All across America and around the world, this
is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. And
now, your host for today's program, Dale Throneberry.
Welcome to Veterans Radio. My name is Dale Throneberry,
and we're really excited to have you here today.
We're going to be talking about a number of different
things. It is our benefits program, and we've
got kind of a... mishmash of little stories that
we're going to be talking about. We're going
to be starting off talking about a fundraiser
here on our local area. Then we're going to be
talking about some VA healthcare issues that
are going on out there. And then we're going
to be bringing on our experts on the benefits
side, the veteran healthcare programs out there.
So stick around, make sure that you pay attention.
And we've got a lot of things going, as I said,
mentioning for you today to talk about. And before
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your donations would be tax deductible. Yay,
right? All right, so thank you very much for
your support. Moving right along. All right,
there's an event coming up locally this coming
Thursday, and it's all about a local resident.
His name is Bob Arvin, and Bob was a West Point
graduate. went to Vietnam, earned a Silver Star
and unfortunately was killed over there. So we're
doing a fundraiser this week and I've got two
people from the organization. Let me make sure
I get this right. Number one is Rebecca Euford.
She is the past president of the West Point Parents
Club of Michigan. And there was a documentary
made about Bob Arvin. It's called Where the Brave
Dare to Tread. And the producer is joining us
also, and that's Brian Krueger. So Rebecca, I'm
going to start off with you. Welcome to Veterans
Radio. Thank you. Thank you very much for the
invitation to be here. OK, so tell me what's
coming up. Yes, on Thursday at 6 o 'clock, we
have a reception and then a screening of the
documentary that Brian's going to get to tell
you about. Bob Arvin who was an Ypsilanti hometown
hero, grew up in Ypsilanti and valedictorian
of his high school class and headed off to West
Point where he had a very distinguished career,
earned a lot of awards while he was there including
being the first captain which is sort of the
highest ranking cadet at West Point. He graduated
in 1965 and had a very distinguished career,
albeit short, in the United States Army. In the
short amount of time that he served, he made
such an impression that West Point has built
and named its Cadet Physical Development Center,
which is the largest building on post 500 ,000
square feet. It's named after Bob Arvin. So this
guy is a real hero to our nation as well as here
in Michigan. And this is the 60th anniversary
of his graduation from West Point. And although
I never knew Bob Arvin, it has been my honor
to get to know some of his remarkable classmates
from West Point. And I just wanted to do what
we could at the West Point Parent Club of Michigan
to make sure this story is told again for another
generation. Well, it's an amazing story. And
the documentary was made by Brian Krueger. Brian,
welcome to Veterans Radio. Thanks, Dale. Thanks
for having me on the show. Thank you for being
here. This guy is really a unique. Was a really
unique young man In addition to being you know,
a local hometown boy makes good kind of story
As even as a result of his his dying the legacy
has continued on and that's where you come in
because can you tell me a little bit about What
you know of Bob and also your documentary? Yeah,
so I also grew up in Ypsilanti and lived in Ypsilanti
up until 1977 when my family moved to Chelsea.
So I went to the same high school as Bob, and
10 years later, after coming back from Chelsea,
going to Eastern Michigan and becoming a teacher,
I taught at Ypsilanti High School as well. So
I have that in common with Bob. And over the
years, when I started my company in Buddy Morehouse
and I, my writer, we started to make documentaries.
We were approached by Kirk Prophet and Roy Wilbanks
and some others who, and Roy Wilbanks knew and
wrestled with Bob Arvin at Ypsilanti High School
and Tino Lambros and some of Bob's friends. And
they approached me, they were part of the Bob
Arvin Foundation, which for years had raised
money for Bob Arvin, for the Bob Arvin Foundation
to give scholarship money to deserving high school
students in the area. It was really successful.
Over 100 kids received scholarship money in Bob's
honor. Anyway, Kurt approached me and Roy Wilbanks,
Tino Lambrose said, hey, you've been making a
lot of documentaries, some about Ypsilanti and
a lot about Michigan. Why don't you make something
about Bob? And at the time, I was involved in
a film about Art Daris, Pinky Daris, out in Hamtramck.
