yet another gripe with the Nashville VA

[Sailorsong]

I just got off the phone with the nurse for my PC at the VA. I had called Last Thursday about getting something so that I can hear my weather radio, smoke detector, when I am sleeping due to my service connected hearing loss.  The basic result is that my PC is refusing to put in a consult with the prosthetics department to see about getting the devices I need to keep me safe.

I tried to explain to the Nurse about the MS Veteran newsletter I had just gotten in the mail which said the VA has a home safety evaluation program which puts out grants for the Vets to get devices and modifications to their homes to make them safer. With my service connected hearing loss the grant is a maximum of $6800 to make my home safer. The nurses response to this was that the VA hospital doesn't have any such program.  What the?

Another thing that really ticked me off was that the nurse was asking me if I still smoked and if I smoked in bed. What difference does that make in judging if I should get devices to wake me up in case of a fire? Did I have to say that I smoked in bed in order to get the devices?

Dennis

[opie74]

Dennis,

My dad uses the VA.  I am an Air Force brat.  We get the same treatment down here in Mississippi when I take him out there.  Keesleer AFB hospital nearly killed me 2 times as a child.  This is why I am so affraid of a national health care system.  The TWO that we have, ARE NOT working.  Hang in theer and annoy them until they are crazy.

Sorry that you are having to go through so much.

[Sailorsong]

NO I don't smoke in bed. I have tried to get medications through the VA to help me quit smoking but again they are in contradiction with what the VA says in their literature. The only thing they will give me is those patches but I'm allergic to the glue they use on them and break out in a rash.

I really think they do this stuff in order to get the Vets to stop coming there for health care.  They are guaranteed jobs even if no Vets are coming there as the size of the staff is set by the number of Vets registered for health care not by how many are using it.

Another thing that burns me up about this VA is the sheer waste of money that could be used to help vets.

1) Every time I have an appointment at the VA they will mail me 3 or 4 notices about each appointment. I have even received 2 notices for the same appointment that were mailed on the same day,  And of course each appointment noticed is mailed in a separate envelope even when they are mailing them on the same day.

2) When I first started going the the VA in July 08 they had one of the court yards ( which no one uses) blocked off for remodeling. They opened the courtyard a few months later and then in April of 09 they closed it off again to remodel it again.

3) When Dave was getting released last Sunday from the hospital they gave him a green 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper with his name and stuff printed on it and was told to give it to a nurse at the nursing station so that they would know he had left the ward. I guess it is too much trouble for a nurse to check his name off on a list when he left? Besides the nurse had basically cheeked him out in the room when she gave him the sheet of paper.

I could go on but I think you can see my point.

Dennis

[Francyna]

I agree with you. It's none of her beeswax....what diffrence does it make? As long as ur responsible........however SMOKING IS STUPID/ just saying...lol

[Lulu54]

Here you go, again.  This VA system is so good at zapping your strength, isn't it?  Keep that article and take it with you on the next trip into the VA med center.  Make sure you make multiple copies of it and give it to every person who treats you and ask for their referral.  Don't take no for an answer.

As for the smoking, please tell me you don't smoke in bed.  Right?  I won't say a thing about smoking since I am an ex- but in bed is a different thing and I know you are not that silly.