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DEPUTY SECRETARY MANSFIELD PRAISES VA'S

COMMITMENT TO CARE -- "Mental health is an issue that

we're paying a lot of attention to and working extra hard

and, I think, making some really good advancements in

treatment allowing us to take care of these individuals."

 

 

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Veteran Affairs official praises his agency's commitment to troops' care

By Ken Raymond
Staff Writer

 

A senior veteran affairs official renewed a pledge Thursday to support hiring more Hispanic workers and encourage opportunities for them to advance.

The statement came as part of a breakfast talk to the American GI Forum, a group for Hispanic veterans holding its 59th annual national conference this week at the Sheraton hotel in downtown Oklahoma City.

Gordon H. Mansfield, deputy secretary of veteran affairs, told a crowd of about 100 that he thinks the ratio of Hispanic workers in his agency should reflect the ratio of Hispanics in the military.

"If you have that same ratio, you've got a situation where you can have people getting what they've earned, understanding what the system is and getting the advancement that they need,” Mansfield said.

Mansfield has been mentioned as a possible successor to Veteran Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson, who resigned last month amid controversy about budget shortfalls and poor treatment of returning combat veterans.

‘To the front of the line'

Thursday, Mansfield addressed the issue of troops returning from war zones, particularly his agency's decision to give such veterans priority access to treatment and services.

"These wonderful VA employees are really, really, really working just as hard as can be to make sure they get people in, and get them seen and get the care that is needed. ... Our job is to do it, to make people well, to ... make sure that when they do get out of the service, they can go participate in civilian life and be successful and achieve the American dream,” he said. "That's a very important part.”

Later, he said: "It's not going to be somebody who ends up, three years down the road, a homeless veteran. So we move them to the front of the line.”

Treating brain injuries

Mansfield, a decorated Vietnam veteran who suffered a spinal cord injury in the 1968 Tet Offensive and uses a wheelchair, said post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, was the defining combat ailment of his generation. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have produced their own signature wound: traumatic brain injury.

While his agency is "the best in the world” at dealing with PTSD, he said, additional emphasis must be placed on treating brain damage. Many traumatic brain injuries go undiagnosed, not surfacing as a problem until months or years have passed.

"Mental health is an issue that we're paying a lot of attention to and working extra hard and, I think, making some really good advancements in treatment allowing us to take care of these individuals,” Mansfield said.

In the past 2½ years, he said, his agency has hired more than 3,000 mental health professionals.

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Larry Scott  --