Printer Friendly Page
VETERANS FIND DELAY AND DENIAL AT PORTLAND
VA FACILITY -- They're hurting and medical help
can be desperately hard to get.
Story here...
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/
oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/
1175657111232970.xml&coll=7
Story below:
---------------
Veterans find delay and denial
They're hurting and medical help can be
desperately hard to get, vets and families say
JULIE SULLIVAN AND MARK LARABEE
The Oregonian
Wayne Backlund, shot in the face near Fallujah, Iraq, returned to
Hillsboro in 2004 to face terrible headaches, hearing loss and another
fight: medical coverage for his family.
After three years of wrestling with the Department of Veterans Affairs
-- and three denials -- the disabled infantryman arranged to intercept
Democratic U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden during a Tuesday tour at the Portland VA
Medical Center. Overnight, the VA granted Backlund's claim.
"Just knowing we were going to meet you got this fixed," Backlund told
Wyden. "It got resolved."
But behind Backlund, a vast and swelling number of veterans' needs
remain unmet, service members and their families told Wyden and Gov. Ted
Kulongoski at events around Portland. Among them:
The number of veterans seeking care at the Portland VA Medical Center
has jumped from 46,441 in 2003 to 56,136 in 2006, driven by the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan, the loss of private insurance, population growth
and the aging of Vietnam vets.
The Portland VA is so short of physicians, or the emergency room is so
congested, that as much as 75 percent of veterans rushed to the center
in ambulances must be diverted to other hospitals for care, sometimes at
additional cost. The hospital is trying to hire nine inpatient
physicians -- or nearly one-quarter of such specialists being recruited
by all Portland-area hospitals.
Exterior tiles on the nine-story Portland Medical Center leak. "We don't
have mold or rot in the walls, just some water damage," said Director
James Tuchschmidt. But replacing the tiles will cost $36 million and
will require congressional approval.
The VA, which advertises itself as a single integrated entity, is,
veterans said, a complex national bureaucracy with scattered offices,
backlogs and mounting communication problems between the benefits side
and the medical side.
In an annual congressional spring rite, members reach out to touch their
home base. Wyden is meeting veterans across the state before he returns
to his post with the Senate Budget Committee. But the war in Iraq has
delivered "a very loud wakeup call," Wyden said, because so many
veterans are surviving terrible wounds that will require expensive care
for years to come.
He spoke to four older veterans who receive all their care at the
Portland VA -- including a cancer patient and a man who'd received two
liver transplants. All told Wyden that the care and staff were
excellent. "I have no complaints whatsoever; I've been treated
superbly," said Lee Dunmyre of Salem, who is being treated for prostate
cancer.
Absence of access
The issue, many veterans and advocates agreed, isn't the medical
treatment -- the VA leads the nation in several areas of health care,
including reducing medication errors. The problem is how long it takes
to get treatment and have claims resolved. "They can't treat people with
money they don't have," said Jay Woodbury, a national service officer
with the Disabled American Veterans.
In the afternoon, Wyden and Kulongoski met at the Oregon National Guard
Armory in Tigard to hear about specific problems faced by Guard members
and their families. They heard similar complaints -- Guard members said
they had trouble getting health care for themselves and their families.
Several family members complained that TriWest Healthcare Alliance, the
medical-insurance program for Guard members and their families, pays so
little that many doctors refuse to accept it. Margaret Strong, whose
husband is serving in Afghanistan, said she had to drive to Portland to
see a dermatologist about her skin cancer because no Salem doctors
accepted TriWest. She said the system is so inundated that she once
called an 800 number from an emergency room to get authorization for
treatment and got a recording that told her to wait two hours.
Scott Celley, a TriWest vice president, said the company has made
"tremendous progress" in expanding its Oregon provider network, but said
the issue has been a moving target because of constantly growing demands
and requirements by Congress. Wyden said he thinks it's time for
Congress to "once and for all" reform the system so that Guard members
and their families have worry-free access to medical care.
Trek for treatment
Even active-duty Guard members have problems finding health care close
to home. In December 2006, Col. Robert Elliott broke his leg in
Afghanistan. After being treated at his home base in Georgia, he flew
home to Oregon and was ordered to drive three hours to Fort Lewis,
Wash., to get a new cast. When it came time to put on a walking cast, he
asked to go to Fort Lewis again but was ordered back to Georgia. He was
treated there, but had to wait there for 11 days while the Army
processed his paperwork, his wife, Donna, told Wyden.
Guard members also told Wyden and Kulongoski that they faced problems
making the transition from overseas deployments back to civilian life in
Oregon. Regular Army servicemen and women naturally continue their
connection to the military support system when they return home. But
Guard members return to full civilian status in about eight days once
they get to Oregon. In the rush to see their families, they often lose
or ignore information about future health care and job benefits.
The problem can be worse in Oregon, which lacks a permanent military
base. So more veterans fall through the cracks, said Ret. Col. Scott
McCrae. He said that the National Guard Bureau has proposed extending
the time Guard members are on active duty once they come home to 15
days.
McCrae did say that the Oregon Guard, in cooperation with state
agencies, has been aggressive in finding jobs for returning veterans.
Legislation holds hope
U.S. Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore., is hoping new legislation passed by
the House last week -- the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act -- would give
National Guard and Reserve soldiers returning from combat the option to
seek medical treatment closer to home. She said the act also would
improve access to quality medical care for wounded service members who
are military hospital outpatients, improve medical evaluations, cut
bureaucratic red tape and improve the transition of wounded service
members from the military to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Backlund, the infantry sergeant wounded in Iraq, probably would have
benefited from such reforms. During the Portland VA Medical Center tour,
he argued that the system needed fixing.
On June 25, 2003, rocket-propelled grenade shrapnel struck Backlund in
the face, destroying his upper teeth, damaging his jaw, disrupting his
memory and leaving him 100 percent disabled.
A Washington County Veterans Services Officer helped him get
vocational-rehabilitation training and a part-time work-study position.
But frustrated and enraged by the VA's treatment of his family -- at one
point the department mistook his wife for him -- he said he had to take
anti-depressants and rely on friends and co-workers to help cover
expenses. His children have not seen a dentist in four years, and he has
struggled to pay for prescription drugs for his wife, who suffers from
Crohn's disease.
The worst part, he said, was realizing others soldiers were in the same
situation.
"I'm not the only guy in the pond," he said. "I know there are hundreds
of men out there like me."
Mark Larabee: 503-294-7664,
marklarabee@news.oregonian.com Julie Sullivan: 503-221-8068,
juliesullivan@news.oregonian.com
---------------
Larry Scott --
