[Vision2020] 05-16-04 Afghan War Veterans Already Seek Care From VA System
Donovan Arnold
donovanarnold@hotmail.com
Sun, 16 May 2004 13:11:55 -0700
Amy,
If they were pro-people in the first place, they most likely would not be
pro-blowing-up-people-for the-heck-of-it, in the first. Just my thought.
They don't think about what it costs to help people with bandages, social
programs, and classrooms. Usually, just how much the bomb costs.
Respectfully,
Donovan J Arnold
>From: "amy smoucha" <asmoucha@hotmail.com>
>Reply-To: asmoucha@hotmail.com
>To: vision2020@moscow.com
>Subject: RE: [Vision2020] 05-16-04 Afghan War Veterans Already Seek Care
>From VA System
>Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 13:50:59 -0500
>
>This will continue to be a very important issue. During "peace" times, the
>VA is often the target of funding cuts. In the past, as Korean War vets
>reached their life expectancy, VA budgets and staffs were shamelessly
>gutted. Just recently, people in our area successfully fought the closing
>of a VA facility in Walla Walla.
>
>Every one who supports either the war, the troops or both must remember
>these heightened times in the future--the health care needs that have been
>created with this struggle are our responsibility, and we will have to
>insist that Congress spends money on these vets--and their families--until
>they no longer need it, not just until we forget the issues.
>
>Amy
>
>
>----Original Message Follows----
>From: "Art Deco aka W. Fox" <deco@moscow.com>
>To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020@moscow.com>
>Subject: [Vision2020] 05-16-04 Breaking AP: As Many as 22,000 Iraq, Afghan
>War Veterans Already Seek Care From VA System
>Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 10:34:11 -0700
>
>
>May 16, 2004
>
>As Many as 22,000 Iraq, Afghan War Veterans Already Seek Care From VA
>System
>By Larry Margasak
>Associated Press Writer
>
>WASHINGTON (AP) - When Willie Buckels applied for veterans health care
>after
>returning from Iraq, the back and knee injuries he suffered while rescuing
>a
>fuel truck during a mortar attack were not enough to guarantee him
>treatment.
>The Mississippi reservist had to bring along Army paperwork proving his
>combat
>service because the Veterans Affairs Department still lacks a computer
>system
>that tracks a new applicant's service record.
>
>More than a half-century ago, soldiers who fought in World War II were
>showing
>similar paper documents to ensure they got medical care.
>
>"I took my paperwork, showed it to the VA, they got me in the system, got
>me an
>ID card and made appointments for doctors," said Buckels, who did not
>complain
>about his experience.
>
>More critical, however, are lawmakers who have pressed the agency to make
>amends
>for the highly publicized problems it had serving veterans of the first
>Iraq war
>a decade ago.
>
>"In this technologically advanced age," proof of service "can't be a sheet
>of
>paper crumbling around the edges," said Republican Rep. Christopher Smith
>of New
>Jersey, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
>
>Nearly 18,000 soldiers who have returned from Iraq have sought care at VA
>health
>facilities, officials reported at the end of March. A separate report in
>mid-April said 4,000 troops from the war in Afghanistan sought care,
>although
>there is some overlap from those who served in both conflicts.
>
>About 60 percent of the Iraq veterans and 84 percent of those from
>Afghanistan
>who sought VA care came from the National Guard and Reserves. The most
>common
>problems affected joints and back, teeth and the digestive system.
>
>Mental disorders were diagnosed in 16 percent of the Afghanistan veterans
>and 15
>percent of the Iraqi veterans.
>
>The statistics reflect medical conditions regardless of their origin. They
>are
>not broken down by causes such as bullet wounds, blast injuries, accidents
>and
>illnesses.
>
>With thousands more veterans expected to seek benefits and health care, the
>VA
>faces its biggest challenge since the early 1990s. Officials are well aware
>of
>the stakes.
