Tampa VA investigates verbal abuse charge against police

VA investigates verbal abuse charge against police
Friday, May 9, 2008


TAMPA — Three members of the James A. Haley VA Medical Center police force have been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into allegations they verbally abused a patient.

"There is no allegation and we have no evidence that there was any physical abuse," said John Pickens, a regional spokesman for the Veterans Health Administration.

The incident under investigation occurred on April 14 as the patient was being transferred to Tampa police custody, he said.

The patient, whose identity was not released, was arrested by VA police, accused of disrupting patient care and disrupting the chief of staff's office in the mental health clinic, Pickens said. The patient first reported the mistreatment 15 days later, on April 29.

The State Attorney's Office later dropped charges against the patient, Pickens said.

Names of police involved were not released. Pickens said the investigation will review all evidence, which includes video.

"Veterans Affairs is treating this complaint with the utmost seriousness, and will act immediately and appropriately to discipline employees and to protect the rights and safety of our patients, should that become necessary," a written statement released by the VA late Thursday said.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article496209.ece

Tampa Bay area Vietnam veterans group to resume therapy

I missed this one. I posted the whole thing in case they put it off somewhere.

Tampa Bay area veterans group to resume therapy
By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
Published Tuesday, April 1, 2008 11:07 PM
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs agreed this week to reinstate group therapy for 11 battle-scarred Vietnam veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The decision came after U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, intervened on behalf of the Tampa Bay area veterans and after a March 11 St. Petersburg Times story detailed their plight.

Brown-Waite ironed out a compromise with the veterans and VA officials Monday. In two months, she said, the VA will re-evaluate whether the sessions are making progress.

The agency stressed that it was placing no time limits on the sessions held at a VA outpatient clinic in New Port Richey. The men could conceivably meet for years more, the VA said.

The agency also said it would provide individual counseling to the 11 veterans.

"The VA will continue to monitor the progress of the group and each individual to ensure individual needs are addressed and goals are met," the VA said in a statement.

The men — called Group 11 by the VA — met weekly until November, when their sessions were abruptly canceled.

Why remains murky. The men said their counselor told them the VA was inundated with veterans needing help, suggesting the agency didn't have the resources to continue Group 11.

But in a letter, the VA told the veterans they had obtained the "maximum therapeutic benefit" from the sessions.

Group 11 members, who had continued meeting at an area restaurant without a counselor, were overjoyed with the VA's reversal. They said they have formed strong bonds through three years of weekly meetings at the VA, helping each other deal with the war's emotional aftereffects and the problems of everyday life.

"We're pleased, and we're shocked," said Charlie Kelley, 64, a Marine veteran and bay area resident. "Ginny Brown-Waite deserves credit for getting us a fair shake."

Veterans advocates have said that group therapy sessions have been cut elsewhere nationally as the VA deals with more veterans needing care for PTSD.

But Brown-Waite, a member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, said Tuesday that VA officials reassured her they have adequate resources.

She thought the compromise with the Group 11 veterans was fair, but said the agency could have handled the matter better.

"I thought it was very abrupt to say at the end of a session, 'Oh, by the way, you're not going to be a group anymore,' '' Brown-Waite said.

The VA said it offered treatment alternatives to the veterans when it announced the end of the group, but the men complained the choices were poor.

The veterans, for example, were offered another group session that met at 8 a.m., a difficult time for veterans who commonly suffer sleep disorders.

"If these gentlemen have sleep problems and nightmares, why in God's name would you schedule a meeting at 8 o'clock?" Brown-Waite said. "It would have set them up for failure."

After Group 11 was disbanded, members wrote a letter to the VA: "We have all tried to deal with this devastating event as best we could.

"But we have come to realize that the group was our main line of defense."

William R. Levesque can be reached at levesque@sptimes.com or
(813) 226-3436.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/military/veterans/article439790.ece

Annie Okerlin's Yogani Studios Exalted Warrior Foundation

Reaching Out To Heal
By JAMIE PILARCZYK

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 22, 2008

Updated: 03/20/2008 05:33 pm

HYDE PARK - The young veterans walk into Annie Okerlin's Yogani Studios, some with their disabilities visible, others with them hidden.

