Blog 2 - New Delays at the VA

I'm not sure how I missed posting the second blog assignment, but I suppose it's better late than never.

  I found an editorial from the
Omaha World Herald,  that addresses some issues with the VA.  The editorial states Congress has some questions for the VA and how they tend to respond very slowly to requests for information.  Pending questions were related to safety issues at VA facilities, to include an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease at a VA facility in Pittsburgh.  Five veterans died as a  result of mismanagement by the VA.

This article is worth the read because of the number of troops, past, present, and future, that will need to rely on the VA for their medical care.  I found it interesting that the VA allowed veterans to die as from an fatal disease outbreak in their facility.  The facility where vets go to for treatment, not to become even more sick. 

This article is relevant to me, because I am a veteran who's only medical care is the VA.  I was laid off from my civilian job this past February.  Along with the lay off, went my private health care.  Last summer, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.  I was on a schedule with my private health care providers. But then once I was laid off, I could no longer afford my doctors. I was fortunate enough to receive care under the VA.  A benefit I feel I earned for serving our country.  But because the VA is so slow in general, my care hasn't been as great as in the private sector.  My treatment has been 3 months behind, and my health has paid the price.  Granted, I will get better, but it is taking longer than it should.  I had a blood draw a few weeks back. And I haven't heard any feedback from my VA doctor. 

A former co-worker of mine, lost her mother to cancer last year.  Her mother was also a veteran, and had just returned from the middle east.  She became ill, and sought treatment from the VA.  A spot was found on her lung, but the VA withheld the full findings of that spot, and told her mom to come back in 6 months for another check.  By that time, the cancer had metastasized, and no amount of chemo could make her better. Had the VA been up front and more proactive about the spot they found, her mother would probably be alive today. 

And her story scares me.  I brought up some concerns to my endocrinologist at the VA, and he just brushed them under the rug.  I go in for a body scan at the Temple VA in October, and while I'm sure I will be okay, its unnerving that my questions and concerns were taken with a grain of salt.

I have been to the old Austin VA outpatient clinic, and it's not a nice place. It was old, and dirty. My heart would break, seeing the number of old veterans, waiting to be seen.  They should be treated so much better. A lot of these old men sporting their ball caps with their service allegiance, could be my grandfather.

I've been to the new outpatient facility, and its nice.  But will the level of care be any different?  I don't understand why veterans, who give so much so we can have our freedoms, get the short end of the stick.