[news]
The long wait Veterans in Montana wrestle with VA deficiencies by Alex Sakariassen
prompted him to give up on the VA entirely and instead seek relief by getting back in touch with his traditional Native roots. Monroe opted not to focus on his personal battles last week when he stood up in a room full of fellow veterans during a listening session with Sen. Jon Tester, recently named to a conference committee tasked with reconciling House and Senate versions of a bill to address troubling and wide-
week’s discussion, Tester said that once veterans got their foot in the door in the state, they were pleased with the quality of VA care they received. Still, he added, a 48-day wait is unacceptable. “While that may be better than some areas of this country, it is far too long for anyone to wait, let alone a veteran,” Tester said. “We’re committed to fixing those access issues.” Those who spoke up during the listening session were largely unanimous in their suggestion regarding how to fix the system in Montana. Many called on Tester to explore privatization of the VA and allow veterans to seek care from non-VA facilities locally. Tester said that consideration would require extreme caution, but Monroe feels privatization could potentially solve several problems he himself has run up against with the VA. “We can’t have this same cookie-cutter approach as the rest photo by Cathrine L. Walters of the nation does,” Monroe says. More than 70 veterans turned out for a listening session with Sen. Jon Tester last “The Montanas, the Wyomings, week on deficiencies at the Montana VA facility at Fort Harrison. Among them was the South Dakotas—we need to Dustin Monroe, an Iraq veteran who has experienced several problems with the have our own solution for these VA since 2006. states, because we do have a very “This affects my everyday life—walking, spread deficiencies in the VA. He says he diverse population between the Native popeven jobs,” Monroe says. “I’ve just sucked didn’t want to distract from the broader dis- ulation and the non-Native population, and it up, but I shouldn’t have to suck it up cussion—one that has reached a fever pitch also the rural versus non-rural.” when they put the damn pins in me to help across the country ever since the revelations Monroe, who also worked at Walter me out.” this spring that scores of veterans died while Reed National Military Medical Center and Monroe, 32, grew up in Browning and waiting on appointments with the VA in saw “the worst of the worst of this war,” regraduated from Great Falls High School be- Phoenix, Ariz. members when he moved home to Fort fore enlisting in 2000. He’s an enrolled The nationwide scandal has already led Belknap for a time several years ago. He was member of the Assiniboine Tribe on Mon- to intense congressional hearings and an in- still battling with PTSD, but the Hi-Line tana’s Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, and ternal audit by the VA itself. The VA inspec- lacked any direct access to VA care. Instead, since his honorable discharge more than six tor general has launched investigations into he was encouraged to teleconference for years ago, he’s gone from getting a business 26 facilities over accusations that staff doc- counseling. degree at the University of Montana to tored waiting lists; just this week a whistle“Nobody wants to talk to a damn TV,” working with a host of nonprofits aimed at blower alleged to CNN that the VA hospital he says. “There really was no alternative that improving life in Indian Country. His latest in Phoenix had removed “deceased” notes we had. There’s no help up on the Hi-Line efforts as CEO and founder of Native Gen- from veterans’ files to cover up how many in Montana.” erational Change range from restoring had died while awaiting care. VA Director It’s a struggle in Missoula too. Appointreservation playgrounds to increasing voter Eric Shinseki promptly resigned amid the ments are frequently scheduled three or participation in tribal communities. scandal on May 30, one day after an an- more months out, Monroe says, and it can But the ankle problems persist. He’s nouncement that VA Montana Health Care be tough for veterans to get all the way to tried to get help through the U.S. Depart- System Director Christine Gregory would Fort Harrison. VA care for mental health ment of Veterans Affairs here in Montana. be stepping down in June to spend more here is good, he adds, but even that portion of the system is understaffed. They don’t get back to him, he says, further time with her family. Shortly after talking to the Indy, Monfueling a frustration with the VA he’s felt ever In Montana, wait times for new patients since he got out of the service. His past strug- at the VA’s Fort Harrison facility in Helena av- roe called to say he’d aggravated his ankle gles with the agency range from getting his erage 48 days, longer than in neighboring injury at the gym. When the VA failed to anson listed as a dependent on his veteran ben- states according to the agency’s June access swer his call, he decided to head to the efits to receiving adequate care in his strug- audit. The VA inspector general’s May review emergency room. “Whatever,” he says. “I’ll gles with post-traumatic stress disorder. The ranked Fort Harrison near the bottom—121 just pay out of pocket if I have to.” former took more than a year of persistent out of 128 facilities—for primary care wait asakariassen@missoulanews.com pressure to accomplish, he says; the latter times at VA facilities nationwide. During last Dustin Monroe’s ankle has given him problems ever since he got out of the U.S. Army in 2006. He busted it up on tour with the 25th Infantry Division in Iraq, when he was hit by an IED. The pins placed in his ankle after the injury broke about three years back, he says, massaging the top of a foot dotted with scars. He can still play basketball or walk around, but not without taking pills for the pain.
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