The town hall is held every quarter in an an effort to improve communication with veterans and offer direct feedback. Some of the other prominent issues that veterans stressed were job assistance, prosthetics and federal approval of medical marijuana.
“I thought tonight was very constructive,” said Richard Beam, chief of VA Long Beach’s Public Affairs services and moderator of the event. “It’s very easy at these events for veterans to come and be really frustrated about their particular issue, and maybe they feel this is the only venue for them to voice their frustration…They want to know about the bigger issues that impact not only one veteran, but 20 or 30 or 40. The issues that were brought up were great, just listening and looking at them. And if we act on some of these suggestions we can help all veterans with just one effort.”
Some of the officials on hand to answer any questions were Michael Fisher, director of VA Long Beach; Jill Dietrich, associate director of VA Long Beach; Dr. Farrukh Merchant, MD; and Robert Kenrick, director of the LA Regional Office.
Veterans mentioned a lack of parking spaces around the VA Long Beach center. Primarily, they mentioned how Cal State Long Beach students and nearby residents often occupy the parking spaces in front of the hospital when they are not supposed to.
Dietrich said that VA Long Beach security has recently begun scouring through the parking spaces in order to give tickets to unauthorized vehicles parked in those spots. She also mentioned that a newly adopted three-year plan will give veterans a new parking garage within that time.
As of now, the project has no official title or additional information, according to Dietrich. The garage will be on the northwest side of the hospital, and the VA is currently going through the process of awarding the contract. Dietrich said she believes a lot of parking issues will be solved by this project.
“I think we’ve got some plans that will spark conversations moving forward and continue to change this facility and make it better for everyone involved,” Dietrich said. “The issues were across the board. I feel people brought out a lot of what was bugging them, and I feel like we answered appropriately.”
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Veterans-2.png” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”Robert Kenrick, director of the LA Regional Office (left), assisted veterans with any personal issues at the conclusion of the VA Long Beach Healthcare System’s town-hall meeting Tuesday night. Kenrick was one of many officials present at the meeting to answer questions. ” captionposition=”left”] VA Long Beach’s service was criticized by some. Veterans detailed some of their experiences, such as the front office providing false information, that diagnoses were at times slow or misinterpreted, prosthetics were not an adequate size and that there was a potential risk of overmedication.
Fisher responded to these claims and expressed a sense of disbelief when he heard about the supposed bad service in the front office. He agreed that the issues needed to be fixed and that a plan has been in discussion about providing easier accessibility of resources, such as prosthetics, at a faster rate. However, specificity and a timetable were not given for this plan.
Dron Battan, a longtime patient of VA Long Beach, said that the hospital failed to diagnose his kidney problems and that he had to go to an outside private doctor that eventually told him that he had stage-3 kidney disease.
“It’s interfering with us being compensated and treated properly,” Battan said of the VA’s service. “For God’s sake, let’s think of all the veterans that may have come to the VA for help and were turned away.”
He went on to say during the town hall that he gets tired of repeating himself and going through the “same ol’ song and dance” every time to get someone to respond back to his needs. “I feel like I’m on a time bomb and I don’t when my time will be up,” Battan said.
Officials advised him to get assistance after the meeting.
Other issues about service extended to job opportunities and that the front office was rejecting people it deemed unqualified or ineligible to apply. Kenrick and Fisher both said to meet up with individuals after the town hall in order to gain assistance.
As far as medical marijuana was concerned, VA Long Beach cannot prescribe the drug unless it has federal approval. Merchant said the only exception would be if patients have received joint approval from an outside doctor and VA Long Beach to take medical marijuana alongside other medications, but even then, the VA would not be the one prescribing it.
The town hall concluded with an open mic and had veterans urge the VA Long Beach to get them the assistance they need because “lives are at stake here.”
In the future, there will also be consideration to extend the town-hall meetings from an hour and a half to two hours.
Scott Holcomb, a veteran who was stationed in Vietnam as part of the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1969, praised Fisher and the rest of the VA for showing up, standing their ground and not running away from questions.
“Town hall always winds up being an interesting forum because it allows us to communicate with the staff, and it’s amazing that after almost a year and a half they have been able to get all these people that we can actually talk to,” Holcomb said. “It doesn’t necessarily propagate down to action, but it is a voice that constantly comes out and allows us to talk.”