And I thought, well, let me revisit this when
I'm done with this. And I revisited it. And I
almost didn't start it until I started thinking
about the fact that you start losing these guys.
over the years. And these guys are starting to
get on and age a little bit. And I started to
look more and more into Bob's story. And if you
peel back the onion in Ipsy, it doesn't take
too many layers to find Bob's story. So I started
in on that project. And I'm so glad I did. Because
it was about, I think it was 2015 I started on
the project. And when you make a documentary
like this, you get really involved in the community.
and the people of whoever the subject is you're
doing the movie on. And it has been an absolute
honor to be involved with the people from West
Point, starting with Walter Orline, who's been
a huge part of making all of this go forward.
So we made this film and I made it. That's the
most unique movie I've ever made. It's a lot
of the documentaries I made. I've had I've had
them on PBS before and I major league baseball
network. This one was a little different. I crafted
this film for two audiences specifically. The
one audience was for all of my friends in Ypsilanti
and all of Bob's friends in Ypsilanti who knew
him as the class president, the nicest guy in
class, the head of the debate team in drama club,
quarterback of the football team, all around
kid and valedictorian. They knew that story and
they knew that Bob. Then they went off to West
Point. And the guys in Ypsilanti didn't really
know much about Bob and West Point and Vietnam
until unfortunately he was killed in 1967. So
I made it for the group of Ypsilanti people to
know Bob, to appreciate Bob. But I also made
it for the West Point guys. So when Bob gets
to West Point, they knew that he came from this
goofy town that some of them couldn't pronounce.
So it says, what's Ypsilanti? So I sort of made
it for the West Point guys to understand Bob's
Ypsilanti years. And I made it for the Ypsilanti
crowd to understand his West Point years. And
it's worked really well on that level. However,
we started showing it around to high schools
and to some communities outside of Ypsilanti
and the story resonated. So when the movie came
out, we donated a DVD to every library in the
state of Michigan, to every public library in
the state of Michigan through generous foundations
that were all spearheaded by Walter Orline. But
over the years, and really in the past, unfortunately,
five years or so. I always audit where my movies
end up. The libraries had either lost the DVDs
or they had been destroyed. Just DVDs, they can
disappear, they can be wrecked and all. So I'm
going back through to all 397 library organizations,
and there's over 600 libraries, but a lot of
them are parts of organizations. I want to go
through and make it available for streaming to
all libraries in perpetuity. So this will be
something that won't go bad, and they can always
use it. And whoever goes into whatever library
in the state of Michigan, they too can learn
the story of Captain C. Robert Arvin, Captain
Bob Arvin. So that's what this fundraiser is
for on Thursday, is to try to create awareness
for folks who want to donate to that, to get
this film in all of the public libraries in the
state of Michigan. And it's not just the streaming
of the film, but it's also ancillary products
from the film, telegrams, images, letters that
didn't make the film cut, but are also part of
that package. And it's really just to try to
get Bob Arvin's name always solidified in the
minds and the hearts of people of not only Ypsilanti,
but the state of Michigan. And unfortunately,
I think if I stopped 100 people in Ypsilanti
right now and asked them who Bob Arvin was, maybe
if I got five people, to know who he was, I would
be amazed. And I want to change that. So that's
what this is about. Well, that's a great worthwhile
thing. And for those of us that live in the area,
there was a VFW over there. It was a Bob Arvin
VFW. But unfortunately, like many other veterans
organizations, we're starting to lose our members
really rapidly. And it was forced to close. But
the film itself is beautiful. Brian, I just want
to make sure that I got that out. He uses drones
like you wouldn't believe. These things are so
cool. I mean, wherever you are in the country,
this is the point I'm trying to make here, is
that Bob Arvin is the classic, you know, kid
from high school that's successful and you know
is the valedictorian the coat you know the quarterback
all these other things goes off to west point
does exactly the same thing he's the you know
the head guy of his class now he's got a building
them you get a building named after you at west
point that means you did something really special
yeah when all the other buildings are named after
guys like purging and eisenhower and grant things
like that and then you've got the the arvin building
which is the largest building on campus that
turns your head a bit, and that makes you say,
who was this guy? And that's why I think it's
important for people of Ypsilanti to know that
as well. But you're right. I got to tell you
though, as astonished I was about Bob and everywhere
I turned, and those guys would be about 80 years
old now. And like a lot of West Point, Grads
over the years. They end up being captains of
industry, you know So I found a lot of them in
fortune 500 companies in the c -suites and all
and to a man and a woman they would say that
had Bob lived it They are just completely convinced
that he would have been president of the United
States. He was that guy he had he not only Drew
the respect of everyone but he respected everyone
and and that's that's sometimes a really really
hard combination to get But I'll tell you one
more thing. As astonished as I was with Bob,
when I got to West Point and I got to meet all
the cadets, not all the cadets, but a lot of
the cadets at West Point, my wife and I were
honored to be able to watch some of the parades.
