Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
June 19, 2007
Pg. 2
By Hope Yen, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Families of injured soldiers poured out tales of frustration Monday, telling a presidential panel that they were forced to become full-time caregivers because of an overwhelmed health system.
In its final weeks before issuing a final report, the nine-member commission heard testimony on the support available to loved ones of those hurt in battle in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"There's no question that there is no system in place for continuing care," said former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, who co-chairs the Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors with former GOP Sen. Bob Dole. "What we'd all like to see is a seamless system that provides relief to the families."
Sarah Wade, wife of Army Sgt. Ted Wade, detailed an endless cycle of paperwork lost by the military after her husband's Humvee was hit by an explosive in Iraq that caused him traumatic brain injury and severed his right arm.
Often waiting hours on end on a telephone help line that yielded little information, Wade said, it took her two years to get the necessary paperwork and fix other errors that resulted in lapsed government disability checks.
In addition, because medical facilities near their home in Chapel Hill, N.C., were inadequate, the Wades paid for extra travel to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington to get needed treatment. Eventually, Sarah Wade said, her employer fired her, saying she was inflexible and "had too much going on in her life."
"I threw my hands up because I don't know what to do anymore," Wade told the commission. "There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to be advocate, attendant, driver, personal assistant and spouse.
"No one will take ownership of the problems," she added. "I don't know if it's because no one is able to tell the emperor he has no clothes."
President George W. Bush created the presidential commission March 6 to investigate veterans' care after reports of shoddy outpatient treatment at Walter Reed.
In interviews, commission members said one of the biggest problems is providing health care that allows injured troops to move from facility to facility as needed without delays or lost paperwork, regardless of whether they are using a Pentagon- or VA-run facility or private health provider.
June 19, 2007
Pg. 2
By Hope Yen, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Families of injured soldiers poured out tales of frustration Monday, telling a presidential panel that they were forced to become full-time caregivers because of an overwhelmed health system.
In its final weeks before issuing a final report, the nine-member commission heard testimony on the support available to loved ones of those hurt in battle in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"There's no question that there is no system in place for continuing care," said former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, who co-chairs the Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors with former GOP Sen. Bob Dole. "What we'd all like to see is a seamless system that provides relief to the families."
Sarah Wade, wife of Army Sgt. Ted Wade, detailed an endless cycle of paperwork lost by the military after her husband's Humvee was hit by an explosive in Iraq that caused him traumatic brain injury and severed his right arm.
Often waiting hours on end on a telephone help line that yielded little information, Wade said, it took her two years to get the necessary paperwork and fix other errors that resulted in lapsed government disability checks.
In addition, because medical facilities near their home in Chapel Hill, N.C., were inadequate, the Wades paid for extra travel to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington to get needed treatment. Eventually, Sarah Wade said, her employer fired her, saying she was inflexible and "had too much going on in her life."
"I threw my hands up because I don't know what to do anymore," Wade told the commission. "There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to be advocate, attendant, driver, personal assistant and spouse.
"No one will take ownership of the problems," she added. "I don't know if it's because no one is able to tell the emperor he has no clothes."
President George W. Bush created the presidential commission March 6 to investigate veterans' care after reports of shoddy outpatient treatment at Walter Reed.
In interviews, commission members said one of the biggest problems is providing health care that allows injured troops to move from facility to facility as needed without delays or lost paperwork, regardless of whether they are using a Pentagon- or VA-run facility or private health provider.