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DONNA SHALALA SAYS VETERANS DESERVE MORE --
Commission member declares, "This war has cost
how much.
The aftermath of wars ought to get that same
level of investment."
Former Secretary Donna Shalala
For more about Donna Shalala and the Dole-Shalala
Commission, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=dole+shalala&op=ph
Story here...
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=288141
Story below:
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Shalala: Military veterans deserve more
By Laura Arenschield
Staff writer
RALEIGH — Health care and other benefits for veterans and service members
suffer because of bureaucracy, former Secretary of Health and Human
Services Donna Shalala said Monday in a speech at N.C. State University.
Shalala served in the Clinton administration and has been the president of
the University of Miami since 2001.
Shalala spent six months last year studying the care and benefits that
wounded soldiers receive after President Bush appointed her to co-chair a
bipartisan commission to investigate that care.
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Bush established the commission after a series of
articles in the Washington Post exposed problems at Walter Reed Army
Medical Center in Washington.
Shalala said Monday that what she and her co-chairman, retired Sen. Robert
Dole, found was that, generally, the in-patient care at military and
veterans hospitals is top-notch. It’s after the patients leave that
problems surface.
“(The system) is fragmented, unclear, difficult to use,” Shalala told the
crowd of about 700 at N.C. State’s Talley Student Center. “These hospitals
are clearly world class. Where it starts to fall apart is when you
actually leave your hospital bed.”
Patients’ stories
Shalala said she and Dole spoke to wounded service members and veterans
across the country and heard stories about lost records and mismanaged
care. The wounded service members were frustrated. So were their families.
“The stories were horrific about what happened after you left that
hospital bed,” Shalala said.
Dole and Shalala’s commission — the President’s Commission on Care for
America’s Returning Wounded Warriors — developed a list of recommendations
for the president and Congress.
Most importantly, Shalala said, it recommended that every severely wounded
service member have one person to represent them and manage their care and
benefits.
The commission also recommended that the leaders in Washington find a way
to link the various computer systems from the Army, Air Force, Marines and
Navy to the Department of Veterans Affairs so that records would be easier
to find.
The commission recommended that benefits for college education be
increased and that the military or VA create a single Web site where
service members and veterans could go to find information about benefits.
Costs of service
Shalala said many of the suggestions could be put in place by reworking
current systems. Some would cost more money.
But, she said, “This war has cost how much? The aftermath of wars ought to
get that same level of investment.”
Shalala answered questions from the audience, which included students and
faculty at N.C. State and some service members and veterans. They asked
about wounded service members in remote areas and how the VA or military
could reach them. They asked about what the military and VA could do to
support children and families of wounded service members. And they asked
about what they could do to help.
“Number one, thank every student on your campus who has served or who is a
member of ROTC,” she said. “And number two, register and vote. Put
pressure on all the candidates to make sure we do the right thing for the
people who have taken this great responsibility. ... This is a defining
election for the generation of people currently in college. ... And it
does make a difference when you vote in this country.”
Staff writer Laura Arenschield can be reached at
arenschieldl@fayobserver.com
or 486-3572.
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posted by Larry
Scott
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