Of the tax-supported health care systems, the U.S. Veterans Affairs health care program is oft touted as the exemplar of a good government run health care system.
The Veterans Administration was originally founded to care for veterans who had served for a length of time in active duty. Currently VA health care is available to active military, veterans who have served in active duty and some other former servicemen and women who qualify under VA rules.
This afternoon I visited the “Athens Community Based Outpatient Clinic” a branch of the VA Medical Center based in Augusta GA. The facility provides primary care and mental health services to the estimated 35000 veterans in the NE GA area.
Until the Clinic was built a year ago, local Veterans had to travel two hours to the Augusta Medical Center for health visits.
Veterans with specialized health concerns, women’s health issues, surgeries and dental appointments still travel to Augusta.
After making several unsuccessful calls to arrange a walk-through or an interview at the clinic, I stopped by the clinic this afternoon hoping to speak with someone and to get a sense of the place.
Firstly, for a community based clinic the facility is located on Hwy 29 in Madison County outside of Athens. There have been some talks of opening another clinic in the former Navy school property in Athens, but no formal agreements have been made.
The facilities had ample parking and from the outside appeared fairly modern and clean. The only exception was a pile of building supplies and debris on one side of the parking lot. Later one of the patients in the waiting room explained that the clinic was still in construction.
A sign on the wall advertised that a Van to the Augusta hospital is available twice a week. Rules for riding the bus were as follows:
- Have a scheduled appointment
- Have no other means of transportation
- Have no funds for travel
- Agree to be transported directly to and from Augusta VAMC
- Are independently mobile or able to transfer
I wondered what sort of proof they required. I also wondered how someone with no means of transportation was able to get all the way out Hwy 29 to catch the VA van.
The waiting room was full and the single receptionist explained that there was not a resident chief of staff or director ‘in charge’ at the Athens clinic. He explained that the local clinic was run by the VA Medical Center in Augusta GA. None of the nurses or physicians would agree to talk to me except to say that they were always very busy. He did provide the name of a chief nurse at the Augusta hospital that he thought might speak with me.
4 comments:
Wow, I drive by that building all the time. I wondered who was occupying it. It has recently been renovated and looks nice. Too bad they could not have built it on the bus line.
Having a grandfather who fought in WWII still alive at 95, I have some concerns about modeling a "national health care system" after the VA system. He often has to go outside the VA to get the specialization he needs.
The health care benefit for our soldiers is good. They earned it by putting their life on the line. I think great strides are being made to make the system better--particularly in Augusta.
I shutter to move the country in that direction. There must be another way??
I too have concerns about modeling a national health care system after the VA one. But I think people like to have some example, some thing to point at and say, "this way is better than the other way," especially when they are trying to come up with a new and improved system.
And so far, from what I've learned the VA system operates a lot smoother than the other tax-supported systems.
I've been to the VA hospital in Birmingham and to the one in Augusta and there really is a world of difference. The Augusta hospital is much more modern, probably due to the partnership with the GA Medical College.
The quality really does seem to depend on where you go for VA healthcare.
I can't get that 350,000 figure out of my mind. How many counties does that reflect? What percentage of these veterans rely on VA for health care? I'm guessing most have employer-based insurance or have aged into Medicare. Does the VA system know how many veterans in the 10-county NE GA health district (or whatever other catchment area they use for data collection) rely on the VA for all their care?
This number would be a first step toward finding out how well the clinic you describe is serving these veterans' needs.
Local meetings about this clinic have been well-attended, and if you want to track down some patients I'd suggest contacting the local American Legion and VFW posts.
Thanks, I'll be investigating these questions.
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