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National Secretary’s REPORT
BY BARRY HAGGE
Before I jump into a more detailed report about our investigative
trip to Puerto Rico, I would like to urge our brothers and
sisters to join us for the upcoming Leadership Conference
and 30th Anniversary being celebrated at the Conference.
Many
have heard of the online National Secretary’s
Info Center and have asked how a chapter can gain access
to the information posted on the site. The answer is simple
and totally dependant on your State Council President and
Regional Director. We have asked the Regional Directors to
take a leadership role in this project and supply email addresses
of the chapters in their regions.
You ask: What is the Info
Center? It is a secure section of the VVA website where
information (sometimes more than you want) is posted as
it becomes available. You can read about the work of the
national committees, the latest on the efforts of the VI,
public relations info, and government affairs news at the
Info Center. Information is posted as it happens. You do
not need to wait for a mailing. All your chapter has to
do to get connected is to give your State Council president
your chapter email address.
PUERTO RICO VAMC & CEMETERY
Region 4 Director Carol E. Schetrompf and I recently traveled
to Puerto Rico to help form a new chapter and to review the
progress at the San Juan Medical Center and the status of
the National Cemetery.
Carol and I, along with Jorge Pedroza,
visited the VA Hospital in San Juan. Upon entering the
new section, which looked very beautiful decorated for
Christmas, we found it to be very nice and clean. Not many
people were in the lobby area. We found out that the clinics
are held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On those
days, patients are stacked three deep.
The waiting lines
for the pharmacy usually have over three hundred people
and have been known to have upwards of a thousand. When
we were shown the other areas of the hospital, we found
the conditions deplorable. The few waiting rooms are small
and cramped. Construction was being done, but we could not
find out what the construction was for.
At the mental health
area, we found that there is only a thirty-bed ward to take
care of all mental patients, including PTSD patients. There
were no separate rooms for female patients—all
are put in the one open ward. The case load for the psychologist
is three hundred patients, but she is only able to see about
ninety patients per month. One doctor, who asked not to be
identified, said that more staff is needed for the PTSD clinic
but that the “powers that be” are very slow to
staff the Mental Health Clinic.
The doctor told us that the
VA had started a new appointment system, that all the previous
appointments were thrown out, and that the computer-generated
system was pushing patient appointments back six months.
The doctor didn’t decide
on follow-ups, the computer did—and not satisfactorily.
Parking at the hospital is horrendous. If you have an appointment
at two o’clock, you had better get to the hospital
by 9: 00 a.m. to find a parking place.
There are three thousand
veterans in the Virgin Islands. They have only one small
clinic and must fly to Puerto Rico to visit the VA Hospital.
It is becoming more and more difficult for both the patients
and the hospital facilities.
From the VA Hospital, we went
to the National Cemetery. It’s
a beautiful location, but they will be out of room by 2016,
if not earlier. The VA is looking for more acreage, but to
date none has been found that would meet the VA requirements.
On
December 14, we met with the Puerto Rico State Council for
a question-and-answer session. We found that many veterans
who receive 100 percent disability ratings are afraid to
leave their homes for anything other than a doctor’s
appointment. They have been told that if they are seen out
of the house or shopping, their ratings could decrease. They
are also encouraged by VA hospital staff to “keep their
mouths shut.”
We laid a wreath at the Veterans Memorial,
and I offered a few words after the wreath laying. From there,
we all met for a lunch and continued talks with the members
of the State Council. Our Puerto Rico VVA members are very
proud of their island, and they have reason to be proud of
what they have accomplished.
Based on what we learned in Puerto
Rico, I have the following recommendations:
- Pressure must
be brought on the VA system to allow physicians to schedule
patients when they feel patients should be seen again.
- Quickly find additional land for the National Cemetery.
- Look into the VA clinic on the Virgin Islands and see
if it is adequate for the three thousand veterans who live
in the islands.
- The parking problem of the VA Hospital in San Juan needs
to be fixed. At present, there is talk of adding more parking
spaces, but it would come at the cost of taking away three
floors of in-patient wards. The patient wards are not adequate
now.
Our brothers and sisters on the island continue to carry
the torch of VVA. The fight continues.
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©2006-
2008, Vietnam Veterans of America. All Rights Reserved. 8605 Cameron
Street, Silver Spring, MD 20910