I worked at a VAMC. This doesn't surprise me in the least and when they started targeting active military I knew it was only a matter of time before they got to the vets. The whole place is full of wokies treating Patriots. What a set up. I knew a few good people there, but most were cruising to retirement on a government pension and could have cared less about the population they were there to serve. I do not think there was a week that went by where someone didn't piss me off due to their callousness and unwillingness to actually do their job. I was canned because I was rocking the boat and they didn't like it. I was never actually given a reason why but I knew I was singled out for being a patient advocate. I saw the handwriting on the wall when they stopped advising me about staff meetings. I was holding people accountable and that was unacceptable. I felt bad for the vets that were constantly having to fight that beast to get what they earned. The VA system were the true deplorables.
I always advised my patients that had other options to use them and leave the VA benefits for those that had no other place to go. Just because the right was earned, does not necessarily mean it should have been exercised. The strain on the system being utilized by those that could go elsewhere only meant there was less of the pie to go around for those men and women that did not have that luxury - which was usually the sickest of the vets. The bean counters were always looking for ways to cut services to meet financial targets and they had some pretty creative ways to make their books look good at the expense of the patients. The VA exists for the VA and not for the vets.
Thanks for that very informative rundown of how the VA operates.I'm Australian,
and we have a very similar set up in mismanagement for all Vets,especially the
younger Vets of Afghanistan and Iraq. It's a crying shame. We have lost more Vets
to suicide than active service, because they can't receive treatment for PTSD,
let alone other help they badly need from the VA.
Stay strong,fren. American Vets will need people like you when this current mess
is sorted out and we can return to something approaching normal.
Thank you for your kind words. I keep telling myself that at some point in the future my services will be required when this current system collapses and we can return to patient centered care focused on health instead of the behemoth Rockefeller big pharma insurance business model of disease maintenance we currently have. I have no doubt that other medical systems around the world are built using the same heartless model. Our medical systems in general, whether public or private, are designed to promote illness because they make money - whether that gain is translated into pure profit or, as in the case of government provided care, jobs. It always boils down to the money doesn't it.
Like many of the agencies of the Federal government, those bureaucracies only exist for themselves and whatever their original purpose in noble and worthy cause eventually becomes only an appearance of utility quagmired and squashed under its own weight. The very people these same agencies claim to serve and help often become victims of the system. Yes, I had vets that were suicidal not because of their war related disabilities, but often because of the battles they fought every day with the VA medical system. It was as if the system itself was designed to be so discouraging and difficult that the patient would just give up and possibly die before the government would provide the services that were promised. My years there left me wondering what their purpose really was other than to supply government workers with employment and pensions. The patients basically were only a means to an end and an excuse to claim a paycheck.
There are many vets that do receive decent care - but there are many that do not. Our vets earned certain obligations provided by the governments that they served - one being health care for the injuries they sustained serving their countries. It is shameful and unacceptable that they must continue fighting on the battlefield only with their own governments instead of on some distant land or sea.
I worked at a VAMC. This doesn't surprise me in the least and when they started targeting active military I knew it was only a matter of time before they got to the vets. The whole place is full of wokies treating Patriots. What a set up. I knew a few good people there, but most were cruising to retirement on a government pension and could have cared less about the population they were there to serve. I do not think there was a week that went by where someone didn't piss me off due to their callousness and unwillingness to actually do their job. I was canned because I was rocking the boat and they didn't like it. I was never actually given a reason why but I knew I was singled out for being a patient advocate. I saw the handwriting on the wall when they stopped advising me about staff meetings. I was holding people accountable and that was unacceptable. I felt bad for the vets that were constantly having to fight that beast to get what they earned. The VA system were the true deplorables.
I always advised my patients that had other options to use them and leave the VA benefits for those that had no other place to go. Just because the right was earned, does not necessarily mean it should have been exercised. The strain on the system being utilized by those that could go elsewhere only meant there was less of the pie to go around for those men and women that did not have that luxury - which was usually the sickest of the vets. The bean counters were always looking for ways to cut services to meet financial targets and they had some pretty creative ways to make their books look good at the expense of the patients. The VA exists for the VA and not for the vets.
Thanks for that very informative rundown of how the VA operates.I'm Australian, and we have a very similar set up in mismanagement for all Vets,especially the younger Vets of Afghanistan and Iraq. It's a crying shame. We have lost more Vets to suicide than active service, because they can't receive treatment for PTSD, let alone other help they badly need from the VA.
Stay strong,fren. American Vets will need people like you when this current mess is sorted out and we can return to something approaching normal.
Thank you for your kind words. I keep telling myself that at some point in the future my services will be required when this current system collapses and we can return to patient centered care focused on health instead of the behemoth Rockefeller big pharma insurance business model of disease maintenance we currently have. I have no doubt that other medical systems around the world are built using the same heartless model. Our medical systems in general, whether public or private, are designed to promote illness because they make money - whether that gain is translated into pure profit or, as in the case of government provided care, jobs. It always boils down to the money doesn't it.
Like many of the agencies of the Federal government, those bureaucracies only exist for themselves and whatever their original purpose in noble and worthy cause eventually becomes only an appearance of utility quagmired and squashed under its own weight. The very people these same agencies claim to serve and help often become victims of the system. Yes, I had vets that were suicidal not because of their war related disabilities, but often because of the battles they fought every day with the VA medical system. It was as if the system itself was designed to be so discouraging and difficult that the patient would just give up and possibly die before the government would provide the services that were promised. My years there left me wondering what their purpose really was other than to supply government workers with employment and pensions. The patients basically were only a means to an end and an excuse to claim a paycheck.
There are many vets that do receive decent care - but there are many that do not. Our vets earned certain obligations provided by the governments that they served - one being health care for the injuries they sustained serving their countries. It is shameful and unacceptable that they must continue fighting on the battlefield only with their own governments instead of on some distant land or sea.
As a person who has served at the "Sharp end"of Veteran care,your insightful knowledge of the system is greatly appreciated.
Stay strong,fren. There surely will come the time when people such as yourself will be appreciated for your dedication and sterling work.
Hang in there and fight the good fight. America needs you.