Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead!

The talking heads are really jumping all over this one....Eric Shinseki, long waits for veterans, double lists, etc. What a field day for everyone!  I can only hope that when the dust has settled, or, even while it is still flying, that our VA and our veterans who use it, will be recognized for their battle to retain their very special hospital in an unusually peaceful and calming place.

Many, including some in power, have been aware of this disgraceful situation for many years. It is complex, incestuous and self-serving for many in management. Money corrupts, be it in the form of bonuses or promises of power. The VA is a massive and deeply independent institution.

You have heard it before...."follow the money.." In truth it should be "follow the veterans who seek timely treatment in a caring and understanding institution."

One leader resigning is not slaying the dragon. There are too many dragons feeding off of the "bounty of the county" (correction, country). But there are those joining in the rejoicing. Perhaps it is only a symbolic gesture, perhaps it will be the beginnings of cleaning house, or maybe it will be something in between. Whatever the outcome, maybe, just maybe, our VA in Hot Springs, SD will be saved and grown in order to serve, heal and house those men and women who have served us.

There is another saying, "Hope springs eternal..."

The Merry Month.....

The daffodils have long passed, the tulips are still in blossom, the lilacs are beginning their fragrant emergence and the apple, cherry and plum trees are in full show everywhere in town.

It has been a cold spring here in the Black Hills. The numerous tall stalks with tightly closed buds had shot forth days ago but the blossoms held back, perhaps waiting for the warmer weather. Suddenly, last week, as if on cue with the warming temperatures, the buds opened almost all in tandem, to display round, rich purple flowers, while the others are opening to deep orange petals.

Our apple tree outside my office window strutted its beauty of pink, delicate blossoms for about a week. It was absolutely gorgeous but now, after a few strong winds, it stands starkly green, the pink strewn over the yard and driveway while some, clinging to the bottoms of our shoes, trickle onto the back or front porches.

It seems that this May has been more colorful than usual. Perhaps we are being compensated in some way for the ordeal of an unusually cold winter. It is easy to forget the winds and cold when startled by the brilliance of red, yellow, pink, orange,purple and lavender everywhere, everywhere I look, everywhere I walk.

Welcome Spring!

Beneath the Avalanche

You know those days....the ones where you feel overwhelmed, covered with too much to do, too little time, etc, etc. Well I was having one last night. I had attended a rally protesting the opening of in-situ uranium mining in our beautiful Black Hills and arrived home to a phone call from someone needing assistance, an email about the Environmental Impact Study regarding saving our VA now in process and needing our written comments, another email from someone working on my web site needing immediate attention, and......I sorta lost it!

Today, in the light of another day, I am looking at everything more clearly. The most helpful was a poem that I received from a friend who is likewise overwhelmed with issues. I am digesting it as I write and will now pass it on to my readers.

"GOLDEN RETRIEVALS"          BY MARK DOTY

Fetch? Balls and sticks capture my attention
seconds at a time. Catch? I don't think so.
Bunny, tumbling leaf, a squirrel who's - oh
joy - actually scared. Sniff the wind, then

I'm off again: muck, pond, ditch, residue
of any thrillingly dead thing. And you?
Either your sunk in the past, half our walk,
thinking of what you never can bring back,

or else you're off in some fog concerning
--tomorrow, is that what you call it? My work:
to unsnare time's warp (and woof!), retrieving,
my haze-headed friend, you. This shining bark,

a Zen master's bronzy gong, calls you here,
entirely, now: bow-wow, bow-wow, bow-wow.

An Amazing Veteran

First the VA cut the funding for veterans in treatment in the domiciliary to use our health club. (The Plunge).

Next our city allowed them access to the Plunge for $2.00 with the meal card used as proof they were in the Dom.

Then the VA called the Plunge and told them that they could not allow this. First they used the word "confidentiality", then they said "we cannot endorse use of the card", and the latest is something about the VA not allowing this for whatever.....

A veteran who went through treatment in the Dom and realized the importance of the Plunge in the healing process called someone at the Dom and asked how they could make this work for the benefit of the veterans. No response.

Today this same veteran went to the Dom and asked the person in in-take if she could print up a card in the packet that all veterans receive on entry into the treatment programs that told them that they could have entry into the Plunge for the reduced fee if they showed the card. This card eliminates the other reasons and would be exclusive to our local VA facility.

Sounds like a win-win for everyone. It will be brought up at a staff meeting on Monday. We are waiting to see what comes out of this jumble of regulations, restrictions and "word games" that has prevented our veterans who served, being served by our community, the Veterans Town of Hot Springs, SD.

Whatever the outcome, my hat is off to this veteran who does not see "problems", but rather looks for "solutions" and keeps searching until he finds one. He continues to serve.

Does the VA Really Care About Our Veterans?

Wait just one minute here. What are the ads from the VA touting on TV? "Hire veterans." Veterans, call this number for help." Etc,etc.

Then, on the other hand, are the numerous suicides, and recent Phoenix VA scandals, VA backlogs and rural VA closures around the country. What is wrong with this picture? We send our soldiers to other countries to "protect our freedoms," but when they return they wait months for care, become homeless, lose jobs and get lost in the cracks of our "freedoms".

We in the Veterans Town face this reality daily. The VA is trying to close one of the best VA facilities in this country for PTSD, substance abuse, brain trauma and other emotional issues located for over 100 years on the hill overlooking our town. They have been bleeding services over the past 15 years as I have written about in my book, Reveille in Hot Springs.

Recently I wrote about the VA cutting the funding for our veterans in our domiciliary to enjoy the facilities of our local health club known as The Plunge. Our city, which now owns the Plunge, decided that these veterans should not be penalized from the use of our healing mineral waters, and told the veterans that they could gain access for a $2.00 fee. The VA (funded by taxpayers) would pay nothing. We thought it was a win-win for the veterans and the VA.

Guess what? Are you ready for this? This week two of the employees at the VA called the Plunge to tell them (tell them--not ask, not negotiate, not talk to the mayor who is in charge) that veterans could no longer show their meal tickets as identification for the reduced fee for use of all of the facilities of the Plunge health club. They used some lame excuse such as confidentiality. I say lame because only recently the VA paid several thousand dollars a year for the veterans to make use of the Plunge by showing proof of their being in treatment in the Dom. The veterans who may have been concerned about confidentiality would pay full price for admittance or would not go to the Plunge. It was their decision.

What is wrong with this picture? Does this show a caring VA? Are they really interested in helping our veterans regain a place in society? This VA was built here originally because of the serene, beautiful valley with the warm, flowing mineral waters. Now the veterans who cannot afford full rates, many of whom are homeless at this time, will be denied a support to their healing.

The VA is not choosing win-win, but rather, it seems to me, a lose-lose. But someone must win in all of this. We know it is not the veterans, the town or the taxpayers. Who stands to gain from this mess?