Another Example Of Disrespect For Service & Veterans
Marine Corps Moms: Semper Fi Fund
This is the beginning of a letter written to solicit funds for the Semper Fi Fund and the Fisher House program in order to provide the families of injured combat soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines a place to stay during their family member's long-term care. In the case of Kenneth Sargent, Tonia's husband, the injuries included the loss of one eye and traumatic brain injury that has requirede over two years of ongoing therapy. During the time that Kenneth was undergoing rehab in a Naval Hospital, there were no facilities to allow his family to stay close to the hospital and provide moral support, encouragement and assistance with the rehab. Tonia Sargent had to seek out the assistance of a not-for-profit organization called Fisher House.
As things progressed, Kenneth was transferred to the closest VA hospital in Palo Alto (CA), but that too was a distance from the family home. Once Kenneth was transferred to the VA, most of the income of the family was lost and Tonia was occupied trying to assist in the rehab of her husband, advocate for his care and needs, and trying to make ends meet. Again, there were no facilities for the family members of our brave, heroic veterans who sacrificed their very well-being to saty while they were tending to the care of their loved ones. During this time, Sonia had to turn to another not-for-profit, the Semper Fi Fund, for assistance to meet the financial burdens.
In my view, it is a damn shame that injured service members have to worry that their families will not have a place to stay while they are being treated on active duty. While serving in the Navy and working with the Marines, I was always told that the Navy and Marine Corps was a "big family" and "we take care of our own." It turns out that that is as much a myth as the WMD in Iraq. Sure, they take care of their own for a short while, then they ship them off to the VA and are left to fend for themselves.
Don't get me started on the VA. The quality of care in the VA is dependent upon the following factors:
1) How many foreign-trained, foreign-speaking attending physicians are on staff. Many of the attending physicins within the VA are trained in places like Pakistan, Iran, India, Saudi Arabia, etc. The quality of training is often less than satisfactory, but enough to qualify for the license exam and the basic boards. But because the VA pays so poorly, most American-, British- or European-trained doctors cannot afford to work within that system... they would never be able to pay off medical school debts... and they can make a hell of a lot more as private practice physicians affiliated with several hospitals.
2) The number and quality of medical schools that provide residents and interns to actually do the work within the VA system. In Boston, Chicago, LA, and elsewhere the local universities with medical schools provide residents and interns... but seldom do the "cream of the crop" get assigned to the VA hospitals. On top of that, the rotation of these residents and interns is so rapid that the consistency of care is not there. In my own case, for treatment of kidney stones, I had six different residents assigned to my case within 3 months of care. The resident that did my initial workup was rotated out the week after I saw him. The next resident I met with re-interviewed me, failed to accurately record my medical history, and delayed my procedure by a month. I was next assigned to the chief resident who did a pre-operative workup, but by the time I was through the pre-operative process, he was no longer the chief resident and was off to graduation. So, I was assigned to another resident, my procedure was done with him being present in the OR, and I never saw him again. My follow-up visit was by another chief resident who mostly ignored me, read my chart, saw the conflicts in the history and stopped my pain meds because he did not believe I was in pain. My last VA resident assigned was this very petite and very pretty woman that was very professional, but none-the-less, she was quite beautiful and she was a urologist handling my genitalia to remove a stent. It proved to be an embarassing moment.
As you can see, the care actually suffers from the rotation of residents and interns.
3) The availability of funds. The VA has never been fully funded. Nor is the VA system a governmental priority. There have been numerous times over the years that veterans have been classified and re-classified in the same year. These classifications determine whether or not a veteran can receive care. Those that are suffering service-connected injuries or disabilities are given first priority. That is understandable. However, if the funding of the VA dries up because it is spent on the veternas on the first and second tier of classification, then other veterans are turned away, given sub-standard care or neglected by a process of attrition.
We keep hearing how the sacrifice and service of our military members is appreciated. We hear that our veterans are respected. But when we leave our vets and their families in the lurches, we are not respecting them, we are neglecting them.... and that, ladies and gents, is the ultimate in disrespect for their sacrifice, service, heroism, honor and bravery.
We should remember that everyone that has ever served on active duty is a hero. Every veteran, even those that served during "peace times" placed their lives on the line and sacrificed by their being "on watch." Every soldier, airmen, sailor and marine deserves to get the benefit of proper medical care while on active duty and once transferred to the VA... and having family close to help with the recovery and rehab is a standard of care... and not having to worry about the family bills is yet another standard of care.
My name is Tonia Sargent. I am the wife of a Marine injured in Iraq. My husband is 36 years old. He has been a Marine for 17 years. He had wanted to do 30 years of service.