We sat in the superintendent's suite and watched
it in the morning and watched all these cadets.
When I met all of the cadets that I met, they're
like Bob. So while Bob was very, very exceptional,
the cadets at West Point are amazingly amazingly
exceptional. And if you don't walk out of there
more patriotic than when you walked in, there's
something wrong with you. Well, that's a point.
So now we want everybody to walk into the theater
on Thursday night, which is the 8th. And where
is it going to be, Rebecca? Where is this being
held? At the Canton Imagine Theater on Ford Road.
Yeah, it's easy to find. Imagine with an E. Imagine
theater. Yeah, and I want to say that that Arvin's
inspiration, you know, I got connected to this
also through Walter Orline a couple of years
ago. I was working an event and Walter stepped
in and was very, very supportive there. And really
it was through getting to know some of Bob Arvin's
remarkable classmates that I've been motivated
to you know, try to get this going. But one thing
that has never been seen before that we're going
to show at the very end of this is the connection
to the Long Gray Line. If you have any experience
with West Point, you know that once a cadet graduates,
they enter the Long Gray Line. So I have a son
who graduated in 2022. He's now a member of the
Long Gray Line. And the current Michigan cadets
have a message for everyone that will be attending
on Thursday. So I think it's just a great sort
of connection and shows really that Bob Arvin's
spirit is still with us today and inspiring.
Yeah. Okay. Well, I think that we couldn't promote
it any more than that. So we encourage people
from all over Southeast Michigan, Northern Ohio,
wherever you are, to come on over to Canton,
Michigan to the Imagine Theater at six o 'clock
on Thursday, the eighth of May to see the documentary
called Where the Brave Dare to Tread, the Bob
Arvin story. And I want to thank you both very
much for coming. And maybe I'll see you there
Thursday night. Thank you, Dale. And also, if
I could mention one more thing. If you can't
make the film... or the screening, but you'd
like to donate to this cause, you can go to bobarvin
.org. It's a website and you can learn all about
Bob there. The images, the story, when he was
at Vietnam, before he was at Vietnam. It's an
interesting website and you can also donate to
the cause. There's a donate to libraries button
on every page. Just scroll down and you'll find
it and you can make a donation to this cause
as well and that's bobarvin .org. Okay. Thank
you both very much. Thank you. Thanks for having
us. All right. We're going to take a real quick
break right now and play our Medal of Honor segment.
And then when we come back, we are going to be
talking with Russell Lemuel or Suzanne Gordon.
And they're going to be talking about what's
going on between the VA and private health care.
So that's our message next. So stick around.
You're listening to Veterans Radio. The Medal
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we're back here on Veterans Radio. I don't know
where all of you get your information about what's
going on in the military or what's going on in
the VA, but I get this feed every day, it seems
like, from an organization called military .com.
And there was an article in there just this last
week that was talking about some of the problems
that the VA is having, of course, with what's
going on out there, because people don't really
know exactly what is going to happen with the
VA in the near future. But anyway, the issue
was with the community health plan, where the
director of the VA wants to, I don't know what
you want to call it, shift more of the care for
veterans into private networks. And so we brought
two people on that wrote an article about this,
and they are from the Veterans Healthcare Policy
Institute, which is a nonpartisan think tank.
We've got Suzanne Gordon, who is a senior policy
analyst, and Russell, can you pronounce your
last name, Russell? Happy to, it's Lemley. Lemley,
okay, Russell Lemley, he's also a senior policy
analyst. I want to welcome you both to the program,
Suzanne and Russell. Well, we're delighted to
be here. Thanks so much for the invite Okay So
Suzanne, I wanted to ask you the about the article
about what you feel like is happening at the
VA now with their possible shift in care Well,
I'm gonna I'm gonna bat that over to Russell
and and then I'll I'll talk afterwards because
I think he has led this project I'm looking at
the argument that the VA Secretary Doug Collins
is starting to make that the Veterans Community
Care Program that was started by the VA Mission
Act to outsource care to the private sector is
now more cost -effective and often, and he would
say, maybe even quality -effective than the VA.
