Veterans Affairs Makes Elderly Vet Wait 5 Months For Wheelchair
One 80-year-old veteran is still waiting 5 months after being measured for a wheelchair at Hampton VA in Virginia.
When asked what upset Arthur and Elaine DeAngelis the most, it wasn’t the lack of wheelchair. Instead, the couple is upset about the poor communication from VA about the chair and when it should be ready.
ELDERLY VET WHEELCHAIR DEBACLE
Arthur called Hampton VA repeatedly for the chair and received a runaround. Once the press began sniffing around, VA gave numerous confusing responses including its typical, “VA is so huge, sorry we messed up one little case,” dismissive response.
Robert Clayborn, the head of prosthetics there, was cited by Task and Purpose as stating, paraphrased:
“According to VA data, the prosthetic clinic sees about 100 patients daily and issued nearly 164,000 items during fiscal 2016. That included 226 motorized wheelchairs, 215 custom manual wheelchairs and 314 standard chairs.”
According to Task and Purpose:
After The Virginian-Pilot inquired about the delay in late September, Elaine DeAngelis said VA officials called to say they could expect the chair by sometime this week. She said she received another call from the prosthetics clinic that indicated the chair had been delivered in July. What was actually delivered was a foam insert for the chair, she said.
Veterans Affairs officials declined to talk specifically about the DeAngelises’ case, citing privacy concerns, but called theirs an isolated incident.
Wait times can vary for items depending on patients’ needs, and some wheelchairs may be provided the same day, said Dr. Therese Drew, Hampton VA’s chief of rehabilitation and medicine.
Robert Clayborn, chief of prosthetics at the Hampton VA, said a typical wait for a custom-fitted wheelchair is six to 12 weeks.
Clayborn responded that had it been brought to his attention, he would have done things differently. “Had it been brought to my attention earlier, we would have acted on it,” he said. “Again, this is not typical of the way we do business here.”
Not typical? The only thing typical about what VA does is it fails to fix problems while instead dismissing or minimizing the issues when the press gets involved.
Source: https://taskandpurpose.com/veteran-waiting-5-months-va-get-wheelchair/
I am still waiting for my orthotics about 3 years.
Another great article from Luke Rosiak at the Daily Caller published today titled: “Transparency Advocate Calls VA Secrecy A ‘National Embarrassment’
Read more: “https://dailycaller.com/2016/10/06/transparency-advocate-calls-va-secretary-a-national-embarrassment/”
Another disturbing article “Omaha VA changes policy after transgender veterans leaves treatment”,
It is now multiple choice for transgenders on selection of what bathroom they want to use within the VA system. Of course if you are a veteran that doesn’t want some he/she/it in the same bathroom as you then you are out of luck.
The he/she/its choice overrides that of almost all veterans.
All because of one he/she/it.
“https://www.ketv.com/news/omaha-va-changes-policy-after-transgender-veterans-leaves-treatment/41994648”
One more Disturbing article to close out the night.
“Whistleblowers cleared in Pennsylvania VA investigation”
The VA in all it’s infinitesimal wisdom has decided not to punish several whistle blowers after the media got involved. Although the article says the whistle blowers will no longer be punished it doesn’t say anything about what they blew the whistle on.
“https://www.commdiginews.com/news-2/whistleblowers-cleared-in-pennsylvania-va-investigation-72146/ “
All these refugees are getting great goodies &benefits… The veterans get broken canes, have to wait for a wheelchair when there should have been hardly any wait time at all. Wonder when the next body bag is gonna burst. Thanks a lot.
Just a Heads Up to anyone that may have been used in the VAs current research on Hep C.
As Namnibor has pointed earlier in todays comments there is a problem with the new Hep C drug. Also I would like to point out to all Veterans that the problem concerns all currently approved treatments of Hep C authorized by the VA involving all the drugs in current use.
For more Information View the CDC fact Sheet on the drugs.
Titled:
“FDA Drug Safety Communication: FDA warns about the risk of hepatitis B reactivating in some patients treated with direct-acting antivirals for hepatitis C”
A PDF copy can be obtained at:
“https://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/UCM523499.pdf”
As the information in the FDA warning indicates that “they identified 24 cases of HBV reactivation reported to FDA1 and from the published literature in HCV/HBV co-infected patients treated with DAAs during the 31 months from November 22, 2013 to July 18, 2016.2-7
This number includes only cases submitted to FDA, so there are likely additional cases about which we are unaware. Of the cases reported, two patients died and one required a liver transplant.
HBV reactivation was not reported as an adverse event in the clinical trials submitted for the DAA approvals because patients with HBV co-infection were excluded from the trials. The trials excluded these patients in order to specifically evaluate the safety of DAAs, including their effects on the liver, in patients infected with only HCV and without the presence of another virus which affects the liver.”
As the FDA points out they only reviewed the 24 cases that had been reported. With the way the VA is geared we all know that if the patient didn’t survive the treatment their death is not going to be reported. Because that would make the VA liable for claims under Title 38 U.S.C. Section 1151.
One question with the overflowing morgue at Hines that they cannot keep up with. How many of the Veterans who died at Hines had been used in the current Veterans Administrations Hep-C experiment?
A couple years ago I went to the VA because I needed a cane. I’m a short guy so the guy had to cut one for me. I noticed it was cracked and I said I think this is cracked. He said no it just looks that way. As soon as I put weight on it it cracked and I fell over , he said be careful there, those aren’t all that steady . He cut me another one , it lasted four days . I truly dislike the VA .
You folks just don’t understand, the VA employees pay for those items from their bonuses.
My brother is service connected for his back, unsteady on his feet and falls down a lot. I told him to ask for an electric wheel chair, he said he did and the PA told him, well willie those are hard to get ?
Why is it so hard to get, when employees get $$$$$$$$ each year for not doing their job !
oh I forgot he’s a disabled veteran, so its to much ?
I bet they hope he falls and hits his head and dies !
way to go VA, Veterans last !
Absolutely right Ben. Minimizing, weaseling, lying, touting statistics that might make them look good.
I’m shocked they didn’t use the old VA standby that wheel chairs are their top priority. Or that prosthetics are their top priority.
Clearly based on the number of contacts this couple had with the VA, communications, telling the truth and doing their damn jobs is not a top priority at all. Or even a priority.
The local Chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Zia 18, does locate and provide wheelchairs to Veterans in need. They are a great bunch of people at the Chapter, so maybe if he checks with the PVA near him they may be able to help.
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”
~George Orwell~
^THAT should be every Whistleblower’s Motto going forward. Marching orders. It’s going to possibly take a ‘revolutionary act’ ….again….to steer the V.A. Titanic back to iceberg-free waters. She needs to seriously lighten the load so we need the next VA Secretary to be a Leatherneck Hardcore Marine with a penchant for kicking bureaucratic asses, abolish the AGFE or ANY Union relationship going forward with the VA. Watch the rats flood the surface tension of the water as the V.A. Titanic steams away without them.
Then toss them a wheelchair as a floatation device. 🙂
Nam, It WILL take a revolution! The truth is powerful to those who will listen. To those who will not listen the truth should be delivered at a higher rate of speed. About 3200FPS should do it.
Now that the veteran went to the press, I can assure you that his troubles with VA have only begun. I have zero doubt of this. There will not be anything done for him that will not represent a hassle. This is without any doubt.
Right. When he finally does receive the long-promised wheelchair, it will have cross-country skis attached instead of wheels because they took the wheel chair from some now-deceased AFGE retiree right out of his condo in Tahoe.
That will only be the start, then the head games. Next wheel chair will come in additional 5 months and it will indeed have the VA OIG promised ‘wheels’ but instead of rubber tires, an AFGE relative that’s a welder thought it would make great VA Halloween Art by welding barbed-wire to the metal of the wheelchair wheels in an effort to show the daily struggles of Veterans confined to VA wheelchairs…only the beginning of VA Psycho Pscho Hippos games. 🙂
Related: I recall here locally, in Columbus last year a Veteran had been waiting on the VA and VSO group for a long-promised and supposedly paid for wheelchair ramp to the Veteran’s home and guess who fulfilled that for the Vet? Local Church Groups and Youth came together and did what the VA and VSO’s could not…all donated materials by Loews and time and labor by local tax payers. Sad.
Our local VAMC also in past year had a scandal with their prosthetics dept where out of the 5 VA employees in office only -1- was actually trained/educated/certified in Prosthetics and that -1- person was NOT the Prosthetic’s Dept. Chief…he was eventually allowed to leave the VA but not before YEARS had gone by with Veterans having seriously painful fitting issues and just plain not fitting prosthetics, made the news, and took the daylight disinfectant to get the VA to do the right thing.
Systemic.
You don’t even have to go to press – Voicing an opinion is All it take’s.
So, the VA can blow $300,000.+ on two unusable VA robots but the VA cannot acquire wheelchairs in a timely manner? What, is the VA simply “recycling wheelchairs” by waiting for a number of the 22 Vets to die each day from suicide that just happen to also have wheelchairs, to reissue those wheelchairs? Yeah, I was being flippant there but WHY is everything akin to pulling teeth with tweezers with the VA? Why?
How long would it take for ANY VA AFGE Employee to acquire a new wheelchair under their healthcare benefits? Bet it’s lightening fast and I bet the “gov’t. property sticker” is peeled-off and instead of a Vet getting a chair, some employee’s elder/sick relative receives the Vet’s wheelchair? Nope, would not surprise me one bit.
