St. Louis Va Dental Disease Exposure

[gdsnide]

OK I received a letter from the St.Louis VA saying " I may have been exposed to Hepatitis B,Hep C & HIV

Letter said to come in & get a blood test if one wants & "Don't worry" as its no big deal problem as someone wasn't cleaning Dental Tools correcttly & you may have been exposed to these diseases

I was at the VA Hospital today & my Daughter called me & told me about the certified letter I had received & what it said

I had a blood test & they said they would have the results in about 2 weeks

Everyone very reassuring that its very unlikely anyone has anything so stay calm

Find article about this below Not sure what is going on but sounds rather serious to me....Was told I could file a claim or a tort claim on this but guess that depends on the blood tests

Also, we're to be retested in 6 months

Does anyone know if it's possible this stuff won't show up in a blood test & one still has it?.....GARY

Veterans receiving dental care may have been exposed to ...

Jun 29, 2010 ... (KMOV)-- More than 1800 veterans in the St. Louis area may have been exposed to potentially life threatening diseases at the John Cochran VA Hospital. ... The veterans administration is contacting veterans from Missouri ...

www.kmov.com/.../Veterans-receiving-dental-care-may-have-been-exposed-to-potentially-deadly-diseases-97431474.html - 2 hours ago

[Tbird]

well you know brother they use stock footage and i don't know where they get it, if they va provides it, well i think you know where that discussion goes. now this year they did move the dental clinic to a new floor and it is nicer, i've only been to that one once, the original dental clinic was not that uh, hmmm, what's the word, oh yes, sterile looking. i'm just saying it wasn't. i had some work done before they moved the clinic.

now, i must say that the folks who work at the clinic, the people who check you in and out have always been nice, one in particular and i wish i could remember her name was very nice and always made me feel a bit safer when i saw her there. the last time i saw her, i believe she was talking about retirement, she said it was time for her to go. hmmm, makes you kind of think, don't it?

U are correct Tbird. It Is not the JC or JB dental clinic. I have been to both. Don't u just love the media.

[Tbird]

it appears they knew about this a bit before they released it, now oddly enough, the information did not come out until the new dental clinic opened, hmmm. so the dental clinic where most of these procedures happened from what i understand, happened in the old clinic, which basically doesn't exist any more. so therefor if the press did actually go to the va dental clinic at john cochran va hospital, they would see the new clinic, which has a bright new shiny face. of course now folks, i'm just a broke down old veteran with a hell of a case of ptsd so perhaps it is just that nasty ptsd sticking it's head up and not related at all. as they say...just saying...

[Tbird]

again i want to stress, the vast majority of people who work for the VA hospitals are good hard working folks like the rest of us, veterans work there, and folks who for their own personal and deep felt reasons feel commitment to working with veterans. And, let's face it folks, some of us ain't no day at the beach, either.

so let's not make general statements that really hurt all the good people who work there. there are bad and good in all area's, if we object to the va and the general public for that matter generalizing all veterans in a negative light, then we simply can not do the same thing to them.

man, this is gonna be a rough few months, i can tell (i mean for me personally) i feel more like it's a very trying situation more than a life threatening situation, at least that's what i'm telling myself and praying for.

[gdsnide]

again i want to stress, the vast majority of people who work for the VA hospitals are good hard working folks like the rest of us, veterans work there, and folks who for their own personal and deep felt reasons feel commitment to working with veterans. And, let's face it folks, some of us ain't no day at the beach, either.

so let's not make general statements that really hurt all the good people who work there. there are bad and good in all area's, if we object to the va and the general public for that matter generalizing all veterans in a negative light, then we simply can not do the same thing to them.

man, this is gonna be a rough few months, i can tell (i mean for me personally) i feel more like it's a very trying situation more than a life threatening situation, at least that's what i'm telling myself and praying for.