And I sort of think Russell should begin the
conversation. I'll be glad to chime in. Even
though my name is easier to pronounce. Yes, it
is. Thank you. All right, Russell, let me tell
the audience. Yeah, I think there's a couple
ways to kind of dive into your question because
one has to do with out of the attempt to create
what are quote unquote more efficiencies at the
VA. There's a plan. underway to cut 80 ,000 positions
from the entire department, and we can assume
tens of thousands of those in the Veterans Health
Administration. The exact number of those hasn't
been revealed yet, but 80 ,000 positions overall.
So part of it is we can think what happens to
care that's delivered after those cuts happen,
and that's part of your question. And then there's
other ways of thinking about the same issue,
which is kind of the deliberate attempt to shift
more of healthcare out of the VA and into the
private sector, which is even independent of
whether or not there is 80 ,000 positions cut
or not, because Suzanne and I have been documenting
this actually for going on nine years where we've
seen a 15 to 20 percent increase in the private
sector budget of handling kind of healthcare
for veterans. And that increase has continued
unabated really for many years. So this is just
continuing a trend that's already been well underway.
Well, the issue I guess that I got from your
article in military .com was that the... you
know, the Community Access Act is, you know,
it's not a bad idea. It's for the veterans who
cannot get to their local VA hospital, you know,
all the time, because, you know, there aren't
hundreds and hundreds of VA hospitals out there.
But the thing that looks like what you're pointing
out is that it actually is going to cost more.
Right. Yeah. So they go to private physicians.
Yeah, I totally agree with both parts of what
you're saying. So we start acknowledging that
community care is a necessary supplement to what
the VA offers. What many people don't realize
is that's been true for almost the entire history
of the VA. It used to be called P -Basis before
2014 and it morphed into being called Choice
and then into what it's called now in terms of
community care. So there's always been that option
for veterans that live too far away or it would,
a service that they need is not available, either
at all or in a very timely way. What's happened
instead is something in terms of the outsourcing
and referral to the community, which is necessary,
is beginning to... increase at such a rapid rate
is that it essentially threatens the future of
the VA as it now exists. And your second point,
which is that it's been well documented that
the quality of care that's offered in the VA
is as good or better than what's offered in the
community for the vast majority of conditions
in which veterans are referred. If we look at
the serious outcomes around 30 -day mortality,
for veterans who are treated in community facilities
versus VA is that the VA has come out better
and that's well documented in the piece that
you just cited. So the quality metrics is that
the VA just as consistently as good or better
and then if you look at cost is that over half
a dozen different conditions from cardiac conditions
and surgeries to insomnia and many other medical
conditions is that when you do a head -to -head
comparison, is that the cost in the community
tends to be higher in part because there are
more procedures and more appointments and more
hospitalizations and so forth that are questionable
in terms of whether they're needed. But since
they are reimbursed, there's an incentive in
the community to offer kind of more care that
costs more. And can I ask, when they are reimbursed,
I'm not familiar because I'm fortunate enough
that I don't need to, you know, go outside the
VA health care system at all. But is there anything
that that limits what an outside physician can
charge for whatever it is? Versus or is it or
do they just submit their bill and there's no
negotiation back and forth? You know the short
answer for that and Suzanne obviously pick up
to augment is that yes, there is definitely a
a Cost that is already determined for a certain
procedure what there is not a limit on though
is what it is that you bill for, how many times
you bill. In other words, that kind of utilization
review is not contained, even though an individual
procedure has a known reimbursement attached
to it, which is, I think, what your question
was. Yeah, it's sort of like, you know, if you
go to the doctor and you have Blue Cross, Blue
Cross will only pay the doctor X amount for whatever
it is, that treatment. And I was wondering if
the VA does the same thing. Yes, Suzanne, is
there anything you want to add to that? Can you
hear me? Yeah, we can. You're a little bit low.
