The following story sounds like an SNL skit gone terribly bad:
A depressed veteran, missing his deceased wife, felt like ending his own life, but decided to call the Suicide Hotline.
And he was put on hold for ten minutes.
Via ABC Action News: Veteran says he was repeatedly put on hold by veterans’ suicide hotline
He put himself in danger to protect our country, but when he needed help to save his own life all he got was a recorded message.
Ted Koran was thinking about committing suicide Saturday night.
He reached out to the VA and the Veterans Suicide Hotline for help, but said he couldn’t get any until after he was repeatedly put on hold for up to 10 minutes at time….
And then, there’s this story:
Via Indianapolis Star: VA manager’s email mocks veteran suicides
A manager at the Roudebush Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Indianapolis appears to mock the mental health problems of returning combat veterans in an email to her employees.
The email obtained by The Indianapolis Star contains photographs of a toy Christmas elf posing as a patient in what appears to be the hospital’s transitional clinic for returning veterans. In one photograph, the elf pleads for Xanax. In another, he hangs himself with an electrical cord….
The manager then apologized.
“I would like to sincerely apologize for the email message and I take full responsibility for this poor judgment,” Paul said. “I have put my heart and soul into my work with Veterans for many years. I hold all Veterans and military personnel in the highest regard and am deeply remorseful for any hurt this may have caused.”
….Julie Webb, a Roudebush spokeswoman, said administrators were made aware of the email “a couple of months ago.”
But, apparently, they did nothing about it until the Indianapolis Star made the emails public.
Btw, the manager earns an annual salary of $79,916, and records show she received a $2,000 performance bonus in 2013.
She has since had her social worker’s license suspended.
For 90 days.
Disgusting! When is someone going to step up & actually do something about the ongoing outrage that IS the V.A. Administration? In Alabama, a Congresswoman, Martha Roby, has made a lot of noise about the problem, particularly with the local Central Ala. V.A. It was put under a spotlight, and I think the head of it was finally fired. BUT, the latest news articles indicate that pretty much nothing has changed; the Whistleblowers are being effectively punished. Meanwhile, the waits continue for veterans.
My head hurts from all the madness. This is insanity, and yet, nothing of significance ever happens to these people. We know the insolence comes from the very top, so what difference does any of this make. Is there any wonder why morale among our brave men and women is at an all-time low?
For its Tommy this, an Tommy that, an “Chuck him out, the brute!”
But its “Savior of ‘is country” when the guns begin to shoot;
An its Tommy this, an Tommy that, an anything you please;
An Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool– you bet that Tommy sees!
National Health Care socialism. Government orgs. don’t /can’t have empathy. Empathy is for the little people.
More of the same…
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/04/18/new-va-scandals-call-into-question-agency-ability-to-clean-house/?intcmp=latestnews
posted 4/18 800am Texas[What Scandal?] Time