Amputations Swot Analysis

The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was founded in 1930, and today, “operates one of the largest health care delivery systems in the nation, with 168 medical centers and more than 1,000 outpatient facilities organized into regional networks” (GAO, 2017). The VA employs nearly 350,000 people at its facilities and serves approximately 9 million veterans each year (VA, 2017).

The American Red Cross is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization that is led by volunteers, whose purpose is to prevent and relieve human suffering. The American Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross organization and is the largest supplier of blood in the United States. Its assistance in providing relief to victims of natural and man-made disasters and helping people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies has helped the American Red Cross create a brand name that has led to many successes, but has led to some difficulties as well. In order to achieve a better understanding of the organization, its environment, and its future plan of action we first examine the organization by using SWOT analysis.

Over the past 15 years, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has seen a dramatic increase in the average degree of disability, growth in the number of compensation recipients, a rise in the number of medical issues claimed and an increased level of complexity of claimed issues. To illustrate this point, prior to the September 2011 terrorist attacks, 333,700 Veterans received compensation at the 70-100 percent level; however, these figures rose to over 1.1 million by the end of 2013. Additionally, since 2009, VA’s disability compensation workload rose 132 percent. This is in large part due to an unprecedented demand resulting from over a decade of war, military downsizing, economic issues, increased outreach, the addition of presumptive conditions and an aging Veteran population.

As of 2014, there are 22.5 million veterans in the United States. According to Veteransinc.org, between 529,000 and 840,000 veterans are homeless at some time during the year. Did you know 33% of homeless males are veterans? Aside from homelessness, 70% have substance abuse problems, 45% suffer from PTSD, and there are 22 veterans who commit suicide every day. The problems don’t end there, homelessness is just one problem for our veterans. 573,000 were unemployed in 2014. There are many causes for unemployment such as PTSD, war injuries, or lack of knowledge in the work field.

to the Veterans who have served our country. As the organization moves forward they envision

underhanded activities that occur pervasively throughout the three collegiate divisions. Some such scandals have included the child sex charges brought against the Pennsylvania State University and overall academic misconduct amongst member colleges and universities. This is exactly where the current NCAA president, Mark Emmert is directing his focus: a return to a conservative adherence to the original mission statement, a strict disciplinary strategy against institutional scandals, and an overall modernization of the association. Emmett plans to emphasize leadership of the NCAA in order shift the association away from its capitalistic tendencies (bookshelf.vitalsource.com).

Almost 60% of all veterans say that the VA is doing “only fair” or a “poor” job at taking care of the problems faced by serviceman (Chandrasekaren). Current soldiers, as well as veterans, are facing problems like not be able to find a job because of a disability or not receiving compensation for an injury that occurred while in the service. Many wait months upon months just to be seen by a doctor. The men and women protecting this country deserve the best help available, and they are receiving very little or no help at all. Health care, benefits, and simply having money to survive are not problems that these individuals need to be facing after putting their lives on the line for us. Veterans need help, and our

I have a really good friend that is a triple amputee who inspired me to write this paper on The Wounded Warrior Project. His name is SFC (Ret) Barrera. On 7 July 2012, he received his injuries from a reverse improvised explosive device. He is missing his right leg up to his mid-thigh, his left leg right above his knee and his left hand to his mid-forearm.

Many veterans are missing major limbs, and are very handicapped making work and everyday life a huge struggle. There are prosthetic legs and arms that can be used, but they often take a long time to learn, and are very costly. In a recent interview with NBC News, a veteran by the name of Mike Kacer explains how the government spent $117,000 providing him with prosthetic arms over the last five years, and he doesn’t even like to use them. "I could actually tie the shoe faster without the prosthesis," Kacer says, and he’s not the only one that feels this way. Many other veterans using these prosthetic limbs eventually abandon them due to painful, unreliable and hard to use reasons. “Of the roughly 1,600 veterans who have suffered major limb losses from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, about 319 have faced amputations of some part of their arms.” (NBC News). Not only is that a lot of money spent on prosthetics that are hard to use, painful, and eventually abandoned, arms rather than legs are a lot harder to use according to research by Gary Berke, a Stanford University instructor who operates a private clinic providing prosthetics. "Walking is relatively straightforward," Berke said. Artificial legs essentially can do everything that real ones do. Artificial arms, however, are not nearly as adept as the real ones. "We're behind the eight ball in terms of

A large percentage of the soldiers are forced to give up their military careers because they are not found fit for duty due to the extent of their injuries.

Not every veteran returns home with visible injuries. It is the invisible injuries and those lingering scars that can be the most life-threatening for them. As the veteran struggles to acclimate themselves once again to their surroundings and life as they once knew it, their inability to adjust impacts them, their families, and the society they live in.

The recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been experienced not only on the battlefield but when they return, the war comes home with them. Military service members have to deal with the emotional and physical scars and the multiple civilian

Military members may suffer from disabilities/injuries (both physical and mental) that may require accommodations. Additionally, the transition from military life to civilian life may prove difficult for some (Dewitte, 2013). Military careers, experiences, and skills may not translate well into civilian resumes, or may not translate into the specific skills required of a position, which could inadvertently eliminate potential veteran candidates (Nagorny & Pick, 2012). Additionally, some hiring managers may harbor negative stereotypes about veterans’ emotionally stability (depression and PTSD, for example) or about their rigidity and formality and how that will mesh with the current workforce (Nagorny & Pick, 2012).

Military veterans have many characteristics that show good leadership and courage, which is what companies should be aspiring to have in their employees. Instead, many corporations are purposely not hiring military veterans; resulting in thousands becoming homeless. Corporations are discriminating against our soldiers and the government is not endeavoring to help these soldiers either. Companies automatically assume that vets suffer from mental illnesses, are irrational and violent, and are uneducated and incompetent. Our government needs to establish more programs that will benefit our soldiers such as: creating shelter homes; providing them with therapists to help them with newly developed mental disorders; and allowing them to gain stability by giving them more job opportunities.