Yeah, I think there's a couple issues here that
Russell was trying to articulate. So let me give
you an example. Although there are limits to
the rates that these private sector providers
are paid, which is essentially Medicare rates,
There's no real utilization review, as there
are in other systems, of what they can recommend
or what procedures they deliver. So, for example,
you know, veterans, the biggest form of cancer
that veterans have is prostate cancer. The standard
of care for what is called clinically insignificant
prostate cancer which is, you know, essentially
prostate cancer that's not going to kill you.
You're more likely to get hit by a bus or die
of pneumonia than prostate cancer. The standard
recommended treatment of care is what we call
watchful waiting. That means you just monitor,
you know, PSA levels and so forth. In the VA,
studies have documented it's actually the only
healthcare system in America that uses standard
of care and if you are Joe Smith and you have
prostate cancer because of Agent Orange or whatever,
you know, and you go to the VA and it's clinically
insignificant, they will monitor it. If you go
to the private sector through the Veterans Community
Care Program, they are much more likely to give
you invasive radiation treatment or even surgery.
Now, and that's not because it's better for you,
it's because it's better for their bottom line.
That is actually unethical and really a patient
safety violation, but that is standard in the
private sector because it's more lucrative. Ditto,
if you go with a shoulder, knee, hip pain issue,
you're much more likely to get expensive surgery
than you are at the VA where you're more likely
to get PT. And this is in part because there's
no utilization review and because the financial
incentives in the private sector are profit -driven,
not mission -driven, and the financial incentives
in the VA are mission driven, not profit driven.
There's absolutely no reason for a surgeon in
the VA, you know, who is paid by salary to recommend
an unnecessary operation. It does not go, it
does not enhance his income whatsoever. And I
think veterans need to understand this, you know,
because it's, you know, we have a tendency, I
think, all of us to think the grass is greener
somewhere else. And it's not, and very often,
and while not every private sector provider does
this, but there's just a financial incentive
in the private sector to do more. You know, give
you unnecessary treatments, unnecessary medication.
Private sector cancer doctors mark up their chemotherapy
drugs. They're allowed to. So if they have a
financial incentive to give you that extra round
of futile chemotherapy, because they make money
not only for administering the drug, but from
a markup for the drug. Well, you know, that's
that's kind of discouraging when you when you
think about that. But as you were talking to
us, you know, at our particular VA, we have an
agreement with the University of Michigan. You
know, they they come and they they handle a lot
of the specialties. And I know many VA hospitals
work that way. So we don't get experimented on,
I don't think. I never felt that way. The one
thing about the VA healthcare system that I found
is that it is so specific to the veteran community.
you know, they know our tendencies, they know
that many of us have very similar issues, whether
they're results of injuries, you know, during
combat or if they're post -traumatic stress disorders
and so on and so forth, that maybe the outside
world cannot, doesn't treat quite as effectively.
Does that make sense? He's the one of you. Yeah,
I mean, Russell can speak to this in mental health
very adequate. I mean, effectively, I mean, if
100 % of your patient population is veterans,
then you're going to find out a lot about veterans
in order to care for them. In the private sector,
under the VCCP or any other plan, veterans would
represent something like 3 % of the patient population
of a one to actually probably one to 5 % of the
patient population of an average like, you know,
primary care doctor specialist. So that means
that that oncologist or part doctor or primary
care doctor might have five veteran patients
or maybe 100 veteran patients out of 2100. And
it's just, it doesn't make sense. They're very
overburdened the way they are. And it just doesn't
make sense for them to dedicate the hour after
hour after hour that someone like Russell who
worked in the VA taking care of veterans dedicated.
I mean, for five patients or 100 patients, I
mean, and I mean, I think Russell can talk really
effectively about, you know, the mental health
conditions that I think it's over 50 % of veterans
have, and there's absolutely no requirement that.
you know, non -VA mental health providers paid
for by our tax dollars to take care of veterans.
There's no requirement that they learn anything
about, you know, veterans' mental health conditions,
which, you know, Russell spent 37 years or 38
years learning how to deal with. Well, that is
true, because, Russell, I didn't get a chance
to mention that you worked for the San Francisco
VA health care system as a chief psychologist.
