Sunday, July 12, 1998

Veterans can't be passive when dealing with DVA

By WESLEY WOODS

Guest Columnist

The purpose of this article is to portray a more favorable picture of the Department of Veterans Affairs. This department is composed of three parts that are separate and apart from each other. There is the medical and treatment section, the benefits section ,and the development and research area.

Most of the negative publicity is directed at the first two divisions. The ability of the DVA to function is directly related to the amount of money allotted to it by Congress. Without funds, no entity can produce to its fullest capacity. This is the greatest cause for the lack of services the DVA is berated for, not because it doesn't care.

So, lets look at the system and see if there is any way to make it more effective.

First, veterans need to present to the treatment centers the most complete set of service records possible to help the staff in determining eligibility for services.

Next, every vet should have a representative from one of the service organizations to assist him or her in the rules set up by the DVA for implementing the correct procedure to receive the most help possible.

Finally, when veterans are dealing with the system, it is so very important for them to dot the i's and cross the t's to the best of their knowledge in order for staff to keep them in the mainstream of the treatment process. The DVA is in contact with millions of cases a day, and it should be the veteran who sees that he or she does not fall through the cracks.

To use the system, a veteran must be willing to persevere and be consistent in his efforts to get satisfaction from an entity we know is not perfect. Too many veterans are not able to follow the rules required for them to receive the help they are seeking.

It will not be handed to them without a great effort on their part. They must exert the energy necessary, or the only other recourse they have is to stand on the street corner and bellyache about the system. These are the ones we read about on the front pages of our newspapers and see on television reports.

I have received about two dozen surgeries at the hands of VA doctors, including open-heart by-pass. I am being treated for congestive heart failure, post-traumatic stress disorder, control of mental problems by medication for bi-polar disorder and many other scrapes and bruises too numerous to mention.

Yes, I have nearly died in a VA hospital and have almost been forced into bankruptcy by the benefits section due to its lack of manpower to act on legitimate claims. I have spent countless hours and days and months agonizing over the situation, but I have found no better way.

It is imperative that veterans take advantage of what is available to them by following the hints given above. If veterans throw up their hands and refuse to persist, then they are partially responsible for the situation they have created for themselves.

I think your readers should know about the successes of the DVA, such as the ones that have happened to me and millions of others. The system may have problems, but it is still responsible for healing veterans, putting compensation payments in their bank accounts and making life better for our families through the research and development section.

I think if we all knew the things the DVA has invented, it might give us an inside view of what it stands for and how well it is doing with what it has. It has done research to prevent AIDS and drug abuse. It has developed a cure for tuberculosis, invented the CAT scanner, the pacemaker and developed the use of aspirin to combat heart disease. The next time we see a blind person using a white cane, remember where the idea came from.

I am a combat-wounded veteran who served in Vietnam. I received two Purple Hearts, the Bronze Star, and several other medals and awards for my service there and at present draw 100 percent disability compensation from the DVA.

If you think war is hell, just try dealing with the DVA. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, but true rewards can be realized by the veterans' consistent and persistent effort to seek what is due them. You have earned it, so go get it!

Wesley Woods lives in Loraine.