a warrior's death?
Everyday Veterans line up in waiting rooms to be seen for depression, anxiety, PTSD and other mental health issues. The sad fact is that most of them will not be seen with any degree of success. They will be seen once given a pill to solve their problems and told to come back in a few month to check progress. It took 5 months to make this appointment and the pill they give just doesn’t work. If they do somehow manage to make it to a second appointment they will be told that they are making their own problems and that they need to move on. That the nightmares they have can’t be that bad and combat is not that damaging. The people telling them this will be doctors in name only, they will have little to no experience dealing with patients, and will have no experience inside our country’s military culture.
I truly wish this was a story I made up, or a problem that has only effected a few unfortunate veterans. If you watch the news you will hear that Veterans Affairs has hired more personnel to handle the higher demand- that they want to help veterans and end the staggering suicide rate of 22 a day, as reported in a 2012 study conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs. They show numbers and figures about how the large influx of new doctors is allowing patients to be seen faster with less wait between appointments. Well sadly these numbers are both right and wrong. Veterans across this country are being see by these new doctors. Fresh out of college, working on their residency. Everything they do or say has to be approved, and none wish to take the time necessary to get anything approved beyond the standard. Cookie cutter doctors giving pills to numb the mind and pad the reports that show how well they are doing.
They don’t do well at the padding the report part. A report release by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General Office on April 15, 2015 states that the issues that have long plagued the VA still do. They attempt to change paperwork to show progress when in fact they are allowing Veterans to slowly die waiting to be seen by doctors. They also were found to have failed to file appeals and notices of disagreement within the 7 day time frame required by policy. The exceeded this time frame on average 126 days. How is it fair that people who raised their right hand and took an oath can be treated so poorly? It is not fair, but it is happening.
If we allow this to continue we will watch the inevitable. We will watch as the books get cooked and the lies get made to cover up what is happening. Twenty-two a day is too many and it won’t get better until people stand up and say that they do not want to watch the warrior class kill itself one by one, having lost the fight with the demons within.
Work Cited
General, Va Office Of Inspector. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General Review of Alleged Data Manipulation and Mismanagement at VA Regional Office Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Rpt #14-03651-203. The Department of Veterans Affairs. 15 Apr. 2015. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.
Kemp, Janet, and Robert Bossarte. Suicide Data Report: 2012. Washington, DC: Department of Veterans Affairs, Mental Health Services, Suicide Prevention Program, 2013. The Department of Veterans Affairs. 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.
I truly wish this was a story I made up, or a problem that has only effected a few unfortunate veterans. If you watch the news you will hear that Veterans Affairs has hired more personnel to handle the higher demand- that they want to help veterans and end the staggering suicide rate of 22 a day, as reported in a 2012 study conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs. They show numbers and figures about how the large influx of new doctors is allowing patients to be seen faster with less wait between appointments. Well sadly these numbers are both right and wrong. Veterans across this country are being see by these new doctors. Fresh out of college, working on their residency. Everything they do or say has to be approved, and none wish to take the time necessary to get anything approved beyond the standard. Cookie cutter doctors giving pills to numb the mind and pad the reports that show how well they are doing.
They don’t do well at the padding the report part. A report release by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General Office on April 15, 2015 states that the issues that have long plagued the VA still do. They attempt to change paperwork to show progress when in fact they are allowing Veterans to slowly die waiting to be seen by doctors. They also were found to have failed to file appeals and notices of disagreement within the 7 day time frame required by policy. The exceeded this time frame on average 126 days. How is it fair that people who raised their right hand and took an oath can be treated so poorly? It is not fair, but it is happening.
If we allow this to continue we will watch the inevitable. We will watch as the books get cooked and the lies get made to cover up what is happening. Twenty-two a day is too many and it won’t get better until people stand up and say that they do not want to watch the warrior class kill itself one by one, having lost the fight with the demons within.
Work Cited
General, Va Office Of Inspector. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General Review of Alleged Data Manipulation and Mismanagement at VA Regional Office Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Rpt #14-03651-203. The Department of Veterans Affairs. 15 Apr. 2015. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.
Kemp, Janet, and Robert Bossarte. Suicide Data Report: 2012. Washington, DC: Department of Veterans Affairs, Mental Health Services, Suicide Prevention Program, 2013. The Department of Veterans Affairs. 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.