thedrifter
03-27-07, 07:42 PM
New, young wounded vets say VA is unprepared
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 27, 2007 16:17:17 EDT
Two wounded combat veterans and the mother of a third told a Senate committee Tuesday that the Department of Veterans Affairs seems ill-equipped to care for both older veterans and the new wave of younger vets coming out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Army National Guard Maj. Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs in Iraq when her helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, told the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee that the VA does a lot of things well, like care for spinal cord injuries and rehabilitation for the blind, but its prosthetics programs are not state-of-the-art and seem more geared toward older veterans concerned about a little walking and driving — not young, mobile veterans ready to climb mountains or run marathons.
Now the head of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Duckworth said the VA is “simply not ready” for these younger veterans and it is “too late” in the wars for the agency to catch up because the gaps in the knowledge of VA workers is too wide. She proposed that all new amputees be treated either at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington or in the private sector.
Innovations in prosthetics arrive “almost monthly,” while the VA is several years behind, she said. The state-of-art limbs she wears could not be adjusted or repaired by the Hines VA Hospital, the facility near Chicago that she uses, because they lack knowledge and expertise on those types of prosthetics, she said.
Duckworth was the lead witness at a hearing called to discuss problems for combat-wounded veterans who transfer between the military and veterans’ medical systems.
Another witness, Army Capt. Jonathan Pruden, whose right leg was amputated as a result of wounds he received in Baghdad in 2003, said he agreed with Duckworth’s recommendation. Pruden said he has “been asked at least a dozen times if I lost my leg to diabetes or vascular disease,” which is where the VA seems to have expertise.
“VA practitioners have become specialists in geriatrics and have little experience with blast injuries and young patients,” Pruden said. Most of the patients are 50 or older, he said, leaving the doctors unprepared for “a new wave of veterans with different needs.”
Pruden, who said he has been active in helping other veterans seek treatment, described one particular problem facing combat-wounded service members: getting clear, accurate and timely information. He said he has filled out a post-deployment health assessment form at least five times, but the form continues to be lost. In other instances, forms have omitted the fact his has an amputated leg.
Like Duckworth, Pruden sees the current VA system as too geared toward the older veterans, at the expense of young combat veterans. For example, he thinks that new and seriously wounded veterans should be assigned to the most experienced primary case managers, but their help often isn’t available.
“Too often it seems the veterans who have been in the system a long time know who the best physicians are,” he said, and they book all of the appointments with those doctors, leaving newer veterans — who could have more “complex and challenging medical issues” — to see the least experienced doctors or nurse practitioners.
Also testifying at the hearing was Denise Mettie, the mother of retired Army Spc. Evan Mettie, a combat-wounded Iraq veteran who received serious head injuries. Mettie spoke of problems coordinating care between the Army and VA, including the fact that her son’s medical records did not accompany him when he was transferred to a veterans’ hospital in Seattle.
Mettie faced a number of problems, some still unresolved, in getting treatment and rehabilitation for her son’s brain injury. But one of the things that has most bothered her is the rush that the Army seemed to be in to medically retire her son.
“Before Evan came out of his coma, and just 17 days after his injury, we were approached about his medical boards, the process that would initiate his retirement from the military,” she said.
“Traumatic brain-injured patients and families need time to adjust to the reality of their situations,” she aid. “It is unfair to quickly begin the retirement process for individuals with such an unknown and unpredictable injury, especially when retirement limits care options.”
Ellie
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 27, 2007 16:17:17 EDT
Two wounded combat veterans and the mother of a third told a Senate committee Tuesday that the Department of Veterans Affairs seems ill-equipped to care for both older veterans and the new wave of younger vets coming out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Army National Guard Maj. Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs in Iraq when her helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, told the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee that the VA does a lot of things well, like care for spinal cord injuries and rehabilitation for the blind, but its prosthetics programs are not state-of-the-art and seem more geared toward older veterans concerned about a little walking and driving — not young, mobile veterans ready to climb mountains or run marathons.
Now the head of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Duckworth said the VA is “simply not ready” for these younger veterans and it is “too late” in the wars for the agency to catch up because the gaps in the knowledge of VA workers is too wide. She proposed that all new amputees be treated either at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington or in the private sector.
Innovations in prosthetics arrive “almost monthly,” while the VA is several years behind, she said. The state-of-art limbs she wears could not be adjusted or repaired by the Hines VA Hospital, the facility near Chicago that she uses, because they lack knowledge and expertise on those types of prosthetics, she said.
Duckworth was the lead witness at a hearing called to discuss problems for combat-wounded veterans who transfer between the military and veterans’ medical systems.
Another witness, Army Capt. Jonathan Pruden, whose right leg was amputated as a result of wounds he received in Baghdad in 2003, said he agreed with Duckworth’s recommendation. Pruden said he has “been asked at least a dozen times if I lost my leg to diabetes or vascular disease,” which is where the VA seems to have expertise.
“VA practitioners have become specialists in geriatrics and have little experience with blast injuries and young patients,” Pruden said. Most of the patients are 50 or older, he said, leaving the doctors unprepared for “a new wave of veterans with different needs.”
Pruden, who said he has been active in helping other veterans seek treatment, described one particular problem facing combat-wounded service members: getting clear, accurate and timely information. He said he has filled out a post-deployment health assessment form at least five times, but the form continues to be lost. In other instances, forms have omitted the fact his has an amputated leg.
Like Duckworth, Pruden sees the current VA system as too geared toward the older veterans, at the expense of young combat veterans. For example, he thinks that new and seriously wounded veterans should be assigned to the most experienced primary case managers, but their help often isn’t available.
“Too often it seems the veterans who have been in the system a long time know who the best physicians are,” he said, and they book all of the appointments with those doctors, leaving newer veterans — who could have more “complex and challenging medical issues” — to see the least experienced doctors or nurse practitioners.
Also testifying at the hearing was Denise Mettie, the mother of retired Army Spc. Evan Mettie, a combat-wounded Iraq veteran who received serious head injuries. Mettie spoke of problems coordinating care between the Army and VA, including the fact that her son’s medical records did not accompany him when he was transferred to a veterans’ hospital in Seattle.
Mettie faced a number of problems, some still unresolved, in getting treatment and rehabilitation for her son’s brain injury. But one of the things that has most bothered her is the rush that the Army seemed to be in to medically retire her son.
“Before Evan came out of his coma, and just 17 days after his injury, we were approached about his medical boards, the process that would initiate his retirement from the military,” she said.
“Traumatic brain-injured patients and families need time to adjust to the reality of their situations,” she aid. “It is unfair to quickly begin the retirement process for individuals with such an unknown and unpredictable injury, especially when retirement limits care options.”
Ellie