Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 29, 1990 TAG: 9007290203
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PETER MATHEWS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
After hearings in Bristol and Christiansburg, Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, said he would seek funding for a study that he hoped would lead to a new outpatient facility - one that would reduce the long drive for 9th District veterans who now must go to Salem or Johnson City, Tenn., for treatment.
The lack of a Veterans Administration hospital in the 9th District is one of many problems for veterans, Boucher and Rep. Lane Evans, D-Ill., were told.
Among the others:
A system that makes the veteran prove that an ailment is service-related. For a variety of reasons, including a 1973 fire in St. Louis that destroyed many veterans' records, thousands of patients are unable to provide sufficient documentation to obtain treatment.
Pension regulations that penalize those who try to supplement their incomes. James Lucas, a veterans claims agent for the Department of Veterans Affairs in Wytheville, said the pension rate for spouses of deceased veterans is so low - $4,535 - that they often qualify for welfare benefits.
But these surviving spouses must give up a dollar of their pensions for every dollar they earn on a job, he said. "The prime directive right now is to save money, not to provide benefits."
Continuing budget cuts combined with increasing need. Alma Lee, president of Local 1739 of the American Federation of Government Employees, said more than 250 jobs have been lost at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Salem in the last five years.
Clark Graninger, director of the Salem VA center, said his hospital is treating about twice as many people as it did in 1979 - with 300 fewer employees.
Moreover, Boucher pointed out, many World War II veterans have reached 70 - the age when their medical needs increase substantially.
Unfortunately, Graninger said, many veterans wait until they have serious - and expensive - illnesses before they seek treatment.
He suggested some ways to encourage early treatment: setting up a network of smaller clinics to handle outpatient cases; or arranging for local physicians to devote part of their practices to veterans' cases. The VA will begin studying the feasibility of that in August, he said.
Speakers, including several New River Valley veterans who said they have had trouble obtaining benefits, blamed insufficient funding, not the staffs of VA hospitals.
"I believe the system is doing the best it can to survive the cutbacks, underfunding and understaffing it now suffers," said Dudley Grimes of Dublin, who fought in World War II.
"But this problem is being felt by veterans who get treated, and much more seriously by those who are turned away without help. There is a great need for more doctors, nurses and clerks, as well as more beds."
Evans, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, blamed the problems on Reagan administration policy changes and budget cuts.
He said directors of VA centers are growing tired of having to defend their budgets.
A particular concern at the Bristol hearing was the VA's tendency to have different doctors treat a patient on each subsequent visit, Boucher said. Graninger attributed that to the relatively short stint of some residents at VA hospitals and the tendency for veterans to have a variety of problems that require several specialists.
Graninger also told the congressmen that the Salem VA center obtained funding Friday for a 20-bed unit to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The program will begin in September or October, he said.
by CNB