So I guess you know a little bit about treating
mental health issues for veterans. I guess I
guess my question for the for the two of you
could kind of wrap it up is that, you know, we
really want to encourage our veterans to utilize
the VA health system. Otherwise, they will find
the powers that be will find ways of transforming
it. Would you would you not agree to that? It's
a qualified yes, of course, because for almost
any condition, the VA is going to be as good
or better. And the ones that you mentioned a
few minutes ago that are very veteran -specific,
the VA is unquestionably going to give you better
care. It's going to be more evidence -based.
It's a requirement in the VA system that every
single VA medical center in large CBAC have staff
who have had very sophisticated training in things
like what you were saying in terms of PTSD that
just doesn't exist elsewhere. So for many conditions,
it's easy to say that it is worth waiting if
you want the best care, but that's not always
what is the most important to somebody. They
may not want the best care or they may not want
to wait. I think the... First part of your comment
is in terms of if there's interest in saving
The VA as a system and we should be thinking
about that because it is in jeopardy There's
a lot more than just going to get your care there.
I mean there's ways in which you can have your
voices heard in many respects to indicate that
for you as an individual veteran that you already
do rely on the VA and you don't want to see developments
that are continuing really as we speak that could
wind up with many inpatient and emergency room
facilities defunded and that care really transferred
automatically to the community because that becomes
policy. This is a subject that I think I would
really like to have you folks back on to talk
about more again in the future. And I know that
Russell, you have talked to my partner for a
podcast coming up later on in the month. I'm
not sure what your topic is, but because I think
it's important. I don't see the VA actually eliminating
80 ,000 jobs. I mean, they probably could find
some waste in there. But, you know, sometimes
these people just throw out numbers just to scare
us, I think. but I don't think they're gonna
get rid of that. Maybe I'm being very naive,
but I think that... I think we've got to figure
out how to support what is going on. Secretary
Collins was in Michigan just last week and had
brave reviews for all of the VA hospitals in
Michigan and what we do and, you know, that we've
got to, you know, maintain the strength of our
VA healthcare system. So I don't know what exactly
is going on out there, but I really do want to
thank both of you, Suzanne Gordon and Russell
Lemley, for being on Veterans Radio today. You
know, keep up the good work. I mean, these are
great articles and you guys are answering questions
that I think many of us have. You both write
for the Veterans Health Care Policy Institute.
That's where I, there's some really great information
on that website. I'm very delighted that you
go to it and can recommend it. So thank you,
Dale. Okay. Well, thank you both very much. Thank
you, Susan. Thank you, Russell, for being on
Veterans Radio. Thank you. Bye Okay, bye. Bye
All right. Well, I know we didn't solve the world's
problems there as far as the VA is concerned
But I wanted to get that information out to you
just to start thinking about it a little bit
So we're gonna bring in our best our benefits
expert here for the last 15 minutes of the program
Carol Anne Falzone, retired Air Force Brigadier
General. She also works with Legal Help for Veterans.
I guess I got to throw that little disclaimer
in there. But I find it interesting that we're
talking about these issues. And I guess that's
the thing is we got to talk about these issues.
We can't just let people run roughshod over everything.
No, I agree with you and that was extremely interesting
and and Dale, you know me It was really hard
for me to sit back and listen to this. So I have
a few comments Number one. I'm glad that the
VA is looking at and I think you're well aware
of this when the VA contracts say with a company
outside to get whether it's a blood pressure
done or another check or a colonoscopy or something
done on the outside as an exam to make it more
efficient because they're so backed up in a community
okay so they contract out for a procedure But
we've also been saying our veterans have been
calling us Which I'm very thankful for and we
do report it back if they feel like the veteran
got a poor exam We are asking them to notify
us because that's a contracted facility that
the VA is paying them money and so to the point
to the previous guests if the VA has this contract
and now you're doing the test over and over three
times to get a poor exam, that's a waste of money.
So that isn't very efficient at all. So when
you brought up the University of Michigan, who
is with U of M, I'd love the contracting out.
for specialties that maybe the VA doesn't have
the expertise. When I go see a physician, I want
to know if I'm having a procedure that that physician
who is caring for me has done it a thousand times
versus you're exploring on me and you're doing
it the second or third time. I understand students
and residents need to gain knowledge and experience,
but then do it with the expert, kind of do the
teaching role. So there's several issues out
there that I think it needs to be more efficient.
