger at conservatives and accusing them of making up a false scandal for the purpose of politicizing the suffering of America's Brave Heroic Veterans. Could it be possible that this was some masterminded preplanned program to rescue the Democrats from a sure fire loss on midterm day? Will Batman and Robin ever catch the Joker in the act? Is iron man really made of iron? For all you older folks...... only the shadow knows! In a perfect world, our heroes would be honored for their service, provided a lifetime of immaculate medical treatment, and given a send off to heaven befitting a hero. No one would be left behind. No one would be forgotten. You and I know that this is not a perfect world though, we have political parties and in today's day and age there is no civility between the parties. My heart harkens back to the days when President Ronald Reagan would fight with Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill Monday through Friday. Then come Friday afternoon Speaker of the House O'Neill would be at the White House having a beer with President Reagan for the work week was over and friendship could then resume. It may seem crazy to even think that this whole scandal could be a drummed up political event, but that's what this country has become! The current administration's approval rating is so low that there is no trust. For the first time in many, many years, Americans are unsure if the America we grew up in will survive. the progressive liberals that elected Barack Hussein Obama, President of United States of America are now disenfranchised with their great leader. However, the Grand Old Party has done very little to unite itself with the tea parties and thus a fractured conservative movement exists, leading to further confusion from everyone from centrists to far right.Who do the disenfranchised follow now?
I cannot speak for the level of care at all of the nations Veterans Administration Hospitals, but only that of my own. The Robley Rex Veterans Administration Medical Center here in Louisville, Kentucky. What I can say about my home VAMC. I am almost always seen within 15 minutes of checking in.I am always treated with dignity and respect and believe it or not you can get tired of being thanked for your service even though it is said with a true air of honesty! I often times compare it to the private sector medical care I use to receive before my body decided to fail on me. I never ever have to leave work telling my assistant I have an appointment at one O'clock knowing that I will sit in the waiting room for two hours then the exam room for another thirty minutes waiting on my Doctor because he makes more money triple booking patients, I like being seen in fifteen minutes. I like the fact that if I need a brace or crutches or even a wheelchair I simply visit prosthetics with the order entered by my doctor and pick them up. Additionally the VA has implemented a new website the www.myhealth.va.gov site where once your account is set up you can be on vacation, experience a medical situation that is non emergency in nature and simply log into the site's secure messaging portion and send a message to yourt medical care team and receive a message back sometimes the same hour! Try that Aetna!
Many people say that the ills of the Veterans Administration are only a precursor to what will come with Obama care, or are inevitable with a single pay system, such as the VA. I will say this. If the news media will conduct interviews of veterans nationwide and asked them how they felt about the VA and the care they receive. I believe the approval rating would be close to 70%. Conversely, if you asked that same question of the private sector medical care I think that number would be 50% or lower. It's not that the Veterans Administration's government run, it's that the Veterans Administration is modeled off military healthcare. The Veterans Administration medical centers are run by a set of rules that are very reminiscent of the military. Many veterans joke about the hurry up and wait, which is nothing more than doctors rushing you down to get an x-ray only to wait in line for the other people that are ahead of you. What a good problem to have. I suppose it's no surprise to see that a veteran who's getting the kind of care that I'm receiving is happy with my service. I simply hope and pray that this current investigation into the VA medical centers in the Southwest and other areas of the country reveal only minor repairs that are necessary to restore the faith in the medical system for our nation's heroes.
However, if we find that this is been nothing more than politicizing our veterans and heroes difficulties, then we should not blame the Veterans Administration, but rather go after the politicians that tried to use this for their own personal gain.I hope and pray that that is not the case. Additionally I pray for all of those people that say they lost a love one due to failure to see a Doctor. I feel bad for them because every single veteran waiting for approval of benefits or even once approved and waiting for the initial Drs visit is given a personalized book that tells them what to do in case an emergency like this arises, they all state that until the first appointment used for assesment of the Veterans health is completed they are to use the Emergency Room at the local VAMC ( Veterans Administration Medical Center ) why did these 1700 people who supposedly died not simply follow those directions and go to the Emergency Room as a volunteer at my local VAMC I know from the moment the Veterans information is entered into the computer even before verification they are told they can now use the ER for emergencies and if asked for their VA ID card, they are told to tell Hospital staff they are in the computer but have not received their card yet. No One Had to Die! May God Bless each and every one of our Veterans, particularly those that lost love ones. May God bless the Doctors at the VAMC's and help them to provide the best care they can. Lastly May God Bless the United States of America and help us as a nation to find our civility to reach across party lines, stop the progressive liberal nonsense that is killing the country I grew up in and heal our wounds. I ask a special prayer for my Friend MH battleing Breast Cancer that God be with this friend every step of the way and help my friend battle to a victory.
Lastly as my friend Wayne Kyle's son, CPO, Navy SEAL, Chris Kyle use to say, "every single soldier who wore the uniform wrote a blank check for up to and including the value of his/her life so help a veteran, mow his lawn do something kind for them" we miss you Chris!
"I would rather be exposed to the inconvieniences attending too much Liberty, than to those attending too small a degree of it"
Thomas Jefferson