John Shahin limped a bit and used a cane but otherwise looked much like any other 23-year-old.

The retired Marine corporal served two tours in Iraq. In 2004, his Humvee was hit by a bomb, collapsing the side of the military vehicle into Shahin and leaving him with shoulder, back and hip injuries. He also suffered traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder and needed reconstructive surgery to remove shrapnel from his nose and ear.

When his therapists at James A. Haley VA Medical Center said he would be leaving the North Tampa facility last week for a South Tampa yoga studio, Shahin wasn't sure what to think. But by the time the yoga mats were rolled up and the stretch bands put away, he was feeling better and relaxed.

"I have a limited range of motion in my arm, and this made me work hard," the Riverview man said of the hourlong therapy. "I'd recommend it. Part of that is the staff, though; they were really nice, and they kept correcting me."

Through her Exalted Warrior Foundation, Okerlin provides yoga therapy, coined warrior yoga, to military personnel at Haley and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. The foundation came about through two of her Yogani clients and a little bit of kismet.

Tom Steffens, a retired Navy rear admiral who is a consultant from Virginia Beach, attended classes with his wife, Ellie, while serving as the chief of staff of U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base from 1997 to 2001.

The 6-foot-2 Navy SEAL is "twice as wide as the door frame," Okerlin joked. "You meet him and he's Mr. America."

"I have legs that weigh more than Annie," Steffens said of the 5-foot-1 yogi.

The unlikely duo have a shared belief: the power of yoga to heal. Steffens, a 10-year yoga veteran, talked with Okerlin about bringing yoga to Walter Reed.

"God puts things in the right places," Steffens said. "She's a naturally uplifting person. She draws out the best in people, and that's what she does with these soldiers: draws the best out in them. These are life-saving, marriage-saving techniques."

In April 2006, a month after Steffens arranged the military connections, Okerlin was on a plane to Washington, worried about how she would be perceived by the soldiers. She went to Banana Republic to buy a "military hospital pretense outfit."

"I expected them to be thinking, 'Where are the Birkenstocks? Where are the feather earrings?'" said Okerlin, 36, whose mother served in Britain's Royal Navy and father was a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman. "But there was no pretense."

She was greeted by soldiers who had amputations of every kind - big, gruff veterans who left her star-struck.

"It was trial by fire," said Okerlin, mother of a toddler.

She has to limit the swearing in class and breaks assumptions that yoga won't make you sweat.

"They are strong, young and fit, but we're teaching them the art of relaxation," the Davis Islands resident said. "We are helping them to achieve more comfort ... reconnecting the soldier to his body, teaching him that he is whole, just different."
go here for the rest
http://centraltampa2.tbo.com/content/2008/mar/22/st-reaching-out-to-heal/

Peake pops into Tampa VA without an appointment

Normally I don't like to post an entire article and never like to use the comments but in this case, you have to read it all to believe it.

March 18, 2008
VA secretary pays Tampa unannounced visit
TAMPA -- The secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs made an unannounced visit to Tampa today to address a group representing paralyzed veterans and to visit with patients and VA workers at the nation's busiest VA hospital.

Dr. James Peake, appointed by President Bush in October, addressed the Paralyzed Veterans of America board of directors at its annual meeting at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. The meeting was closed to the public.

Afterward, Peake visited with doctors, nurses and patients at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center. Reporters were not invited or told Peake was in town.