My husband's dreams were altered on Aug. 5. He sustained a shrapnel injury to his head from an [improvised explosive device] explosion after volunteering for a mission in Iraq. The Marine Corps rushed me to his bedside at the National Naval Medical Center. We were supported at Bethesda by the Marine Liaison Office with the utmost respect and warmth.
This is the beginning of a letter written to solicit funds for the Semper Fi Fund and the Fisher House program in order to provide the families of injured combat soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines a place to stay during their family member's long-term care. In the case of Kenneth Sargent, Tonia's husband, the injuries included the loss of one eye and traumatic brain injury that has requirede over two years of ongoing therapy. During the time that Kenneth was undergoing rehab in a Naval Hospital, there were no facilities to allow his family to stay close to the hospital and provide moral support, encouragement and assistance with the rehab. Tonia Sargent had to seek out the assistance of a not-for-profit organization called Fisher House.
As things progressed, Kenneth was transferred to the closest VA hospital in Palo Alto (CA), but that too was a distance from the family home. Once Kenneth was transferred to the VA, most of the income of the family was lost and Tonia was occupied trying to assist in the rehab of her husband, advocate for his care and needs, and trying to make ends meet. Again, there were no facilities for the family members of our brave, heroic veterans who sacrificed their very well-being to saty while they were tending to the care of their loved ones. During this time, Sonia had to turn to another not-for-profit, the Semper Fi Fund, for assistance to meet the financial burdens.
In my view, it is a damn shame that injured service members have to worry that their families will not have a place to stay while they are being treated on active duty. While serving in the Navy and working with the Marines, I was always told that the Navy and Marine Corps was a "big family" and "we take care of our own." It turns out that that is as much a myth as the WMD in Iraq. Sure, they take care of their own for a short while, then they ship them off to the VA and are left to fend for themselves.
Don't get me started on the VA. The quality of care in the VA is dependent upon the following factors:
1) How many foreign-trained, foreign-speaking attending physicians are on staff. Many of the attending physicins within the VA are trained in places like Pakistan, Iran, India, Saudi Arabia, etc. The quality of training is often less than satisfactory, but enough to qualify for the license exam and the basic boards. But because the VA pays so poorly, most American-, British- or European-trained doctors cannot afford to work within that system... they would never be able to pay off medical school debts... and they can make a hell of a lot more as private practice physicians affiliated with several hospitals.
2) The number and quality of medical schools that provide residents and interns to actually do the work within the VA system. In Boston, Chicago, LA, and elsewhere the local universities with medical schools provide residents and interns... but seldom do the "cream of the crop" get assigned to the VA hospitals. On top of that, the rotation of these residents and interns is so rapid that the consistency of care is not there. In my own case, for treatment of kidney stones, I had six different residents assigned to my case within 3 months of care. The resident that did my initial workup was rotated out the week after I saw him. The next resident I met with re-interviewed me, failed to accurately record my medical history, and delayed my procedure by a month. I was next assigned to the chief resident who did a pre-operative workup, but by the time I was through the pre-operative process, he was no longer the chief resident and was off to graduation. So, I was assigned to another resident, my procedure was done with him being present in the OR, and I never saw him again. My follow-up visit was by another chief resident who mostly ignored me, read my chart, saw the conflicts in the history and stopped my pain meds because he did not believe I was in pain. My last VA resident assigned was this very petite and very pretty woman that was very professional, but none-the-less, she was quite beautiful and she was a urologist handling my genitalia to remove a stent. It proved to be an embarassing moment.
As you can see, the care actually suffers from the rotation of residents and interns.
3) The availability of funds. The VA has never been fully funded. Nor is the VA system a governmental priority. There have been numerous times over the years that veterans have been classified and re-classified in the same year. These classifications determine whether or not a veteran can receive care. Those that are suffering service-connected injuries or disabilities are given first priority. That is understandable. However, if the funding of the VA dries up because it is spent on the veternas on the first and second tier of classification, then other veterans are turned away, given sub-standard care or neglected by a process of attrition.
We keep hearing how the sacrifice and service of our military members is appreciated. We hear that our veterans are respected. But when we leave our vets and their families in the lurches, we are not respecting them, we are neglecting them.... and that, ladies and gents, is the ultimate in disrespect for their sacrifice, service, heroism, honor and bravery.
We should remember that everyone that has ever served on active duty is a hero. Every veteran, even those that served during "peace times" placed their lives on the line and sacrificed by their being "on watch." Every soldier, airmen, sailor and marine deserves to get the benefit of proper medical care while on active duty and once transferred to the VA... and having family close to help with the recovery and rehab is a standard of care... and not having to worry about the family bills is yet another standard of care.
posted by Jim Downey at 5:24 AM
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