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V.A . hospital
elubsme
Member Posts: 2,324 ✭✭✭✭
Jeeze, I went to the V.A. hospital last Wednesday for a routine check up. They called me. What a house of horrors. Old men in walkers, wheel chairs, mostly alone, no wife or son (daughter) to help them along. How sad. I am not well off by any means, but at least my family cares, wife accompanies me everywhere, & I her. She just whipped breast cancer in January. I had open heart surgery 9 years ago, retired 6 months ago. We are both 66. Our daughter is career Air Force, Lt. Col. I have the highest reguards for the V.A. hospital in Reno Nevada. They treated me with respect & humanity. Thank the Lord I am not in the same category as a lot of the veterans we saw. Lost souls, walking dead We sent a check to DAV when we got home. DAV gave our post a van several years ago to transport our men to Reno. Give them a few bucks when you can. There but for the grace of God go I. Eddie
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I went to visit an old retired Staff Sergeant who was in the Seattle VA hospital about thirty years ago. I had worked with and for him in the NAM and at Camp Pendleton. He was from NC, and he loved to fish and go frog giggin'...and we did a lot of both in Southern California. Anyway, the last time we visited with one another he was wearing his hospital gown and enjoying a cigarette while sitting with me on a park bench out in front of the hospital.
Then I had another good buddy whom I suspect died in a VA hospital in the Phillipines. He was a retired Master Chief Petty Officer at the time, and he was laid up there with what must have been a diabetic problem in one of his feet. This was mentioned in a letter he had sent to the wife and I about fifteen or twenty years back. I had worked with and for him in Italy. He retired from the Navy after thirty-three years, and became the director of the southern half of California DAV arm. In fact, he was one of the players on the ground floor of getting the DAV started.
I sure do miss these two old buddies of mine, Vernon and Johnny. Johnny was from Douglas, Texas. But that's another story that needs telling someday.
Thanks for the post. I'll send the DAV a check...they deserve it.
I have been in VA hospital several time for surgery, and they have been very good to me also, 100% disabled. dont let them send you to Renound,they tried to kill me there, won't every go back. The Dr.& staff are very kind, but you do have to wait, they are very busy. If not for them I don't know where I would be.
She was looking into local Nursing Homes and was very disturbed about the conditions. I rather off handed commented to her that she should look into the Military Retirement Center in Retsil Wa.
Her and Nancy visited it and got all the info. She was thrilled at the Attitude, Dedication and Compassion she witnessed while there. The facility was Outstanding comparred to most of the Nursing Homes she visited. She was able to place him there without the usual remorse associated with those situations. They kept her informed and up to date on him between her visits. By the third month there he didn't know who she was or where he was, but He sure liked this place. [:)]
My wife's best friends Dad went downhill fast after her Mother died. He sorta hung on to care for her. He more or less had the same attitude about his responsibility to her as he had, that earned him his Chief's Rank in the Navy.
She was looking into local Nursing Homes and was very disturbed about the conditions. I rather off handed commented to her that she should look into the Military Retirement Center in Retsil Wa.
Her and Nancy visited it and got all the info. She was thrilled at the Attitude, Dedication and Compassion she witnessed while there. The facility was Outstanding comparred to most of the Nursing Homes she visited. She was able to place him there without the usual remorse associated with those situations. They kept her informed and up to date on him between her visits. By the third month there he didn't know who she was or where he was, but He sure liked this place. [:)]
Nothing to look forward to, is it? I watched two uncles go that way, both Army vets. Sad Ed
Jeeze, I went to the V.A. hospital last Wednesday for a routine check up. They called me. What a house of horrors. Old men in walkers, wheel chairs, mostly alone, no wife or son (daughter) to help them along. How sad. I am not well off by any means, but at least my family cares, wife accompanies me everywhere, & I her. She just whipped breast cancer in January. I had open heart surgery 9 years ago, retired 6 months ago. We are both 66. Our daughter is career Air Force, Lt. Col. I have the highest reguards for the V.A. hospital in Reno Nevada. They treated me with respect & humanity. Thank the Lord I am not in the same category as a lot of the veterans we saw. Lost souls, walking dead We sent a check to DAV when we got home. DAV gave our post a van several years ago to transport our men to Reno. Give them a few bucks when you can. There but for the grace of God go I. Eddie
I'm 100% service connected and I would to discuss your mention of wives, brothers, girl friends and anybody else that accompanies their vet to the clinics at VAMC"s.
What relatives don't understand is that there's limited seating space available at each clinic and the seat you're sitting could be used for a vet that has an appt.
I go to the VAMC in Ann Arbor, Michigan and EVERY time I go each and every seat is occupied. Think about it, if every vet has 2 people with him then 2 more seats will be filled. Waiting can be done in your cars. Be considerate of the other vets that are there for treatment.
I remember a veteran's wife who dropped him off for an appointment in the morning at the front entrance and then left to do some shopping. Unfortunately her veteran husband had Alzheimers disease and the particular clinic he was supposed to go to kept paging him all day. He never did meet his appointment and VA Police found him walking the halls where he'd been all day-late in the afternoon. I guess his wife came later and picked him up, I dunno. But she should have remained with him and seen as a minimum that he got to his appointment before she marched off to shop. But there's a lot more where she came from.
I remember a veteran's wife who dropped him off for an appointment in the morning at the front entrance and then left to do some shopping. Unfortunately her veteran husband had Alzheimers disease and the particular clinic he was supposed to go to kept paging him all day. He never did meet his appointment and VA Police found him walking the halls where he'd been all day late in the afternoon.