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VA HOSPITALS PLAGUED BY LONG WAITS AND LOW
STAFFING -- One federal report after another
points
to gaps, delays and problems.
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TREATING VETERANS
Hospitals plagued by long waits, low staffing
By Laura Ungar
lungar@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
One federal report after another points to gaps, delays and problems
with treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder -- even as military
and veterans hospitals bolster their programs for the mental illness.
The military's mental health efforts "fall significantly short," and
lack enough money and staff, according to a preliminary report released
this month by a Department of Defense task force.
Getting seen for PTSD can take weeks at Veterans Affairs facilities,
said an internal review by the VA inspector general's office released
this month.
Only about a third of facilities examined said patients are seen by
mental health professionals the same day. The wait at other VA
operations can be a week to almost two months.
Some veterans wait up to 90 days for follow-up appointments for PTSD,
said a Government Accountability Office report, which also predicted the
VA would have trouble meeting the future demand for services.
Dr. James Bland, a psychiatrist from Lebanon, Ky., said he once called
officials at Fort Knox's Ireland Army Hospital about a recently returned
soldier with severe PTSD who needed to be hospitalized. Officials told
Bland they don't offer inpatient PTSD care, he said, then referred his
patient to an area psychiatric hospital that had no beds available.
Hospital officials said such occurrences are rare, since they have
agreements with numerous psychiatric centers. But Bland said even one
instance could end in suicide.
"This is a very serious illness," he said. "It kills people."
Military and VA officials said they are taking new steps to help.
Antonette Zeiss, deputy chief of mental health for the VA, said her
department has increased mental health spending from $2.4 billion last
year to a projected $2.8 billion this year. At the Veterans Affairs
Medical Center in Louisville, the post-traumatic clinical team increased
its staff from two in 2002 to 4.5 today.
Maj. Gen. Elder Granger, deputy director of the federal agency that
administers the health care plan for the military, said officials also
are adding resources to ensure returning soldiers get the mental health
care they need. Ireland hospital, for example, started a PTSD support
group in January for soldiers who have served in Iraq. The group meets
several times a week and draws about six to eight people at a time.
Col. Susan Rogers, Ireland's behavioral health chief, said she is
passionate about getting as many veterans as possible into treatment. "I
want to stand on a bridge and say, 'Guys, come on. Get help,' " she
said.
Before being diagnosed with PTSD last spring, Bob Wolz of Rineyville,
Ky., an Army veteran who served in the Gulf and Iraq wars, found his
memories made him irritable, unable to concentrate and sleepless. "I
couldn't fall asleep … because I thought I would never wake up. And if I
fell asleep, I would scare myself awake," said Wolz, whose war
experiences were compounded by the deaths of his son and younger brother
at home.
Wolz began getting treatment through the Louisville VA, where his
therapist once showed him a picture of a bus full of monsters and told
him that his goal was to get from the back of the bus to the driver's
seat.
Slowly, he said, "I'm getting toward the front of the bus."
Reporter Laura Ungar can be reached at (502) 582-7190.
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Larry Scott --