I must admit I feel the same as U. I have never, yep I said 'never," had any bad experiences with any of the Docs or Dentists at the VA Hospital in St.Louis

I must admit some of the Docs that do the C & Ps can be rather trying but all one has to do is give them the right answers & be cordial & its not that bad

When my daughter called me & told me about that Registered Letter I didn't really think to much of it but as I read more about this happening it is beginning to be a real irritant

At first I thought if I have something I already have it so what can I do about it but then I find myself asking myself....Whoa Hang On... I didn't do nothing to get the mange. Probably,maybe,hopefully nothing will come of this but I still wonder why this story has spread across the entire US or maybe it was a slow news day

Suppose I'll wait & see like everyone else... Not like I have a choice

GARY

[Tbird]

it appears they knew about this a bit before they released it, now oddly enough, the information did not come out until the new dental clinic opened, hmmm. so the dental clinic where most of these procedures happened from what i understand, happened in the old clinic, which basically doesn't exist any more. so therefor if the press did actually go to the va dental clinic at john cochran va hospital, they would see the new clinic, which has a bright new shiny face. of course now folks, i'm just a broke down old veteran with a hell of a case of ptsd so perhaps it is just that nasty ptsd sticking it's head up and not related at all. as they say...just saying...

Ok, so maybe it's not my PTSD.

Ok, see if you are with me on this. The letters were received by veterans on June 29 2010, they knew about this in March 2010, but somehow they were unable and I quote "identify all "who were potentially at risk,", before the new dental clinic opened in May 2010. This seems like something worth taking a look at.

"The VA issued a statement Wednesday that said dental clinic at the hospital was shut down while an inspection was done and a newly renovated space already under construction during the period under question opened up in May. The St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center provides health care to more than 50,000 veterans a year." FoxNews http://tinyurl.com/2cymeh8

"The current situation came to light in a routine inspection. A spokeswoman for the department said that V.A. procedures called for instruments to be cleaned with a special detergent before being sterilized, but that the St. Louis center had failed to do so. Asked why the department waited three and a half months to notify veterans, the spokeswoman, Katie Roberts, said in a statement that it wanted to identify all "who were potentially at risk," adding, "V.A. is in the process of standardizing the standard operating procedures for the cleaning of all reusable medical equipment across the country." NYTimes http://www.nytimes.c.../us/01vets.html

What do you all think?

[Tbird]

Letter sent to Congressman Carnahan

Congressman Carnahan -

First, thank you for your service to our country.

Your time is valuable so I will get right to the point. I am a veteran that was notified by the John Cochran VA Hospital regarding possible infection/exposure to HIV or Hepatitis.

Well Mr. Carnahan I have a few things I'd like you to check out for me.

The letters were received by veterans on June 29 2010, they knew about this in March 2010, but somehow they were unable and I quote "identify all "who were potentially at risk,", before the new dental clinic opened in May 2010. This seems like something worth taking a look at. Now if you go to the Dental Clinic it's all bright and shiny new and even on a different floor.

"The VA issued a statement Wednesday that said dental clinic at the hospital was shut down while an inspection was done and a newly renovated space already under construction during the period under question opened up in May. The St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center provides health care to more than 50,000 veterans a year." FoxNews http://tinyurl.com/2cymeh8

"The current situation came to light in a routine inspection. A spokeswoman for the department said that V.A. procedures called for instruments to be cleaned with a special detergent before being sterilized, but that the St. Louis center had failed to do so. Asked why the department waited three and a half months to notify veterans, the spokeswoman, Katie Roberts, said in a statement that it wanted to identify all "who were potentially at risk," adding, "V.A. is in the process of standardizing the standard operating procedures for the cleaning of all reusable medical equipment across the country." NYTimes http://www.nytimes.c.../us/01vets.html

Full Disclosure: I am the founder of a website located at http://www.hadit.com and I have had a few things to say about this. So please do feel free to read it. http://www.hadit.com/forums/index.php?/topic/37361-st-louis-va-dental-disease-exposure/

I am a service connected disabled veteran Total and Permanent I have PTSD, Ihis has not helped, but I feel between you and Congressman Filner you will be able to get to the bottom of this. Thank you for your time and for looking out for us.

Tbird

Founder HadIt.com Veteran To Veteran LLC

Established Jan 20, 1997