Testimony of Ronald F. Conley, National Commander, the American Legion; Hearing Before the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, United States Senate, One H (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 2004-01 edition. Excerpt: ...on nurses. Emergency room: One ER doctor treats 60 to 70 veterans a day. Long-term care/mental health/homeless: They offer three psychiatric-care programs. They have 104 domiciliary beds, 25 of which are used for homeless veterans. Women veterans seeking psychiatric care must wait up to four months for an appointment. Togus VA Medical/Regional Office Center Augusta, Maine Oct. 21, 2002 Demand am Delay: 5,400 new veterans must wait more than a year for initial primarycare appointments. Another 1,800 still waiting to be enrolled. Funding; 90 million operating budget, including 2.8 million from third-party reimbursements. Staff shortage: Shortage of staff, especially LPNs. Long-term care/mental health/homeless: Long-term care, dementia, Alzheimer's and psychiatric beds total 100. Togus is in need of a long-term psychiatric unit. Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center Richmond, Va. Nov. 1, 2002 Demand and Delay: More than 2,100 veterans are waiting more than 30 days for primarycare appointments. New patients are waiting six to seven months for primary-care appointments. The wait at the eye clinic is six hours. Affiliations/partnerships: They have an agreement with the local medical college. DoD sharing: Agreement with DoD to serve as backup to local military health-care facilities. VA provides spinal cord care for DoD beneficiaries. Staff shortages: They are in need of nurses. They are offering 10,000 bonuses for specialty-care nurses. They operate only 277 of the authorized 427 beds due to staff shortages. Long-term care/mental health/homeless: Geriatric primary care can only operate 70 of the 98 authorized beds due to the nursing shortage. Fourth Mission: They are involved with DoD on homeland security planning....