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March 22, 2007

Veterans rate area VA hospitals high

By Nancy Lowry

The Butler Veterans Administration Hospital gets a clean bill of health from local veterans.

So do Pittsburgh-based facilities.

Earlier this month, soldiers returning from Iraq were found to be living in substandard conditions and neglect at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and other VA facilities. Many outpatients lived in dilapidated housing, and soldiers and their families told Congress of battling excessive red tape to get medical treatment.

Although the nation’s premier military hospital is now under fire from Congress, Lawrence County resident Tom Lane rates Walter Reed and Butler VA hospitals highly.

Lane speaks from experience — both as a former patient and as a Veterans of Foreign Wars member who visits current patients.

Following his return from Vietnam, Lane was hospitalized at Walter Reed.

“This was a while ago, but it was nice when I was there. The services, the food, the people were very good.”

In the past 22 years, he said, he has visited and been a patient at Veterans Administration hospitals in Butler, Carlisle and Pittsburgh and he receives treatment every three months in Butler and every six months in Pittsburgh.

“In my experience, there were no problems, certainly nothing on the scale of what they found at Walter Reed,” he said.

Mike Orelli, commander of VFW Post 315 and District 25 commander, agrees the local VA hospitals are safe, clean and offer good services.

He noted he visits the Butler VA frequently and, as district commander, has been in charge of annual Christmas parties. He said Walter Reed and the western Pennsylvania facilities all looked clean.

“But there are problems with the VA,” Orelli said. “The facilities are understaffed and (politicians) have cut a lot of money from what was budgeted for the veterans.”

This is stripping men and women who went to Iraq of the benefits and care they deserve, he said.

“They did the same thing to Vietnam veterans, and possibly to those who fought in Korea and during World War II,” said Orelli, who served in Vietnam with the Marines.

Orelli has been post commander for six years. He has worked with veterans from World War II through Iraq, Desert Storm and Afghanistan. He was recently certified as a state service official to help veterans fill out paperwork and get into the VA.

“The U.S. is not caring for its veterans,” he said. “They don’t deserve that. They earned proper care for their injuries, as veterans, as Americans.”

John Fisher, commander of American Legion Post 343, also said more could be done for the vets, adding he believes the government is trying to cut or reduce veterans benefits. He has been dealing with the VA since 1998.

“It is a shame. The soldiers answered the call of their country, and (the government) does this.”

The latest twist to complicate obtaining benefits, Fisher said, is returning reservists are being told to contact state officials because they are reservists.

“The state did not call them up to go to war. The federal government did that.”

Fisher said he is also satisfied with treatment he received, including the time he spent at Walter Reed.

“Maybe conditions were not what they are now.”

U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire said he has made veterans his No. 1 priority.

Altmire said he took a leadership position in January when he pushed to include $3.6 billion for the current fiscal year.

In the new five-year budget, he said, veterans health care services will be fully funded to remain at current levels.

“I am committed to give the VA the resources it needs,” he said, “and to improve access to the system.”

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