We love our Veterans “really”.

We love our Veterans “really”.

This Memorial Day as a twenty-year Air Force service veteran I was sitting down missing my Vietnam-era Army veteran brother, Jerry Posey. He died in December 2020 after a long series of injuries attributed to being shot in the Back in Vietnam. He barely survived the war but eventually was overcome by its consequences.

I just want everybody to know that even though your country talks a good talk about how they support Veterans, there is a downside few want to talk about.

After all the ceremonies and hoopla thanking veterans for their service, today sit down and write your public officials, President, Congressional people, etc,  about the following issues on behalf of all veterans:

• Unwilling to inform and accommodate key family members at critical points in the illness
• Lack of communication and individualized treatment plans to share with all involved in treatment efforts
• Uncoordinated treatment access and integrated processes and procedures
• Third-rate treatment facilities at many stages. Some animal shelters might be rated better.
• Enabling additive and harmful pharmaceutical treatment regimens and drug therapy
• Bureaucratic delays and obstruction to timely treatment resources and information
• No sense of service oversite or evaluation of the performance of staff and program outcomes in all program areas.
• No holistic approach to psychological /physiological patterns of behavior of patient as seen by family or recommended and presented by various providers.
• Failure of outcomes not adequately addressed.
• Lack of support for external family members in recovery and healing processes.
• Lack of professional social workers and behavioral professionals necessary to address ongoing and advancing illness.
• No end-of-life counseling or planning for anticipated death consequences.
• No method to provide levels of transparency to families
• A general alienation of family and support groups. Sometimes using intimidation tactics to avoid interventions.
• Financial care resources/benefits are not adequate to provide end-of-life care commiserate with commercial market prices and services. The veteran must be declared indigent to be qualified for inpatient services.
• Oh I forgot, black veterans face persistent ongoing racism into the grave!!!!!!!!

 Yeah, we love our veterans.