Rural Veterans: A Case Study

Most of the VA’s strengths can be attributed to the advancement of medicine, technologies, and research. The integration and collaboration of web-based services throughout VA’s facilities has led to an increase in “speed, accuracy and efficiency of information exchange” (Department of Veteran Affairs, 2015). With those strengths, the VA is able to further improve upon veteran’s access to health care and the ways in which services can be delivered.

They claimed Iraq and Afghanistan veteran polls have been taken, it shows that whatever improvements and actions being were taken were not enough. Fifty-nine percent of the people rated the job the government was doing to help was good, while fifty-six percent rated it as them doing poorly. In an article by CNN news nineteen veterans have died because of delays for medical treatments from the Veterans Affair. Those nineteen veterans were only a small proportion of that group. A number of eight-two veterans who have died because of delays for medical treatments like colonoscopies or endoscopies. Some people like my father (Jason McLain), who is a retired veteran, believes that some doctors have their own personal bias toward veterans. Jason McLain stated, “When I go to the VA they do not help me as soon as I need their help. Although when I go to any other civilian doctor’s office they help me right away with any of their help”. A website by the name of Free Grants Community stated that success and failures of the Departments of Veterans Affair are frequently the subjects of political promises and debates. There are many places that can help with benefits or homelessness, simply anything veteran(active/retired) need. A six-year veteran stated that there are places to help but emphasizes that you have to pursue yourself. After you are done with the military to go back to school and to keep getting educated. Besides the fact the regular ordinary citizens complain that veterans are not getting enough help, there have been complaints against all employers for discrimination has blames the economic crisis and ballooning deficits for the inability to provide for more

One of the most serious problems facing all veterans today is the lack of proper healthcare. Soldiers, sailors and airmen are leaving active duty without having proper healthcare to cover their physical or mental injuries. The department responsible for veteran’s healthcare is the Department of Veterans Affairs. (VA) According to The department of Veterans Affairs website, “The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is responsible for administering programs of veterans’ benefits for veterans, their families, and survivors. The benefits provided include disability compensation, pension, education, home loans, life insurance, vocational rehabilitation, survivors’ benefits, medical benefits and burial benefits. It is administered by the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.” The VA, who was formerly called the Veterans Administration, was established 21 July 1930, to consolidate and coordinate government activities affecting war veterans. The VA encompassed the functions of the former U.S. Veterans ' Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. On 25 October 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation creating a new federal Cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs to replace the Veterans Administration effective 15 March 1989 (V.A.)

This study strives to increase the awareness of healthcare disparities among veterans in hopes that veterans can receive the best healthcare possible. This study has the potential to change the structure of veterans’ health care. If their health care is damaged to the extent that some insiders and outsiders believe it to be, then hopefully the veterans’ health care system can be restructured. These disparities can be addressed in community outreach programs to expand common knowledge on the subject.

The Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) has been tasked with providing support and benefits to Veterans after they have completed their service. However, many Veterans are reporting difficulty accessing care due to systematic barriers within the VA’s Veterans Health Administration (Oliver, 2007). Complex eligibility requirements, long wait lists and lack of providers are a few of the issues Veterans are faced with when trying to access health and mental health care. Additionally, studies indicate that veterans, predominantly those from the recent wars in Iran and Iraq, have disproportionately high amounts of mental illness (Shim & Rust, 2013). These same veterans are experiencing difficulty accessing mental health care due to issues around a backlog of healthcare eligibility applications and a shortage of mental health providers through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which operates the Nation’s largest, integrated health care delivery system (APA, 2014). In 2014, at the request of the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) evaluated the merit of the allegations of mismanagement at the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) and the Health Eligibility Center (HEC).

The Veterans Health Administration is home to the United States’ largest integrated health care system consisting of 150 medical centers, nearly 1,400 community-based outpatient clinics, community living centers, Vet Centers and Domiciliary. Together these health care facilities and the more than 53,000 independent licensed health care practitioners who work within them provide comprehensive care to more than 8.3 million Veterans each year. VHA Medical Centers provide a wide range of services including traditional hospital-based services such as surgery, critical care, mental health, orthopedics, pharmacy, radiology and physical therapy. In addition, most of the medical centers offer additional medical and surgical specialty services including audiology & speech pathology, dermatology, dental, geriatrics, neurology, oncology, podiatry, prosthetics, urology, and vision

In the past few years there has been increasing discussion about how to provide adequate care for the increasing number of veterasn who are eligible for care through the Veterans’ healthcare administration (VHA). There are concerns is that the VHA is not providing the level of access, efficiency, and quality of care that veterans expect. Lee & Begley, (2016) suggest access to care for the veteran population may be resulting in poor health outcomes. In response to these concerns, the Veterans ' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act (VACAA) of 2014, also known as the Veterans Choice Act, was created to improve Veterans’ healthcare. The VACAA proposed to do this by expanding the number of options veterans have for receiving healthcare, by providing access for healthcare at non-VA care centers as well as providing for an increase in staffing at VA facilities (U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2016).

The presence of additional risk for homelessness specifically associated with Veteran status is puzzling in that it occurs among a population that shows better outcomes on almost all socioeconomic measures and that has exclusive access to an extensive system of benefits that include comprehensive healthcare services, disability and pension assistance, and homeless services (Fargo, et al, 24).

Current funding for veteran healthcare care is low and insufficient because of the large number of veterans, who are being discharged from the military as the country transitions to a democratic President. According to Dr. Rachel Nardin in her article about veteran healthcare, “Soldiers get excellent acute care when injured on active duty, but as revelations of poor conditions for soldiers receiving ongoing outpatient care at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center highlighted, service members often have trouble getting the care they need once active duty ends” (Nardin 1)

Veterans’ assistance can be traced far back into history. The first type of assistance recorded was back in 1636 when the Pilgrims were at war with the Pequot Indians. During this time the Pilgrims passed a law providing money to those who had been disabled during the colony’s defense against Indians. Soon after this many other colonies decided to

Through its advocacy program, Ruck up provides three mostly local primary services of housing, health care at Cheshire medical center, advocacy of filling out and completing VA claims as well as social security claims. They closely work with Cheshire housing and in the past year have successfully placed four Veterans in their own homes. Veteran’s Choice system is a uses by many Veterans in this community. It allows for Veterans to receive health care locally if the closest Veteran hospital is greater than 5o miles away. Due to the high demand at Veteran hospitals Local veteran can now receive health care at Cheshire Medical Center. Rides are often coordinated amongst Vets to and from local VA hospital in White River Junction Vermont and medical care centers as in Keene. The staff is adept and

Lincoln made a promise stated, “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan”. This quote is being neglected by us as Americans in trying to provide for our veterans. Do the research and you will see that veterans who have served for our country are living homeless. Also, thousands of veterans are forced to buy food stamps and they struggle to feed their families. Veterans in hospitals who suffer from PTSD attempt to commit suicide more than you would think. In this essay, I’m going to explain how our government can help provide better housing, food benefits, and ways we can help provide better mental health facilities.

Many challenges still remain as Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seek available access to mental health care. These challenges include the resistance and stigma to seek care, lack of

A larger VA clinic would be beneficial in more ways than one. About thirty percent of the men and women who have spent time in war

As well as we know that military is considered as the biggest strength of the whole nation and people from different state are willing to go and serve for the nation. This committee takes care of everyone that are willing to serve the nation by providing them with proper facilities and along with this they also identify opportunities to promote the strategic importance of military installations in Texas. Besides this they also study the effectiveness of Veterans Health and mental health initiatives in Texas and recommend ways to improve access and delivery.