But the main issue for me is to take care of
our patients, our veterans, and to give quality
care, to render quality care. And if you're having
an emergency situation and where you live, I
think the VA has done a great thing and we've
talked about it. If you think you're having a
heart attack and your nearest VA is an hour down
the road, then you need to go the nearest facility
to take care of you when you're having an emergency.
So there's several issues we got to look at when
we're going into the community. I like the community
-based for the specialty. Services i'd like it
for when you've got a veteran who is rural and
you know you you can't get in as easily to the
VA. So you know there's the pros and cons of
this whole thing and i hope we don't throw the
baby at with the bath water and we look at some
of these issues and really see that we're delivering
quality of care. Well, I agree with you, Carol
Anne, on that. It's not that I disagree with
it. I think the mission of the VA is to take
care of the veteran community. And I don't want
that to get lost in all of this budget cutting
and everything else that's out there. And as
I said, Secretary Collins was out. He was in
Ann Arbor and Detroit. Battle Creek or something,
you know just last week and you know, he was
really touting what these facilities can do and
you know, you know the Cardiacs enough that's
going out there mental health, especially Yes,
and you know and and also that I agree with you
that We both have known Veterans who have been
sent by the VA to an outside facility to the
Cleveland Clinic, to the Mayo Clinic, to the
University of Michigan, to the University of
Texas, wherever, you know, wherever they can
get the superior care. Right. And that's, you
know, and that is I don't think that's going
to go away. No, and I hope it doesn't, because
you know what, Dale, the real critical thing
is the VA is the leader in all the research that's
going on. And when they send it to, you know,
MD Anderson in Texas, say, for a certain cancer,
or U of M, or another great facility, Cincinnati,
a burn unit. We don't have a burn unit at the
VA in Ann Arbor, but there's one at University
of Michigan. There's one in Cincinnati renowned.
So if those services could be given to our veterans,
I think that is wonderful because in most of
those, teaching facilities, they are doing research
hand in hand with the VA. And I think your guests
brought up something that I'm really firm on,
and that is consistency. I want to see the same
physician, I want to be able to them to monitor
my care. And then follow up if you know, with
my team at the VA, if I'm sent out, I think that
communication is critical for a veteran's care.
I think that's important for anybody's care,
you know, is that you have a dependable, you
don't see a different person every time you go
in to see your primary care. Absolutely. Doctor,
because you know, excuse me, you know, as much
as we don't like to admit it, we feel much safer
if it's the same person. Yes. you know, once
we get that relationship going a little bit more,
then when we go in and we not only do we tell
him what our condition is, we can say, Oh, how
are you doing? And, you know, it kind of brings
it more into that whole community, which I think
is so important. Well, you know it that one thing
I saw earlier this week Dale Yeah, I've I've
seen the number 80 ,000 thrown out now some have
already left on taking the retirement But they've
also seen the beautiful lift list of all those
exempt and a lot of those are in the health care
system Which I'm very thankful for your nurses
your doctors your social workers your chaplains
pivotal essential positions. And then the article
alluded to, it's not going to take this 80 ,000
from VHA, which is health care, 80 ,000 from
VBA, which is benefits. And then they even brought
up there is some trimming that has to go on,
which I was surprised, in the other tower, which
is the cemeteries in that area, because I think
that tower runs so unbelievably. But there might
be some more efficiencies or waste that needs
to be eliminated. That's what this article alluded
to. They're looking at all three towers and seeing
where there might be some reductions so that
they could have better efficiencies. I really
don't think that they want to destroy the VA
health system. And so everybody isn't gonna be
referred out. You know, we've got too many great
people in the VA system in the hospital side.
the health care side that I don't think c -box
are going to go away or outpatient. You know
we just what did we do here in our local area
we just opened four or five c -bots in the last
five ten years right that would be a huge waste
of energy and efficiency. Absolutely. Think about
the resources. I mean, the goal is to have a
facility you could go to within, I believe, 25
miles. I mean, here in Michigan, they've just
opened up Powell, Adrian, I think Chelsea. They've
got one in Selfridge. They've just opened up
the brand new one outside of Toledo, I think,
in Finley. Those are great services in this echelon
system of health care. Well, I thought I wanted
to touch back. I know we've only got a couple
of minutes left, but just to touch back on what
you were talking about, these outside contractors,
I think that that is something that does need
to be looked at, because through our both of
our experiences, some of them were just terrible.
