Not Sure If This Is The Right Place

[Steppenwolf]

Oh, okay, I got it now.

Dallas VAMC is bad, bad, bad.

All their employees are bad, bad, bad.

I hate the treatment I get there.

Everything sucks.

I suck.

We all suck.

They suck.

Vaccum. 29" of mercury.

A really SUCKEY situation.

I'm beginning to see the "light" and the "light" is very, very dark.

I'm in lockstep with ya on this.

bad, very bad

must remember.....bad, bad, bad.

B)

LJ,

Since i've never been to the Dallas VAMC i have no first hand experience. But in my experience it doesn't matter which VAMC that i have been to all have become episodes of MASH. But without going into details and experiences from the ones i have gone to i do see a few patterns that could use some improvement.

So for instance, the VAMC in Palm Beach ( Riviera Beach to be exact ) has a toll free number on it RX bottle. You can call from anywhere, at least in the lower 48 and maybe more but i can't say first hand. So if there are refills to be had all i have to do is call and follow the automated prompts and soon my medications are at my door. NJ did not have a toll free number but the number they provided asked for the same information to verify that it was you and that the RX you were asking for could be refilled. NC has a toll free number but it does not take calls from out of state numbers, informs you of that and hangs up. The only other number is the main number at the Durham MC and the only option is to speak with pharmacy. After 15 to 30 mins the nausiating information that gets repeated over and over turns to a different message to leave your name, number and last 4 and they'll call you back but don't say when. Remember you're calling in because your meds are about to run out and there is at times a delay before they are actually mailed.

So ten days later i finally hook up with a VA pharmasist who asks the same questions that the automated program does but instaed of having the freedom to call the automated line any time of the day or night and not have to wait to speak to a person who in the end asks more questions than the automated system, slows the whole process down. i ask the pharmasist if there is a toll number that i can call to input my information; she says no: you have to call during business hours and if a recording goes on leave your information and we'll get back to you.

In a landscape littered with train wrecks, forclosures, seriously injured warriors, etc, this doesn't seem important enough to get the attention it needs to fix it. No one needs to re-invent the wheel here. All that needs to be done is follow the lead of Florida or NJ. Either works very well and fixes something that doesn't serve the best interests of the VETs who need their meds when they need them.

The patient advocate got pissy with me bring up another VA's ability to handel this problem. His solution is to shoot me down for being ungrateful and a chronic complainer. But give me a break. This is a simple fix why bust MY balls about it? He tells me to write a letter to the director and send it to the PA office so they can bring it to him?????

i make a choice to go to pharmacy. Their machine that feeds you a number is broken and you have to ask those standing in different lines which line is for what. i get to the lady in her little cubicle, i'm polite and curteous because she doesn't deserve and hostility that croped up after seeing the PA. i ask her for an automated number to use instead of the toll free. She tells me that there is no such number. She appologizes for all the hassle and wait, then proceeds to tell me that at the end of the day when she's ready to go home someone hands her a note with a list of names and numbers to call. She tells me that it may have been her who left the message to call back to the same line that keeps you on hold for 20 mins then asks you to leave your name and lasdt four etc. She shrugs her head toward the offices behind the wall telling me to go to the last door on the right and ask for her boss. He answers the door and i tell him the same story that i've been telling for days now. i ask him what's so hard about changing this system. He tells me that "the system" is large and sometimes even they do not know who has the powers and abilities far beyond those mortal men and the VA Machine.

i speak with this man for 30 minutes. Finally he hands me a printed information flier on the VAMC pharmacy in Durham. On it are all of the numbers that i have and know. But wait, he pulls out a pen and writes a toll number that is not on the list and he tells me that THIS number works just like the toll free number.

So why is it not on the flier, on my RX bottle, on my appointment sheets?

Is it unfair to ask? Is it too small to talk about because someone got excellent care there?

No. But in the eyes of those who work for the VA even my PA there are more important things to complain about.

Sorry that it's seen that way. What different does it make as long as something that is broken can be fixed.

So now i have this special number that maybe no one else has; it reminds me of the specail number that i had for Pepe's pizza in New Haven. Call the number that i have an you're guranteed to have someone pick up and take your order. Special number that everyone who has a cell phone with an out of state phone number should have. One that should be on the RX bottle.

Much ado about nothing? Maybe Maybe not.

[Steppenwolf]

Wow, and of course as long as I can I will avoid the VAMC

Avoid? That's all that i have. Thought maybe i could reason with them.

My Dad who was a POW told me that the Germans often put glass in the brown bread. " Either you eat it and hope you can spit out the shardes or you starved."

i'm spitting out the glass not starving

[Steppenwolf]

Avoid? That's all that i have. Thought maybe i could reason with them.

