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TAMMY DUCKWORTH KNOWS FIRSTHAND ABOUT
PROBLEMS AT THE VA -- As a wounded veteran,
she was scared off.
Tammy Duckworth
Story here...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/
nationworld/chi-0704090020apr09,1,4083
876.story?coll=chi-newsnationw
orld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Story below:
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Duckworth knows Hines' ills
Injured vet says she was 'scared off'
Judith Graham
When Tammy Duckworth toured Hines VA Hospital in Maywood in late 2005,
she had no desire to return.
At the prosthetics laboratory, staff asked to touch the state-of-the-art
artificial legs Duckworth had received at Walter Reed Army Medical
Center after a double amputation. Until then, they had seen only
pictures.
In physical therapy, a worker gasped when Duckworth walked in with a
cane. "If we can get our single-leg amputees to get up and go to the
cafeteria, that's an accomplishment," she explained.
"And here I was talking about learning to run again," said Duckworth,
who lost both legs after her helicopter was attacked in Iraq. "I have to
tell you, that first visit scared me off."
It's a challenging time for the VA, which finds itself responsible for
the largest generation of wounded veterans since Vietnam, many with
complex injuries that would have been fatal in previous wars.
These young soldiers are entirely unlike the VA's typical patients: men
past their prime, with chronic conditions like diabetes and heart
disease, beginning to suffer the disabilities that accompany age.
Sgt. Joel Gomez of Wheaton, who became a paraplegic after his Bradley
Fighting Vehicle fell into the Tigris River in Iraq, puts it bluntly:
"Hines isn't prepared for the younger soldiers. They're used to the
older guys who lie around and don't complain because they're glad they
have someplace to go."
"Your 20-year-old who's lost everything and is lying there paralyzed . .
. isn't the same kind of person," said Gomez, a Hines patient in 2004
and 2005.
Such patients can't even surf the Web at the hospital; there is no
access.
Officials say they recognize issues with younger soldiers and are
working to respond. Training for staff in the latest prosthetic
technologies and treatments for brain injuries has been extensive over
the last year and a half, said spokeswoman Maureen Dyman.
Recognizing that younger vets may not want to discuss emotional problems
with decades-older Vietnam vets, Hines is running special counseling
programs for younger soldiers.
Last year, Hines was named a regional VA center of excellence for "polytrauma,"
one of 21 nationwide. A team of doctors, nurses, therapists,
psychologists and caseworkers coordinates care for these patients
returning from war. A 2-year-old spinal cord unit offers the latest
technologies.
"I really think the people at Hines have been trying hard to catch up,"
said Duckworth, now director of the state Department of Veterans'
Affairs. "But why are we at a point more than four years into this war
when the VA is playing catch-up?"
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Larry Scott --
