Legion gives D.C. veterans a voice
Verna Jones, director of the Legion's Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Division, talks with a veteran at the town hall meeting Monday night at the Washington DC VA Medical Center. (Photo by Lucas Carter)

Legion gives D.C. veterans a voice

After several attempts, Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran Bill Ferguson finally was able to schedule an appointment to see his doctor at the Washington DC Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The appointment was made on April 24 – for June 14.

Ferguson – the senior vice commander for the Legion’s Department of Washington, D.C. – made it that long before seeing his doctor. But he’s worried about other veterans asked to wait that long to see a doctor. “If you were a suicidal veteran needing medication, what would you do?” Ferguson asked.

His comment was one of several made by D.C.-area veterans Monday night during an American Legion town hall meeting at the Washington D.C. VAMC (DC VAMC). Legion staff facilitated the meeting, which also was attended by several staff members from the DC VAMC and VA’s Capitol Health Care Network (VISN 5).

The meetings have coincided with American Legion Veterans Crisis Command Centers (VCCCs) set up throughout the country this summer and fall. American Legion Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Director Verna Jones said that more than 3,000 veterans have been helped at the VCCCs in 11 states, awarding nearly $900,000 in retroactive VA benefits compensation.

Starting this week in D.C., the centers will now be known as Veterans Outreach Centers (VOCs). “Veterans deserve quality treatment, and veterans deserve timely treatment, and that’s what we’ve been trying to do,” Jones said. “It’s important for us to advocate for those veterans on the highest level possible. The American Legion is committed to making sure that everybody gets the timely and quality service that they deserve.”

Ralph Bozella, chairman of the Legion’s VA&R Commission, said the town hall meetings and the VCCCs are part of a critical partnership between the Legion and VA to restore trust in the health-care system.

“Failure is not an option for anybody,” Bozella said. “The veterans of this country rely on the VA, the veterans of this country need the VA, and we want to do all that we can to ensure that.”

To do that, the Legion has been providing a venue for veterans to talk about their experiences with VA. At Monday’s town hall meeting, one veteran expressed frustration from “getting the run around. I'm in so much pain I'm about ready to jump out the window.” Another said that in a year and a half dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, he hasn’t been able to get any answers about possible disability compensation. Another said it took him two years just to get his medical records.

“I’m not getting proper treatment like I should,” added another veteran. “ We're not getting the respect we deserve for serving our country.”

But one veteran said that in using the DC VAMC for 10 years, he’s received very good service. He noted that with so many veterans to care for, long wait times are understandable.

Brian Hawkins, director of the DC VAMC, said he knows there are issues at the facility. “On an annual basis we have 1.2 million (patient) interactions,” he said. “Undoubtedly, something is going to happen where we need to get better and we need to improve. That’s why our partnership (with the Legion) is so very vital and very important: so that everyone has that great customer experience.”

Fernando Rivera – director of VA’s VISN 5, which includes health-care facilities in D.C., Maryland and West Virginia – urged veterans to sign up for My HealtheVet, VA’s online personal health record. But he said an electronic system isn’t a substitution for customer service.

“(An electronic system) doesn’t get around the fact we need to answer the phone,” Rivera said. “We’re coming up with new ways that veterans can access the information that they need when they need it: around their life on their terms. But we have to answer the phone, and we have to do a better job of answering the phone.

“It’s not an excuse that because we get 5,000 calls a day, some are just going to get missed. That’s not an excuse.”

Addressing Ferguson’s concerns regarding difficulty in getting mental health appointments, DC VAMC Chief of Staff Dr. Ross Fletcher said that wait times for mental health appointments “have been a little on the slow side,” but he expects those wait times to improve with increased staffing. “We expect those wait times to be as good as anywhere in the country in the very near future,” he said.

National Commander Mike Helm, who attended the meeting, said that it’s important to remember what VA has done not only for veterans, but in terms of medical research it’s conducted and then shared with the health-care community. “There have been people who have called for a voucher system to do away with the VA system,” he said. “Certainly we don’t believe that (and) the VA doesn’t believe that.”“

All of the veterans who spoke were urged to attend this week’s VOC. The center is open from noon-8 p.m. today at the DC VAMC in Conference Room 4-C. The center will be open from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday.