Veteran got hurt at home, complained VA was too far away?

Here is a bullshit article for you about a veteran getting hurt at home, but complaining about having to drive to the VA hospital hours away instead of going to a local hospital for something that has nothing to do with his disability!

Lack of VA hospital in Jacksonville means long drives for certain types of care

One Friday night Hawkins tripped over a hose that someone left out after watering a tomato garden. The tomatoes were held up by a metal rod; and when he fell, the rod went through his ear. He got the rod out and the bleeding stopped, but it 11:30.“I looked at the time and realized there was no VA [clinic] open, and the closest treatment was either to drive to Lake City or to Gainesville,” Hawkins said.

If he is 100%, and getting his healthcare from the VA, all he had to do was call them, explain the emergency and they would have covered it. That is the way it has worked for a very long time.

So why didn't he get it taken care of at a local hospital?

Hawkins pointed out that the injury to his ear likely wouldn’t have been deemed an emergency by the VA, nor would have the serious cut on this finger he suffered a month or so ago. It too needed stitches, but, again, he went untreated.

In other words, he guessed. 

I've been dealing with the VA and emergencies all my life. My Dad was 100% and my husband is 100%. Before the VA opened in Orlando, we carried private insurance on top of that even though we were told he would have been covered, we did not want to take a chance. 

While the VA does cover all my husband's medical care, they bill out what is not tied to his claim. Before it was our private insurance and now it is Medicare. That leaves many unanswered questions in this article.

Does he have Medicare or any other insurance? He goes to our family doctor too! Why only use the VA for things that have nothing to do with his disability if it is too far to travel? Why didn't he use the Choice program everyone in Congress thinks is so great for our veterans?

One more thing they got wrong on this article is this part.

"Orlando, opened 2015. Current veteran population in metro area: 139,801"

But the news on that is while the groundbreaking was in 2008, it took a while for it to open. 

Hospital representative Michael Strickler said the entire hospital will be open by early 2016. The 134-bed patient tower and emergency department are the last two to open.

So, there you go on lousy reporting once again. Remember, when I screw up reporting something, I do not get paid to do it. They do!

Why do we still suck at suicide prevention?

Stop Raising Harmful Awareness
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 7, 2018

What does Combat PTSD Wounded Times stand for?
Combat means to fight and the message we're delivering is, PTSD is a wound and everyone has the ability to fight to heal. Plain and simply. Right? 

Apparently not considering the headlines of news publications from coast to coast continue to push a number of lives they think were lost instead of pushing how to change the outcome.

This is a headline from WTKR

Marine Corps veteran to complete suicide awareness walk
While that may seem like a helpful thing to do, it isn't. It is not because the "number" does not represent reality. The VA did not say it was "22 a day" when we consider the detail of the reports they released since 2012.

The number "22" was taken from limited data from just 21 states. The report cautioned against using it as the definitive outcome of tremendous loss of life far beyond what wars have claimed.

This is what was in the article from WTKR

On average, 22 veterans and active duty personnel take their own life every day. That number is even more staggering when you consider the fact that veterans make up just 7 percent of the population, but account for 20 percent of all suicides in this country, according to the group.

Mindful of the fact that the suicide rate among first responders is also rising, the Virginia Beach Fire Department is once again answering the call for support from END 22.

Well, maybe that is a approbate title of "End 22" since we need to end that conversation. It does not work!

The latest report from the VA has the known number of veterans committing suicide has not changed, even though we lost millions of veterans since 1999 when the known number was also 20 a day. As bad as that is, there are only 22 states tracking the number of veterans in their state committing suicide.

What makes all this worse is that the numbers released from the VA only go up to 2015. What happened to the following three years is anyone's guess. That is the biggest problem of all since too many are "guessing" instead of knowing.

What we do not know is how many are left out of the reports. 

Honorably discharged veterans were considered veterans but when there is anything other than that type of discharge, they are not even considered worth mentioning. Does not seem to matter that many of them had multiple deployments, but were kicked out because of untreated PTSD.

Veterans who moved out of the country are not counted in any of these reports. The list goes on, but basically, you get the idea of what all these "efforts" to raise awareness do not know. All of the reports from the VA also state the vast majority of veterans committing suicide are over the age of 50, yet these men and women have been left out of news reports and all the "awareness" being passed around on social media.

If they are not talking about the reality veterans face on a daily basis, lazy reporters won't report the facts and then the general public, contrary to also held belief, are not on social media, will assume "awareness" shared is all they need to know.

This has turned into a billion dollar industry with results akin to a great advertising campaign for snake oil salesmen hawking their useless cure!

What we do know is that the Department of Defense releases quarterly reports for all branches. Sure, they are a little late of the releasing of the data, but it gives us an idea of what is actually failing, since the numbers have remained consistently averaging 500 a year since 2012.

This shows the numbers of active duty suicides from 2017, along with a chart from 2012.

Since the VA is unable to update their research, we need to consider those numbers as a basis for understanding what is not working so we can stop sucking at preventing suicides.

Social media is robbing veterans and others of the chance to find hope that their next day can be better than this lousy day is!

How do expect the outcome to be changed if we continue to repeat what failed?

In 2013 The Warrior Saw, Suicides After War was published using publicly available data and news reports proving that Congress, the DOD and the VA spent billions, but had nothing to show for any of it. 

Military and veteran suicides are higher even though billions are spent every year trying to prevent them. After years of research most can be connected to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD has been researched for 40 years yet most of what was known has been forgotten. Families are left blaming themselves for what they were never told. Reporters have failed to research. Congress failed at holding people accountable. The military failed at giving them the help they need. We failed to pay attention.

We paid for it with our taxes, but veterans paid for it with their lives.

We should have changed the conversation that was started back in 2003! That is when I wrote For the Love of Jack, His War/My Battle. Which is still for sale even though the publisher Xlibris was supposed to stop printing it!

and this was the answer back then!

But why should they be different than all the others making money off the suffering that has been going on for decades?

Veterans and families cannot afford lawyers to do a class action lawsuit against the DOD, the VA or the people making money while producing a delusion! 

We're all just supposed to settle for what we are told and they get away with it because no one can afford to sue for wrongful deaths in the thousands any more than I can afford to sue Xlibris! 

Back in 2003 I wanted to warn people about what was coming on PTSD and suicides. I ended up giving the book away for free, considering I was not making money from my work or my life. I am still not making money trying to save lives. Hell, that is what this was supposed to be about! Wasn't it?

VA (DEA) program will be reduced from 45 months to 36 months

Changes coming to Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance program

Department of Veterans Affairs

July 3, 2018

Effective August 1, 2018, the entitlement available under the Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance (DEA) program will be reduced from 45 months to 36 months, but in October, the monthly allowance for eligible recipients will increase.

These changes, part of the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017, aka “Forever GI Bill,”were passed by Congress last summer.

The DEA program offers education and training opportunities to eligible dependents of Veterans who are permanently and totally disabled due to a service-related condition, or of Veterans who died while on active duty or from a service-related condition.

DEA benefits may be used for degree and certificate programs, apprenticeships and on-the-job training.  Surviving spouses-can use benefits for correspondence courses and remedial, deficiency and some approved refresher courses.

What you need to know now:

• If you’re already taking classes, or will start taking classes by July 31, 2018, you remain eligible for up to 45 months of education entitlement benefits
• Beginning Oct.1, 2018, all students will see a significant increase in the monthly benefit

Eligible DEA recipients will be entitled to a monthly allowance of:

• $1,224 for full-time coursework, compared to $1,041 currently as of Oct. 1, 2017
• $967 for three-quarter time coursework, compared to $780 currently as of Oct. 1, 2017
• $710 for half-time coursework, compared to $519 currently as of Oct. 1, 2017

These increases go into effect Oct. 1, 2018.

To find out more about DEA benefits, please visit the DEA page on our website.

Call us if you have questions!

If you have further questions about your entitlement or eligibility, please call 1–888-GI-BILL-1 (1–888–442–4551). If you use the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD), the federal number is 711. You can also visit the Forever GI Bill website at FGIB website.

As always, be sure to follow us on Facebook and on Twitter at @VAVetBenefits. These give you quick and helpful updates.

Lawsuit: Sheriff fired Deputy because of PTSD?

Army veteran diagnosed with PTSD sues over firing from sheriff's office
NJ.com
Matt Gray
July 6, 2018

Several of John McMickle's co-workers at the Gloucester County Sheriff's Office visited the U.S. Army veteran as he mourned the death of a friend in February 2017.

While McMickle wasn't a drinker, he had several alcoholic beverages that night and ended up in the hospital.

The events of that evening would eventually lead to his firing, and McMickle has filed a suit claiming the county discriminated against him.

McMickle was honorably discharged in 2006 after serving six tours, according to attorney Kevin Costello, and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder related to his service.

The veteran believes, according to the suit filed in Superior Court, that the county treated him unfairly based on his disability, rather than anything he actually did wrong.

Following his trip to the hospital, a health and welfare check was conducted "and no issues were identified." Despite that finding, McMickle's gun and ammunition were removed from his home, the suit states.
read more here

Call to help Iraq Veteran, left him beaten

Army vet sues St. Tammany sheriff, deputies over alleged beating, possible brain injury
The New Orleans Advocate
BY SARA PAGONES
JUL 6, 2018

On Jan. 21, Cambre posted on social media that he was struggling. When friends began calling him, he didn't answer the phone, prompting someone to call the Pearl River police and request a check on his welfare. Jessica Picasso, a Pearl River officer, and a paramedic with St. Tammany Fire Protection District No. 11 responded to the call, the suit says, and tried to convince Cambre to go to the hospital.

Army veteran Chris Cambre, who says he was beaten by St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's deputies during a welfare check in January, is shown the following day with a facial laceration.
Photo provided by Chris Cambre

Chris Cambre, an Iraq War veteran who claims he was severely beaten by St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office deputies in January, has filed a federal lawsuit claiming his civil rights were violated by excessive use of force and an unauthorized search of his Pearl River home.

The suit, filed Thursday, names Sheriff Randy Smith and five deputies individually. But it also names Smith in his official capacity, alleging he showed deliberate indifference to civil rights by failing to adequately train officers and commanders or discipline them. It also accuses the Sheriff's Office of covering up misconduct.

The suit alleges that the same culture at the Sheriff's Office and such violations existed before Smith took office two years ago.

The situation changed, according to the lawsuit, when the Sheriff's Office sent deputies at the request of Assistant Fire Chief Matt Parrish. A Pearl River incident report, not cited in the lawsuit, says Parrish had instructed a dispatcher to send backup because of Cambre's military training and prior comments he had made about committing "suicide by cop."

When deputies arrived at Cambre's trailer home they had their rifles drawn, the suit says, but they secured them in Picasso's police unit after Cambre showed that he was not armed.

None of the deputies asked Picasso to brief them or asked her if Cambre was being aggressive, the suit alleges.

Cambre was taken to a local hospital by an ambulance, but none of the deputies accompanied him, the suit says, even though Picasso told them she was the only officer on duty in Pearl River that night. 

read more here