I work with vets who are fully or partially disabled mentally & unable to totally care for themselves. I accompany them to their appointments, take them out for lunch and enrichment and work with the professionals that keep their lives on as even a keel as possible.
there is a lot about the v.a. that is wonderful. but, some of what I see at the v.a. is a shame. the dentistry is patchwork, at best. students from the nearby dental school do much of the work under supervision of one practicing dentist. it’s tough to watch – I can’t say anything; I have to leave the room.
the psychiatric appointments are a joke. they call about 15 vets at a time to come in to see the psychiatrist/psychologist/whatever. those vets take a chair, lined up in a row against the back wall about 15 feet from the “doctor. the psychiatrist calls their names one by one and asks – in front of their peers!- “any problems? anything you want to talk about?” yeah. right. there is absolutely NO privacy or personal contact. most of the time, there’s not even eye contact between the ‘doctor’ and his patients. and, what vet wants to spill his guts in front of 15 guys in a lineup? those 15 are herded through in about 1/2 hour. and, the psychiatrist/psychologist/ whatever, is paid by the number of clients that are herded through. not bad wages for no work at all except calling names and logging in that the patient was ‘seen’and jacking up meds.
when one of my vet clients had confided to me that he was having trouble with his anger issues and the meds (ubiquitous meds instead of care, b/t/w) were not working so well, I was not surprised when he responded to the ‘any problems?’ from the doctor, with‘no.’ so, I went to the doctor when the last patient left the room and told him that my client actually needed some help. the doctor said, ‘well, he said he didn’t so what’s your problem?’ I asked if he could spend a little time actually speaking one-on-one with my client but he was too busy.the solution the doc came up with? he just increased the meds instead of seeing how to help him be more productive. I guess zombies don’t make trouble.
this state of affairs has nothing to do with Obama although the knee jerk Obama-haters would have you believe that it is all his fault. the current problems have been seen since the revolutionary war. (see the jon stewart rant of 5/22 I think that’s the date.) but the current lack of care happened under bush when the group in power – read cheney, rove & bush – cut the professionals providing care to the vets returning home so they could hide the actual monetary costs of the wars. the v.a. doctors’ caseloads got bigger and bigger. the care became less personal every day as the staff attempted to cope. at least Obama tried to increase staffing and threw more money at vet care. it’s a shame he’s got to overcome the morass that is the v.a AND fight the Koch octopi.
if you want to see a change, get some guts and forget the repub agenda of ‘hate Obama and make sure none of his programs succeed.’ stand up and HELP improve the situation. you can volunteer, you can stop spewing b.s. fault-finding and actually help make things better. call your local v.a. and find out how.our returning heroes should have excellent care. you can help them. so, what are you waiting for?
minute ago
@martens misses all her friends
I work with vets who are fully or partially disabled mentally & unable to totally care for themselves. I accompany them to their appointments, take them out for lunch and enrichment and work with the professionals that keep their lives on as even a keel as possible.
there is a lot about the v.a. that is wonderful. but, some of what I see at the v.a. is a shame. the dentistry is patchwork, at best. students from the nearby dental school do much of the work under supervision of one practicing dentist. it’s tough to watch – I can’t say anything; I have to leave the room.
the psychiatric appointments are a joke. they call about 15 vets at a time to come in to see the psychiatrist/psychologist/whatever. those vets take a chair, lined up in a row against the back wall about 15 feet from the “doctor. the psychiatrist calls their names one by one and asks – in front of their peers!- “any problems? anything you want to talk about?” yeah. right. there is absolutely NO privacy or personal contact. most of the time, there’s not even eye contact between the ‘doctor’ and his patients. and, what vet wants to spill his guts in front of 15 guys in a lineup? those 15 are herded through in about 1/2 hour. and, the psychiatrist/psychologist/ whatever, is paid by the number of clients that are herded through. not bad wages for no work at all except calling names and logging in that the patient was ‘seen’and jacking up meds.
when one of my vet clients had confided to me that he was having trouble with his anger issues and the meds (ubiquitous meds instead of care, b/t/w) were not working so well, I was not surprised when he responded to the ‘any problems?’ from the doctor, with‘no.’ so, I went to the doctor when the last patient left the room and told him that my client actually needed some help. the doctor said, ‘well, he said he didn’t so what’s your problem?’ I asked if he could spend a little time actually speaking one-on-one with my client but he was too busy.the solution the doc came up with? he just increased the meds instead of seeing how to help him be more productive. I guess zombies don’t make trouble.
this state of affairs has nothing to do with Obama although the knee jerk Obama-haters would have you believe that it is all his fault. the current problems have been seen since the revolutionary war. (see the jon stewart rant of 5/22 I think that’s the date.) but the current lack of care happened under bush when the group in power – read cheney, rove & bush – cut the professionals providing care to the vets returning home so they could hide the actual monetary costs of the wars. the v.a. doctors’ caseloads got bigger and bigger. the care became less personal every day as the staff attempted to cope. at least Obama tried to increase staffing and threw more money at vet care. it’s a shame he’s got to overcome the morass that is the v.a AND fight the Koch octopi.
if you want to see a change, get some guts and forget the repub agenda of ‘hate Obama and make sure none of his programs succeed.’ stand up and HELP improve the situation. you can volunteer, you can stop spewing b.s. fault-finding and actually help make things better. call your local v.a. and find out how.our returning heroes should have excellent care. you can help them. so, what are you waiting for?