The St. Petersburg Times has made repeated requests to interview Peake since his nomination. But a VA spokesman said Peake decided before departing Washington for Tampa that he was too pressed for time to grant any interviews.
-- William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer

http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/03/va-secretary-pa.html

March 18, 2008 in Hillsborough, Pinellas Permalink
Comments

I certainly hope the Hon. Mr. Secretary left with some Bay Pines careers in his briefcase.
The Medical end of the house is visibly trying to improve, but the everyone in disability adjudication can go out and get a real job.
To tell me after a fourteen year appeal (sluggishly going from 10% to 50%) that if I'm not drooling on my shoulder while sitting in a wheelchair, then I'm not disabled, is a travesty.
Don't. Permit. Your. Children. To. Enlist.
Posted by: Don March 18, 2008 at 04:07 PM
Thank God this putrid Administration is on its way out and either Hillary or Obama is taking over. This man sneaks in and out and could not really care less about the injured Vets and thehir families Mr. Cheney's & Mr Bush's war oil war has hurt.
Posted by: Ray March 18, 2008 at 04:19 PM
Put away the kazoos. Quick, sound the trumpets, roll out the red carpet.
Posted by: March 18, 2008 at 05:48 PM

VA Claims It Is On Right Track With Veterans Care

First, notice the claim made.

VA Is On Right Track With Veterans Care
Tampa Tribune - Tampa,FL,USA
Highlands Today Staff

Published: January 11, 2008

The Veterans Administration deserves praise for new ideas that should provide quality treatment for veterans. Someone figured out that proper caring for veterans starts early and involves all kinds of services. It's happening right here in Highlands County.

Besides VA hospitals, clinics are providing a lot of care for veterans. Just as important, when soldiers return to the states, before they are discharged, mental health evaluations begin and continue long after leaving the service. For combat soldiers there is continual monitoring so problems not first realized immediately upon arrival back in the country are dealt with if they do surface. That often happens, according to experts.

The basic idea of this new system is to provide all levels of quality care for veterans. All of us agree this is important and critical for the men and women who serve our nation. If that requires more funding, so be it. For too long VA medical care was good in some places and below average in others. It appears this has greatly improved.

Users of the VA clinic in Highlands County sing the praises of the facility and staff who supply their medical needs. If more complicated care is necessary, they can go to a VA hospital.

The VA is on the right track and we're proud of the work they are doing for our veterans.

Did you notice there is not one specific statistic to support the claim made? Did you notice they have not provided any documentation to back up the claim?

This they keep doing. They make all kinds of claims to make it seem as if everything is just fine and they are on top of taking care of our veterans. The problem is, they are not. Do they think the general public and veterans are idiots? Do they really think if they reassure enough, the veterans finding they have to wait six months to be seen think it's only happening to them?

I have no doubt that there have been improvements in addressing their needs, but it equals a pin prick in changes when drastic surgery is vital to correct the damage done.

VA owes it to war veterans to provide licensed staff

VA owes it to war veterans to provide licensed staff
A Times Editorial
Published December 13, 2007

Service members wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan are returning with injuries that our troops did not survive in previous wars. That's a credit to medical advances in combat cases. But survivors are at risk of developing posttraumatic stress and other mental problems that America's veterans health care system is not equipped to handle. The president needs to get the Department of Veterans Affairs up to speed.

Brian Nussbaum, a psychologist at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa, filed a complaint last month with the state Board of Psychology. He charged that about 12 of Haley's 34 psychologists are unlicensed and receiving little direct supervision. The VA quibbled with the figure, saying nine are unlicensed. That's still nearly a third of the staff at the nation's busiest VA facility. Nussbaum told the St. Petersburg Times he is the only licensed psychologist in Haley's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic.

VA officials denied that patient care was diminished. They said unlicensed staff receive ample supervision and are on track to obtain their licenses. But none of the 22 psychologists at St. Petersburg's Bay Pines VA Medical Center, which also operates a posttraumatic stress clinic, are unlicensed. That's the way it should be. As a director of health policy for the Veterans of Foreign Wars said: "Experience counts." Advocates say trainees lack the specialized skills, work history and supervision needed to treat an especially vulnerable veterans population.
go here for the rest
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/13/Opinion/VA_owes_it_to_war_vet.shtml


As I said when this first came out, this is wrong. What's next? Asking the custodian to fill in at an empty desk so they can say they are fully staffed?