And maybe, you know, if you get it, I'd rather
go for quality than for cost. You know, if you
if you're going to if you, you know, it's like,
you know, if you buy the cheapest thing out there,
sometimes it's not the best. And that's I mean,
I don't know. Yeah. And I don't know. I don't
know who decides who gets these contracts. But
it'd be nice if we could know that we're getting
the best of the best and at a good price. So
that's. we tell our veterans, if you go for an
exam and you feel like, and then we see the results.
If it was not a good exam, you know, the practitioner
or the provider maybe didn't answer your questions,
didn't, you know, you walk in and you take one
blood pressure and you're out the door and you've
now driven an hour. That's not efficient. And
then if we report that and you got to go again,
It's like, wait a minute, that's a double cost.
And we didn't get the results, good results.
So that's where I wish they take a look at some
of the contracted services. In the last couple
of seconds here, is there anything that you've
heard in the benefits side that we need to be
aware of? Are there any new conditions or hoops
that we need to jump through for anything? Well,
I would just tell you, I haven't seen anything
new we've talked about, but I see the processes
maybe trying to shore up that our claims and
things do not bounce around like to a couple
different ROs, which is regional offices, DROC,
a decision review center that only one area touches
your file and let's make a decision and let's
get this done quickly. I see too many times recently
that if you can't make a decision you send it
up to the board and it might sit up at the board
for you know a good lengthy period because they've
got all these increases. So I just think there's
some efficiencies on the VA side that could make
it a little better. Well, you know as usual we
want to make sure that we encourage anybody any
veteran that's out there Not only to register
at your local VA wherever that happens to be
get into this system because you can't do anything
until you're in the system and You know if you
do have any health conditions that you you feel
maybe could are You know related to your time
in the service that you should contact an organization
such as Legal Health for Veterans or your local
VSO. I know walking in probably into every VA
hospital in the country, as you go in the door,
VSOs are right there. to answer any questions.
And, you know, if you have any questions for
us, please contact us next time. You know, we
do this program every month on the first Sunday
of the month, and we would love to be able to
answer your questions. So you can send me an
email. That's dale at veterans radio dot org.
And we will bring up your story with our experts,
with Carol Ann and David, who didn't want wasn't
available today to talk about these things. This
is why we're here. uh you know dedicating this
time to helping you all out well you know dale
but the quickie is you know the other person
to con the county councilors out there we've
got 83 counties in michigan and there's county
councils whether called parishes or whatever
in your state but they're awesome resource to
go to and yes our colleague my colleague David
wasn't on today but he is a great help to reach
out into the community and the other thing is
you know a lot of veterans won't apply but if
your veteran dies and you're a spouse I've been
seeing a huge increase with DIC. the deaf indemnity.
And so sometimes you don't even know what you're
available for. So those widows out there, we've
seen an increase in that lately. And that's sorry,
because they still could have had that and their
veteran could have had a disability rating, but
chose never to apply for it. You don't apply,
you never know. There are other benefits we haven't
even talked about. Educational benefits for children
and so forth. Section 35 or something like that.
Maybe we could take a look at that next month
because I had a student in my own class this
year, this last semester, whose father is in
the military and there are benefits to go to
college, trade school and all kinds of things.
put that all together. So coming up here, we're
coming up on the end of the hour today. I want
to thank everybody for listening. Make sure that
you know that we've got you are our stories because
every veteran out there has a story. And that's
what our goal is, is to tell you as many stories
as we can. So, you know, you can listen to Veterans
Radio on our local broadcast stations, WAAM,
WDTK, WKMET out in California. You can listen
to us on podcasts. You can listen to us on Reets
Across America radio. So we're everywhere. We
drop two podcasts a week on Mondays and Tuesdays.
If you got a story you want to tell, let us know
about that, because we want to tell the story.
Just as they were talking about the Bob Arvin,
if we don't tell the stories, these people disappear.
And so we want to make sure that we keep telling
these stories, folks. That's up to you. So until
next week, this is Dale Thromery for all of us
here at Veterans Radio for Carol Anne Falzone.
Until then, you are dismissed. America, land
that I love. Stand beside her and guide her through
the night with the light from above. From the
mountains, through the prairies, to the God bless
America.