Montana Veterans Speaking; VA Hasn't Listened

UPDATE
Looks like Jon Tester is expecting veterans to forget about how long all of this has been going on when "he was watching" before.

Jon Tester: All eyes on the Veterans Affairs

We’re all asking a lot from the Veterans Affairs right now. And we should be.

After all, a lot was asked of Montana veterans like Jim Kerr, who served our country bravely on a Navy river patrol boat during Vietnam. Jim and all Montana veterans deserve access to quality, timely care at the VA. Anything less is unacceptable.

But unfortunately, the VA has been falling short.

Last summer, after reports surfaced about veterans not getting the care they earned, I traveled across Montana asking them what I could do to address their problems.

Veterans gave me some great ideas, and I went back to Washington to draft and help pass a VA reform bill that improves the care veterans like Jim receive.

The VA is now implementing many of those reforms, while at the same time trying to meet the needs of those who have returned home from war.

There is a lot of pressure on the department right now and it continues to grow as folks return home from the Middle East with injuries both seen and unseen. And with some calling for more U.S. troops on the ground to fight ISIS, pressure on the VA may rise even higher.

VA Montana is having its own issues, as the eight-month search for a permanent director continues and Fort Harrison struggles to keep medical professionals from leaving.

Last week, Acting VA Montana Director Johnny Ginnity told me that there aren’t enough staff to keep a wing of Fort Harrison’s mental health facility open. Veterans in immediate need of care will have to look elsewhere.

That’s completely unacceptable.

The VA was falling short before he was sent to the Senate and not much has changed since then. What makes it "unacceptable" still after all these years?

MISSOULIAN EDITORIAL: Veterans are speaking; VA isn't listening
The Missoulian
February 15, 2015

Once again, veterans are the victims of bureaucratic machinations beyond their control.

Montana veterans continue to face unacceptable obstacles to health care services. It is a national disgrace that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the agency responsible for ensuring our veterans receive the care they so undeniably deserve, is oftentimes to blame.

This is painfully apparent in Montana, which has one of the highest rates of veterans per capita in the nation.

Consider:

The Montana Veterans Administration facilities at Billings, Fort Harrison and Great Falls were among the 110 centers - out of 1,700 sites - flagged for followup audits after a federal audit last year revealed unacceptably long wait times for medical appointments.

Facilities across the state continue to be understaffed and under-equipped for the number of veterans they serve. The clinic in Missoula, in particular, is woefully inadequate and overdue for expansion.

Montana VA does not employ a single certified medical examiner, whose certification is necessary for veterans to obtain a commercial driver's license.

A new VA Montana director still has not been named. One was supposed to be selected by the end of 2014. Incredibly, this past week brought even more bad news.

Starting at the end of this month, Missoula veterans who reside at two assisted-living centers that have canceled contracts with the Montana VA will have to find some other way to pay for their housing and care – or some other place to live.

At the same time, VA Montana is "temporarily" closing its eight-bed acute care mental health unit in Helena because of "chronic workforce shortages." The shortage apparently came about after two mental health providers retired and a third resigned to take a different job. It speaks volumes that the VA has been chronically unable to hire and retain a sufficient number of workers to provide essential health services.

It's just one more sign that the VA isn't getting the message.

Missoulian editorial board: Publisher Mark Heintzelman, Editor Sherry Devlin, Opinion Editor Tyler Christensen.
read more here

From Senator Tester's Site

HIGH-RISK REPORT UNDERSCORES URGENCY OF TESTER’S ACTIONS

Not the first time he brought the VA to Montana to answer questions.

2007

Mental health treatment for Montana vets lags behind nation
Statistics contradict praise of mental health programs Mental health treatment for Montana vets lags behind nation
By CHRIS ADAMS
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, took officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs to an auditorium at the Montana State University-College of Technology campus in Great Falls last summer to talk about the best way to provide health care to veterans in the region's vast rural areas.

The director of the VA region that includes Montana, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming detailed all that the agency was doing to provide for veterans' health needs — physical and mental.

"Comprehensive mental-health care is one of the top priorities for Network 19," Glen Grippen said, referring to the multi-state Rocky Mountain region. He said that mental health staff had been added recently, specifically for treating post-traumatic stress disorder.

Each medical center now has a suicide prevention coordinator, he said, and the VA's medical centers "actively collaborate with state National Guard and Reserve components to ensure that no returning soldier slips through the cracks."

2008

Senator Tester, fix Montana's VA problem sooner
Tester, VA chief hear from veterans
Agency chief says help is on way; senator, vets tell of inadequate services
By TOM LUTEY
Of The Gazette Staff

Limited by staff and space, veterans' health care services in Montana fall short, said U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who brought U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake to Billings to meet with local veterans.

"What I'm getting at is the staff and the square footage is a big issue," Tester said Wednesday.

"That's not just here. It's the same in Great Falls and other places."

Tester and Peake got a firsthand look at the tight cramped quarters of the Veterans Affairs Primary Care Center in Billings. Roughly a decade old, the facility at 2345 King Ave. W. is no longer big enough to accommodate services for Billings-area veterans. Plans to relocate to a larger facility are in the works, but the VA Primary Care Center is also short on staff members.

Veterans speaking to Tester and Peake said phone calls to the VA Primary Care Center sometimes go unanswered for half an hour. Getting in to see a counselor about war-related stress can take days.

There's a debate about how many claims will still be made by veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The Bush administration estimates that 33,690 new veterans will enter the system, but the majority of staff for the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, on which Tester serves, expects 200,000 claims by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

If the committee is correct, the president's budgeted amount for new claims could leave funding short for about 150,000 veterans.

And the topper was from 2011

Montana VA stresses suicide prevention without a full time psychiatrist?
Montana VA stresses suicide prevention, awareness
Posted: Sep 8, 2011 4:48 PM by Melissa Anderson (Helena)

This is Suicide Prevention Week, and the suicide rate among veterans is reported to be two times higher than the civilian population.

Registered nurse Kellie LaFave of the Montana VA in Helena explained, "Veterans are at greater risk because they're exposed to such extremes and where they do their service. They may be injured physically or emotionally. They may be suffering from traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress syndrome. "

That's why the VA has stressed mental health as a key priority in its healthcare system.

The VA Montana system recently added the 24,000 square foot mental health facility that will house up to 24 veterans.

The PTSD program, which opened in July, is set up in six week outpatient sessions.

While the VA awaits hiring a full time psychiatrist, they are not taking inpatients at this time. However, veterans can still be referred.