VA mental healthcare hit or miss

You would think that every veteran is treated the same way, have the same care, but they don't. While they leave every part of this nation to serve as a whole in the military, they return to every part of this nation with some states willing to step up and other states not giving a damn.

I stopped watching cable news because it seems all they want to talk about are politics and celebrities. I keep hearing some folks talk about the deficit. They don't want to "pass on our debt to our kids" as if that really means anything. None of them mention the debt we already owed to our grandparents, parents, siblings and children when they were willing to step up and risk their lives for this country.

It is appalling! I read their stories from all over the country while most people only get their news from cable. They have no idea what's going on or how much our veterans are suffering, waiting and wondering when they will matter enough for someone to notice and do something about it.

Here's a thought. Romney and Obama want the job of Commander-in-Chief. They want the veterans' votes. Military comes in at 88% in a poll on Stars and Stripes. (Politicians are 11%) How about the next time politicians are invited onto some of these news shows, they are actually asked questions that have to do with our military and veterans?

They get away with just saying they value veterans because the reporters don't have a clue what their record really is. It is how John McCain got away with voting against them for so long.

New law for mental health care hit-or-miss
Some counties doing OK; others face financial pinch
Jun. 15, 2012
Written by
TONY LEYS
CANTRIL, IA. — It’s hard to predict if the state’s attempt to reorganize its mental health care system will bring Danny Hughes the help he needs.

Once a month, he drives 45 minutes to a Veterans Affairs clinic in Ottumwa, where he can talk about the anxiety and depression caused by his Vietnam War service and deepened by the death of his wife, Victoria, last year. VA staff members there can also adjust the medicine he takes for post-traumatic stress disorder.

But he wants to see them more often, and he wishes there was a counselor he could call at night, when he hears the voices of his wife and his Army buddies hollering for help. Night is also when he catches himself pondering suicide.

“I’m having a heck of a time. I’m having a bad time of it,” said Hughes, 63. “If I had someone around here who I could call and get to them fairly quick … that would be awesome.”

The VA would pay for the Army veteran to seek assistance from a private counselor near his home — but there aren’t any. Cantril is in Van Buren County, a rural area without a single mental health provider. On most days, there are no psychiatrists, psychologists or mental health counselors of any stripe working in the southeast Iowa county.
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