What is the VA doing using unlicensed psychologists to treat veterans?

Complaint targets VA psych staffTreatment by unlicensed psychologists doesn't affect patient care at Haley, the VA says.
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE, Times Staff Writer
Published December 4, 2007


TAMPA - Providing the very best mental health care to soldiers returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan is one of the highest priorities for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

But at the nation's busiest VA hospital, the James A. Haley VA Medical Center in Tampa, the most-troubled and vulnerable veterans are often treated by the least-experienced psychologists, according to a complaint to the state.

About 12 of Haley's 34 psychologists - more than a third - are unlicensed and receive little if any direct supervision, according to a complaint filed Nov. 29 with the Florida Board of Psychology.

The VA disagrees with the complaint's figure, saying just nine are unlicensed.

The complaint, filed by Haley psychologist Brian Nussbaum, said some of these psychologists still use the title of either "psychologist" or "clinical psychologist" with patients.

If true, that would violate state law.
In an interview on Monday, Nussbaum said three of the four psychologists working in Haley's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic are unlicensed. Nussbaum is the only licensed psychologist in the clinic.

And he said Haley's suicide-prevention coordinator also is an unlicensed psychologist.

Nussbaum, who agreed to an interview after the St. Petersburg Times obtained a copy of his complaint, said he fears patient care is endangered by this inexperience.
Unlicensed psychologists, he said, are typically people who have recently obtained their psychology doctorate and have far less clinical experience than their licensed counterparts.

"I have nothing to gain by doing this and everything to lose," he said. "The majority of mental health services provided to our newest generation of veterans is being provided by our least-experienced staff."

VA officials denied that patient care is impacted and said that all unlicensed psychologists receive ample supervision and are on track to receive their licenses in the future.

Florida and federal law allows unlicensed psychologists to work as long as they receive constant supervision, the VA and state said.
click post title for the rest

How large does the font need to be on this to even come close to describing what is going across my mind at this very moment?I cannot believe they are doing this. Treating veterans with such sub-standard care as they have been receiving is one thing, but to subject them to unlicensed psychologist is illegal, unethical and dangerous!
I received an email from Senator Martinez about how much we need to support the charities across the nation who are "taking care of the troops" and "our veterans" while he is one of the senators of the 49th ranked state for taking care of our mentally ill population. Yes, these citizens even include veterans. We are number 2 for the veterans population, ranked number 3 for homeless veterans, and yet in Tampa they are using unqualified people to dispense, or pretend to, psychological treatment!

Doing this is like asking me to put on a white coat and diagnose veterans as well as asking me to hand out whatever medication I think is right for them and damn the consequences. This is ridiculous. I've read every report that has come out in the last 25 years and studied this as if my life depended on it because it does, since my husband has PTSD and he is part of my life. How can they do this? Easy, there is a body willing to show up so they can act as if they are really doing something.

Can there be any wonder remaining why it is so difficult for people like me to get these veterans into treatment when they read something like this is going on? This also explains something that happened last night.

I went to a National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) last night. I am new to the group but have admired the work they do nationally for many years. When I walked in the door, informed them of what I do, I was greeted with hero status. They had been contacted by the VA looking for help from them. Reading this report explains why they need more help. The government isn't giving it to them.
If they are doing this in Tampa, how many other veteran's hospitals and clinics are they doing it in as well? What the hell am I supposed to do with these veterans I've been trying to get into treatment when I cannot even be sure once the get their foot in the door, they will be treated by highly trained, licensed people?
It is nearly impossible to get some of these veterans to the point where they are willing to go for help. It was hard enough trying to get them still wanting it with the backlog of claims and long waiting times. After this, there will be many more who won't even put one foot in the door. That means we will have more homeless veterans, because help is not there, more families falling apart and yes, even more suicides.

Senator Martinez and Senator Nelson have been sitting in Washington as veterans go to hell in a hand basket and we fail them at every turn. How dare they ask people to support charities when they do not even support them WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS?

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington