Waiting too long for help from VA

Waiting too long for help from VA
The Virginian-Pilot
© July 25, 2011
Veterans diagnosed with mental health problems also have to cope with dangerously long delays in getting the care they deserve from Veterans Affairs facilities.

That problem is not new. More than 202,000 veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have been seen at VA facilities for potential cases of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Nevertheless, stories of long waits for treatment remain legion, as was clear at a Senate committee hearing earlier this month.

It's perhaps no coincidence that the VA monitors how long it takes for a vet to receive his first appointment but doesn't keep track of how long a vet has to wait for treatment.

As past wars have taught the nation, the number of returning soldiers suffering from mental illness will never be truly known. Some psychiatric problems take years to manifest. Others are buried beneath drugs or drink. Still other mental health problems lead veterans onto the streets and society's margins.

The best opportunity to reach mentally injured veterans comes in the military's own system and in the days, weeks and months following a soldier's rotation back home.

That's not happening enough in the VA system, several veterans told the senators.
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Waiting too long for help from VA