VA Healthcare

[Sir Henry]

The VA Hospital in Seattle has been shut down for more than a year. Some departments are slowly opening like dental. Since it was closed for so long the backlist is longer that the three months of appointments they can make. The system just doesn’t allow it and getting sent to a private clinic is almost impossible.

Some appointment slots are not filled because they know most appointments will need a follow up. To open these slots it takes a special code.

I have a low grade oral infection that I’ve had for almost a year and a half but oral infections are not considered emergencies. Ear infections are.

Turns out I had an ear infection also so last Thursday I was able to make an appointment for Monday to see a medical doctor.

On Monday my ear infection had gone away so I was able to talk to the doctor about my oral infection. The medical doctor was authorized to change the code and I was able to make a dental appointment that is two weeks out.

Funny how an ear infection turned into oral.

[Sir Henry]

I received an online survey on how I was treated. It allowed me to grade five different people. The VA tracks everything so they know who the nurse was, the medical doctor, the dentist, the X-ray tech and the scheduler.

I opted to allow them to see my grades and who I was. Everyone received the highest grade possible. When I interact with them I always praise them and then follow it up with I have difficulty in getting appointments.

They know I have high expectations of them and they always seem to live up to them.

[GFK]

Glad you got things taking care of. Sorry that you had to wait. I use VA as well. I mostly use a clinic. I very seldom go to the hospital. During the pandemic, the primary care doctor conducted phone visits. Most visits are annual checkups. So, the phone visit was more like a follow up to the checkup. However, we did talk at great length about COVID-19. There were still a lot of uncertainty. Best advice was to practice social distancing and wash hands. I told him that I try to follow the precautions. But, I do not plan to live in fear. We all will die. It is just a matter of time. I have not intentions of committing suicide. Yet, I was not going to be afraid of living life either. He agreed and that was that.

The hospital is about 150 miles from the clinic. And, the clinic is within 2 miles. If the clinic was not close, I probably would not be using the VA system at all. I do not have anything negative about it. It has served its purpose. I am just not one to travel too far for care. In fact, I am not crazy about going to a doctor at all. I think that it is a carry over from being in the Navy. Typically, I could not call in sick. One had to be seen by a medical provider and found to be ill. If not, you were sent back to work: pain, aches, upset stomach, running nose and all. I guess the thought was if you can come to the clinic, you were well enough to do your job. In the end, one cannot call in sick during a war. So, I try and eat my veggies, fruit and exercise. So far, I have been able to keep most visits to annual checkups, which works for me. Hopefully, this will not change as time goes on.

[Centaur]

My care with the VA has generally been good, but there have been a couple of exceptions to that. I worked assisting veterans after my police time, and what I saw consistently with the VA was that the medical care side and the benefits side didn’t communicate with each other. The medical staff generally were caring and respectful, the benefits side not so much. If anyone reading this is needing to file for service connection, it would be wise to get assistance from a service organization or your state veterans people before wading through the VA system, that is cumbersome, time consuming, and frustrating.

[BrokenolMarine]

I have, overall, had good care from the VA. I have had some great docs, some of the best ever. The frustrations come with getting approval when they order something other than day to day. There are hoops to jump thru. Funny, sounds just like the HMO I used before I switched to the VA when my department's healthcare nearly doubled in cost. Anything other than basic care needed referals and preapproval and more than once I got bills denied because this anesthesiologist or that specialist was "out of network.".

I finally got smart and began adding "out of network providers will be used only at the expense of the primary provider, and at no cost to the patient." to my admissions paperwork. Funny, they stopped using those out of network folks, or worked their billing into the network.

[Sir Henry]

I thought it would be a good idea to move to Montana with good teeth. Over there I wonder how my health care will go.

I need two hip replacements and don’t want surgery so I’m dealing with it by loosing weight. I went from 175 pounds to 145 and want to stop at 140. My hips are so much better and I now have very little pain now that they aren’t hauling around that extra 30 pounds.

I think loosing weight was the wise choice.

[Oldbrass]

I'm in the waiting room at American Lake VA in Lakewood as I type.. I've received good care overall. I went thru American Legion for assistance with disability they were great. I'm transferring to the new VA clinic in olympia being it's closer

[The Wiz]

I find the care to be good at the Hospitals but the clinics can be hit and miss. Been in three different regions. I get specialized care from the community but paid for by the VA. If you don't want to wait tell them you want a community doctor. Two things happen, you get your wish or you get bumped up. But you got to ask. Not talking routine care. Also, I find that the VA has a very liberal view what is an emergency and going to an ER can get paid. Again, not for minor causes but things like a #4 hook in your thumb. Don't ask.

[runnin n gunnin]

I want to thank all hands for your positive reflections on the Nurses and Docs at the V.A. My son and his wife are both nurses and left very lucrative positions at a trauma hospital to move to the V.A. to work with our wounded warriors and Veterans. They started at the bottom and over the past 10 years worked up to the positions of nurse managers, my son with 80 nurses under his command and my Daughter in Law in charge of a clinic.

I want all our Vets to know how dedicated the vast majority of nurses and docs are. As with any industry there are some that are incompetent or indifferent, but I want you to know that people like my son and his wife seek out the non hackers and work diligently to remove them from working at any V.A. I know personally that my kids and their subordinates take the care of their Vets with the utmost pride and dedication to duty.

(On a personal note, they are a pain in the neck because they are always on my ass to take better care of myself !)

[BrokenolMarine]

Thank them for us, as I said in my previous post, most of the clinicians: Docs, nurses, med techs, are all great. Most all my problems have come from support personnel. Reception, janitorial, storekeepers, etc.