Deborah Grassman''s training and the work of Opus Dei are powerful and helped me have a better understanding of the needs of veterans at end of life. I know how little I can really understand, as a civilian. The military have their own cultures and customs (based on branch of service) that an outsider can observe but not understand. Not all vets want or need VA support, but it is specialized and should be available to any veteran who wants it. Privatizing VA care will work for big healthcare business investors, but not for the patients.
6
@mary My care from the Vermont VA facilities is excellent. No need to privatize.
This is very nice of them. Now work on helping veterans before they're near death.
https://www.ajc.com/news/reckoning-atlanta-hospital-after-years-problems/Y6NLfXQf2N2sGpQ75rnGeM/
6
I'm a 78 year old Vietnam vet who was stationed at the DaNang airbase where Agent Orange was stored and loaded and offloaded aircraft. Over many months of living in a tent and breathing the air and drinking the water, I'm fairly confident I had exposure to Agent Orange. In any event, Congress decided that any service, even one day, in RVN or adjacent waters would be deemed sufficient to presume exposure to Agent Orange. In any event, I started receiving VA health care benefits at age 77 at the Milwaukee VA medical center and have found the care and the personnel there to be terrific. I hadn't thought of palliative and hospice care from the VA until I read this article. Thanks for publishing it.
36
@Chuck Clausen I was stationed on a hill outside the airbase and then in town as a member of MACV -- one of my work colleagues got me to enroll in the VA healthcare system years ago -- I got to say, the care I get in the local facility and the White River Hospital is excellent. The staff, nurses, and doctors really do care about us -- welcome home brother.
That only 10% of the vets at the VA hospices have outside visitors breaks my heart.
Praise to the VA hospice workers who are filling that gap.
39
@Maura3
Many people choose hospice care at home. My guess here is that people who choose hospice care in a facility are those less likely to have family so it's likely not a representation of how many veterans have family at the end of their life but how many who choose facility based care (a minority) have family around. Vietnam veterans have their lives disrupted in their young adulthood. They may not have married or their marriages may not have gone well. They may have cut family out of their lives. My uncle was drafted and when my aunt gently suggested he seek help for his PTSD he cut the entire family off for decades. Many of these people, through no fault of their own, are very damaged and could not sustain healthy relationships for large portions of their lives. Fortunately, my uncle has started talking to his family again now that he's in his later years. I feel for those young people who had no choice when their number came up and then had to deal with their actions, often with minimal support or understanding.
16
@Maura3 I don’t think we should generalize too broadly much based on Dr. Saint’s comment, and I’m not sure it’s quoted correctly. JJ’s comments are spot-on, but I work in a different VA, and far more than 10% of our hospice patients have visitors. Also, I think this paragraph might need a reexamination to be sure it correctly states the comparison Dr. Saint intended to make.
Overall, though, I’m really glad to see this article.
8
My husband was exposed to Agent Orange in Viet Nam. He now has Parkinson's disease with severe dementia. The VA scheduled an examination to determine if he qualifies for additional benefits.
He was rejected because he was scheduled for an examination in Nevada. My son handles the paperwork from a Nevada address. My husband never had a Nevada address So we must wait a very long time to get this examination done.
8
@dr parodneck Hoping perhaps your note here will help this need for examination come much sooner. Your husband deserves the best of care.
4
“ Vietnam veterans “were often spit on in the streets,” said Dr. Scott Shreve”
Can we please put this myth to bed?
14
@Bucketomeat It is not a myth. This happened to my immediate family members.
11
@Bucketomeat Not a myth, while reading here my husband described having this experience when he came home.
9
@Bucketomeat Please see NYT article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/13/opinion/myth-spitting-vietnam-protester.html
4
I am happy to learn that the veteran chose the VA to go and die. But this veteran has fought with the VA for 50 years and the last place I want to die is anywhere near them.
6
This is an important article. I hope is is widely read and shared.
12
They want to be at the VA most come daily to talk to us nurses so they schedule one appointment a day to visit. This is why the opening of VAcare has consequences that the public does not realize. Do you think a private health clinic is going to have social workers and mental healthcare providers on call for Veterans in crisis like we do every day all day. I bet not, then what Will theVeteran do? so much money is being fee based outside. These insurance companies are after this money make no mistake.
19
@Calleen Mayer Thanks for "your" service and dedication.
5
@Calleen Mayer
I agree with you. My father received some of his care from a VA hospital; I went with him a couple of times, and found that there was a lot of camaraderie there, which he appreciated. There are/were some problems, but there is no way that a private, for profit, company is going to be attuned to the needs of vets in the same way.
7