Monday, November 12, 2007

Americas Embarrasment !!

As this war continues, it is time for people to know what is really going on
with our veterans.
You are not hearing it on Fox News or for that matter on most of the other news shows, accept maybe Keith Olberman's Count Down.

You may have seen the latest photo op, GW standing and laughing
next to a burn victim from this war.

You may not have realized it was a privately funded Hosp.
I doubt if you will see him anytime soon at Walter Reed.

I borrowed this from
rosie.com

I am not changing a word.




a brave woman speaks

Posted by ro on November 11th at 4:14pm in in the news

Keep speaking the truth Ro. Civilians have ZERO idea what its really like. Walter Reed? I’ve been there. Its mold covered and they’re drastically understaffed. Prescriptions Line? It takes hours. Active Duty gets to go first, but there are usually hundreds of veterans waiting in line waiting. Veterans who gave their lives and some their sight, hearing, body for this country don’t get to get their pain medication in a timely period? What is wrong with this system. It’s not just Walter Reed, I’ve been to every military hospital in the DC area now, since we’re stationed at Andrews AFB. Malcolm Grow, Bolling, and Walter Reed. All are drastically understaffed and the prescription situation is the same. It takes weeks to get an appointment. They say to call just a couple days before the start of the month to fight for an appointment that month. What if you’re sick? Well you can try calling early in the morning but if its urgent make a trip to the ER where you get to wait with a bunch of other sick people for hours. My son, who is one, was bleeding from the head and we weren’t seen for 3 hours. 3 hours! You want to know what we see on a daily basis? Med buses medivac sick wounded soldiers from the flight line at andrews afb to walter reed. Those buses are generally filled and during the week I see at least 2 a day. AT LEAST! Thousands of men are coming home wounded and all we hear about are the dead. Yes, we need to honor the dead, but people need to know how many are hurt and what their care is like. I’ve seen those rooms at Walter Reed. We stayed in one. It looks like a time capsule. Metal beds, slates of metal as mirrors, bathrooms so old the pipes creak whenever you turn on the water, mold, grit. Its not clean. It doesn’t smell like other hospitals, that clean sanitized smell. It’s sick! It’s sick. For those veterans who need care after, and for us military families there are wonderful signs on the door of the family care offices. They read “one issue per appointment please”. That’s right. Those people who fight for this country and us families left behind can only bring up one issue per appointment. If more then one make another appointment which is IMPOSSIBLE to get. Our hospitals are out of date and our doctors are deployed. I see veterans every day at the commissary and the BX on the base where we live. I’ve seen men burned so badly they’re unrecognizable as human. I’ve seen men who recently found themselves blind. I’ve seen families whose husbands gave their lives who can’t get a doctors appointment for a sick child and sit in the ER for hours. It is not right. Sure, we get “free” health care, but look at the price. This is a disgrace. Please keep speaking out Ro, no one else will. We can’t have a voice or we risk the consequences. We need a voice. That man they call our president sits by and does nothing visiting privately funded hospitals. He gets to have all his appointments at National Naval Medical Center; which is REALLY nice, but impossible for the underlings to get into. I don’t think he waits months for an appointment, hours for prescriptions, can only talk about one issue per appointment, and gets medical care in these conditions. That’s whats wrong with this country.

1 comment:

alan said...

Sadly, from some pieces that NPR did a while back, when a vet or their family finally speaks up all of a sudden that one case gets resolved, but nothing gets done for the thousands of others.

People don't realize they are going to be seeing the veteran's of this war for the next 70 years or so; it will be much like the "Civil" War in that respect. Amputees and burn victims by the score, along with all of those with injuries that don't show.

They speak of how wonderful it is that they are saving soldiers who would have died even 5 years ago from the same injuries yet they refuse to take care of them when they come home...

It's truly a frightening shame!

alan