My Dad who was a POW told me that the Germans often put glass in the brown bread. " Either you eat it and hope you can spit out the shardes or you starved."

i'm spitting out the glass not starving

Yesterday i spoke with a service officer from a new veterans service organization who is very familiar with and a member of hadit.com He refers new veterans to the organization and encourages them to tell their stories which in the end are about the Veterans Administrations failure to HELP veterans as promised. But put aside the so called "promise" because to this day i honestly do not know "the real story" if you know what i mean about "the promise".

However, in any civil society it's simpley: "the right thing to do": take care of those who put their life on the line when they take their oath to serve their country. We agreed that there are indeed sucess stories that deserve to be told. And if the VA did an outstanding job in every department of the system then hadit.com wouldn't exist. That might be considered "bitter/sweet" but the sweet part would be that we would have no need to vent and tell stories that are disgraceful of the agency that was created to care for US.

The bitter part would be losing touch with people who have become family once again. But it's absolutely seeable to have another virtual space to meet, to talk about anything and everything that veterans want to talk about but not how horrible the VA is; there should be sucess stories, lots of them, all of them! Why not?

Imagine the image "we the people: America" would honestly project in the mind of the world at large including "our enemies" whoever they maybe ( remember the "....foreign and domestic." part of the oath? ) if it was well known that the US Government was benevolent to those who served, not "The VA" per se' because when a company in the corporate world or a company in the military world is so good overall there is little need to point out that it was R&D that "made them" although CEO's seem to get a lot of the credit good or bad; in the end it's the company. In this story the company is The USA.

Once upon a time not so long ago people from all over the world wanted to come to our country wanted to be part of it and were willing to learn the language and follow the laws and rules all " for it's streets of GOLD " but not anymore. Now they want to come here to fly planes into our buildings and break any rule or law that serves their personal selfish needs...but in the end they come here for the rights that you and i fought for in whatever "conflict" "war" or "skirmish". What happened?

There is no need to answer that question now because the more important thing to see is that our IMAGE in the world has not benefited us THE USA very well. How easy would it be to deliver a powerful blow to the solar plexus of that bad image that whether you like it or not is there and follows you (US) around like stink on you know what. This country can simply "do the right thing": take good care of those protectors and warriors who defended the "constitution" those words that have defined us ( US ) since July 4th 1776 ( 1778/9 ) If they made those kind of changes, changes as big or bigger than congress is asking of "The Big 3" HA! to make, if they changed the job discription of those people that they absolutely need to keep it running as smoothly as The Enterprise on Pulse Power.....if they fired all the employees that they now hire to investigate investigations, to remand and delay, to pay people to prolong benefits ( not something a benevolent government would do ) to deny beneifits, and horor of horrors to give departments bonuses for the highest number of rejections each month, if in this point of time in the history of The USA when every white collar criminal, graduate of a prestigous university that's been allowed to work with a diplomatic like immunity, if the Governement somehow came to it's senses and realized how much bang for the buck they would get if the had an "AH HA moment" and said today in an unexpected announcement: " We are overhalling the VA system and everyone who has ever served who has been denied benefits " We're going to "bail them out" because there is NO ONE, NO COMPANY, NO INDUSTRY more deserving than the men and women who have served this country proudly."

Tell me that that image wouldn't go a long long way in the hearts and mind of a country that could use a shot of GREAT NEWS!

Can you think of anything that would go so far for so little?

Do you think someone who can leak this suggestion to the powers that be now reads hadit? HA!

[carlie]

I feel it is important to remember, be aware of and keep in mind that,

all of the positive and all of the negative service's provided by the VA

are also provided in the private sector.

It's not just the VAMC's knocking on veteran's, it's the entire medical system.

jmho,

carlie

[MikeR]

Carlie, I will agree that there are bad Doc's everywhere. My dad uses the VA as they are all he has, but so far knock on wood I have Blue Cross so I will use it as I can Doctor shop in Network. Does that mean I should not second guess my doctor? Always second guess a doctor unless you are certain that they are right. I have a friend who is a Veterinarian/Surgeon and her take on Doctors of all types is that there are quacks among us and we don't tell anyone else because no one wants to be sued.

[carlie]

MikeR,

I did not post anything that has to do with second guessing a doctor.

I myself have gotten 2nd and/or 3rd opinions.

My point is -- it's not just VA that patients are having problems with,

it's just as prevalent in the private sector.

Many patients on BC/BS also get doc's that can't speak English worth

a hoot, etc...lol.

I am like your Dad, VA is what I have, and even though I had to file an

1151 claim, I'm still glad to have the VAMC and I would be lost

without it and the RX's they provide - I do admit there are many, many problems

but I am still glad to have it.

jmho,

carlie