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VETS AND VICTIMS --

Editorial from the Waco Tribune.

 

 

Story here... http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/
content/news/opinion/stories/2007/
03/04/03042007waceditorial.html

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Editorial: Vets and victims

The scandal involving neglect at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, with Friday’s resignation of Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey, almost sounds too familiar.

It is the result of one more instance in which veterans medical care has taken the back seat to all else our federal government does, including sending people off to be maimed and wounded in battle.

Did we say close to home? Absolutely.

Major concerns were raised two years ago about the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Temple.

They came wrapped in irony. At the time, VA regional officials were seeking to shut down the Waco VA hospital and shift its operations to Temple. Revelations in an ABC News report indicated overcrowding in Temple, and an over-taxed staff. And the VA wanted it to assume more obligations?

In the case of Walter Reed, general neglect and rundown conditions at one unit for discharged patients were cited by a Washington Post report. It obviously hit home.

The Army set out to whitewash the situation — literally — whitewash as in paint, and plaster to plug in holes in walls and in areas where water had dripped through, plus triage in decrepit bathing facilities.

Why did it take the Washington Post?

The controversy over Walter Reed brings to mind an issue that should bear on the Waco VA hospital and efforts to enhance services. Once discharged from treatment, where do veterans go?

The vast Waco VA campus, with its immense space for domiciliary purposes, would be a great place to provide transitional living for disabled veterans, particularly those who have been here for treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder — PTSD.

The Waco VA just got good news in a $3 million allocation for a PTSD study involving it, Fort Hood, the Temple VA, Texas A&M and Baylor University.

Let’s hope the money isn’t dispersed so dramatically that the Waco VA doesn’t get the lion’s share. After all, for 20 years it has been at the front lines of treating veterans with PTSD.

So much else could be done on the Waco campus if policymakers and the VA will let it happen. For instance, Waco sorely needs a 24-hour processing center for the mentally ill when they have flare-ups. The Waco campus would be ideal.

The nation needs treatment for a whole new breed of PTSD sufferers, women returning from war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Waco, again, is ideal for that mission.

As this nation braces for untold numbers of war wounded, it should be ramping up and fortifying the infrastructure to help them. It’s no time for whitewashing and no time for downsizing. It’s time for enhancing with more than a new coat of paint.

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Larry Scott  --