Off Topic but you all should know and I sent this to Ben as well:
I thought you would find this article interesting. My private infectious
disease, foremost researcher in her field, had told me much earlier this year
that she had her “issues” with that new Hep C “cure” because she said unlike
“proper clinical trials”, the VHA seemingly was able to circumnavigate many of
the established checks and balances in order to get this new expensive drug out
and because I happen to be Hep B positive thanks to the USAF screwing-up
royally, my infectious disease Dr. told me that had I been Hep C positive as
well as Hep B, she would NOT recommend this new drug…for the very question
that’s now out in the public with this news release. Apparently, Dr. Shitnazi
(formerly VHA) did NOT thoroughly “test” this nasty little side effect…it has
been now found and warned by FDA that this new Hep C drug has been found to
activate dormant Hep B Virus is patients coinfected…just what my private Dr.
warned me about, so the VA and Dr. Shinazi took a few “short cuts” in using Vets
as test subjects and this is a story to potentially watch and wanted to have a
heads-up and maybe a FOIA requesting the entire “VA clinical trials” with this
drug might prove to be enlightening, or not.
“The Cure For Hepatitis C May Come With Hidden Risks: FDA” “”https://www.msn.com/e
n-us/health/medical/the-cure-for-hepatitis-c-may-come-with-hidden-risks-fda/ar-B
Bx328G?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=AARDHP””
I’ve commented here before about this, but when I had knee replacement surgery at the VA 2 years ago, my wife had to go around the hospital to find a wheel chair so I could leave. She found one and parked it outside my door until I was ready. A few minutes later when she went to get it, someone else had taken it.
She tried to find another for about a half hour, couldn’t find one and went to the nurses station because my nurse had disappeared about 3 hours before. About 45 minutes later, this nurse wheels in some kind of heavy duty cart for heavy people, with no leg or arm supports. I could not bend my leg. I get wheeled out to my car after propping a pillow behind my leg. Painful as hell when you can’t bend your leg, and the VA refuses to provide a knee brace.
Every follow up appointment was a joy trying to find a wheel chair of any kind, and when I raised hell about it with the Director, I was told veterans were to blame for taking or breaking the wheel chairs.
Not a one of those wheel chairs I found had a leg support if a veteran needed their leg supported in a straight position.
Why is it, when ‘outside persons’ start asking questions over VA’s incompetent actions on a veteran, they always bring up the “privacy concern” statement?
What’s so “private” about a veteran NOT receiving something which would make his/her lifestyle better?
I can’t wait until someone with “integrity” becomes the leader of VA. So all these scandals are a thing of the past!
____________
91Veteran
I’ve been ‘clicking” on those two boxes at the bottom, after I’ve written something. So far I’ve not received a “notification” of new comments!
(IDK, but it could be because the United Nations is now “in charge” of the internet!)
_____________
BTW, the wife and I will be on the road this morning, around 10 am, to head north west.
Probably go up into southeast Alabama. I know of some good motels. Plus places to eat.
Got everything “buttoned up” and ready to ‘weather the storm’!
Just hope it doesn’t do too much damage to others on the coastline!
Last night, South Carolina had a “mandatory coastal evacuation”, as did many of the ” coastal counties” here in Florida!
I remember the last few hurricanes that hit Florida. It wasn’t a fun time. Many people lost everything.
FEMA was a pathetic government agency. Only the wealthy received any aid! I, myself, had to attain an attorney. Thank GOD he did it “pro bono”!
Well, that’s all for this morning. We’ll write some more later today!!!!!!
Crazy elf,
There is no person that can fix VA through leadership. A leader can only lead effectively if he has the loyalty of those he leads. VA employees owe their loyalty to the brotherhood of the AFGE. No employee alone would dare to believe they could defy union leadership in favor of official VA leadership if the decision came down to it.
Disobeying an appointed leader has consequences vastly more desirable than disobeying the brotherhood. VA employees owe their allegiance to somebody other than The People yet are insulated from The People in a way our founders never envisioned. The greed of men, the AFGE, has become the pipe through which veteran services must now flow and they control the valve.
Safe travels to you and the missus Elf.
The VA cites privacy, as if they are not the largest violator of privacy of any health care system, because it allows them to completely dodge any allegations against them.
They can then cite their bullshit statistics and claim the statistics are their top priority.
As for the emails, I have gotten the notice to subscribe to the comments. I will have to see if any notices come in for new comments. I did get a notice last night when Seymore commented on an old post, so it might be page related.
God speed Elf
Hey, y’all. We made it to Thomasville, Georgia. We’re in a little motel. Our little “Katie”, (Shihtzu/Poodle mix), is having the time of her life! Loves sticking her head out the car’s window, while sitting on “Kat’s” lap lol.
Thanks y’all, for the concern!