>
>"I believe the agency will be defined for generations by how well we take
>care
>of these returning troops," Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi, a
>combat-decorated Vietnam veteran, said in an interview with The Associated
>Press.
>
>The agency has a mixed record in dealing with the crush of new veterans.
>
>The lack of a 21st-century computer operation is a black eye. Recently the
>VA
>health care director, Dr. Robert Roswell, resigned after the failure of a
>$472
>million hospital computer system for veterans in Florida that was supposed
>to
>become a national model.
>
>The department, in a statement, said it does not now have an automated way
>of
>identifying veterans who served in Iraq of Afghanistan. "We rely on
>military
>records provided by the veteran," the VA said.
>
>The Defense Department has compiled a computerized roster of Iraq and
>Afghanistan veterans for the VA, but the list has many discrepancies,
>officials
>said.
>
>Nonetheless, some returning veterans who expected long delays in qualifying
>for
>medical treatment say they were surprised how quickly they entered the VA
>system.
>
>Sabrina Sue, a reservist from New York City, was told by a veteran of the
>first
>Gulf War to expect a year's wait to see a doctor for a service-connected
>thyroid
>condition. She waited only two weeks.
>
>"I was amazed," said the supply specialist with the 340th Military Police
>Company, who also is entering a VA educational program.
>
>Also impressed by his first VA experience was First Sgt. Gerry Mosley. He
>was
>injured with Buckels when the two members of the Army's 296th
>Transportation Co.
>freed the jammed air brakes of a truck in their convoy and jumped to the
>ground
>as mortars exploded around them.
>
>"They're just awesome representatives," Mosley said.
>
>To address the backlog of cases that delayed disability pay for veterans,
>the VA
>has hired 1,500 workers and formed special teams to reduce the March, 2002
>peak
>of 233 days for an initial disability ruling. Today, the wait averages 171
>days.
>
>The agency also has extended hours at medical facilities, added examination
>rooms and hired or moved employees to reduce the backlog of veterans
>waiting for
>doctor's appointments. There were 176,000 veterans waiting for their first
>doctor's visit in July 2002, a number reduced to 3,242 currently.
>
>Principi, who worked as the top deputy at the VA during the first Gulf War,
>is
>determined to avoid a repeat of the 1990s. Backlogs then led a
>congressional
>committee to accuse the agency of having "a "tin ear, cold heart and a
>closed
>mind" in caring for sick veterans.
>
>The VA chief promises the new veterans, "I'm not going to wait until every
>"i"
>is dotted and every "t" is crossed to care for them."
>
>If costs and money were not enough to challenge, there also is politics.
>
>Veterans' attitudes toward government are crucial this election year, with
>President Bush's conduct of the Iraq war a growing campaign issue.
>
>A Bush ad highlighted Democratic challenger John Kerry's vote last year
>against
>an $87 billion aid package for Iraq and Afghanistan, contending the vote
>denied
>body armor and higher combat pay for troops and better health care for
>reservists. Kerry has run ads featuring fellow Vietnam veterans to boost
>his
>claim that he can confront Bush on national security.
>
>Veterans groups, who keep a close eye on the VA, give the agency a passing
>grade
>in absorbing the new entries but are not fully convinced the agency is up
>to the
>task.
>
>"We're encouraged that the VA is reaching out to veterans" of the two
>recent
>wars, said Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War
>Resource
>Center.
>
>"But we feel it's very important that the VA address the veterans' needs
>physically, emotionally and spiritually to include psychological
>screenings,
>information pamphlets and hot lines for prevention of suicides. It's
>obvious to
>us that mental health disorders and psychological injuries are going to
>play an
>important role for the next 20 years."
>
>---
>
>On the Net:
>
>Department of Veterans Affairs, http://www.va.gov
>
>Additional info including documents, photos and video are available at:
>http://wid.ap.org/series/rfw1.html
>
>AP-ES-05-16-04 1224EDT
>
>This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAN140DBUD.html
>
>
>_____________________________________________________
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