From: jagmedic_us <jagmedic_us@...>
Subject: [gulflink] Re: ACGWV Gulf War meeting in Atlanta 2009 - commentary
To: gulflink@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, February 21, 2009, 10:39 PM

Comrades

I heard some of this committee meeting on the phone conference.

And it hurt to hear how many vets have been driven away from from going to

VA clinics due to attitiudes of primary care PA/doctors who are unable

to deal with patients with chronic multisympthom illness. They refuse to

order advance diagnostic tests, to save the health care system (or their own pockets) ?

Vets are getting relief for thier sympthoms in the Civilian sectors and going into debit

for it. Southwest Asia troops are not seening Infectious disease doctors in VA and the only

place vets can find Combat care is VAMC Seattle WA.

The only way I can get modern diagnostics is to take part in a VA study program,

which has help me greatly. I have had to leave home to get it. Yet survival and improve

quality of life is my objective and so far I have achived that.

With the turn down in the encomony will the WRIISCs and all the Advisory Committees

or Centers of Excellence go away? Just what I see

Jagmedic
--- In gulflink@yahoogroup s.com, "Kirt Love" <kirt@...> wrote:
>
> ACGWV Gulf War meeting in Atlanta 2009 - commentary
>
> This weeks meeting was pretty standard in many ways.
> There really were no surprises during the meeting that
> would rate a reaction. Well, not till the end.
>
> It was no shocker to me that when I walked through the
> VAMC it didnt have any Gulf War signs, displays, posters,
> or a Enviornmental Health coordinator. They just had C&P
> doubling as the GW Registry exam room. There are Gulf War
> signs on the walls but they are like hallways named after
> wars - as there was a Vietnam hallway and so on.
>
> Though they did presentations talking about all the Gulf
> War Registry exams they do, it was clear these were
> Phase 1 exams and not phase II or III. They claimed they
> made 1 WRIISC referral, and said it was recent. I scoofed
> having known there was another years ago that went very
> badly from Altanta. I know a few things about the Atlanta
> VAMC and its staff. But, as long as I am on the committee
> I cannot comment like I want publicly.
>
> A pleasant moment was to hear Bruce Rooney tell about the
> older days in Atlanta back in the early 90's. He talked about
> the PAC and then mentioned Paul Sullivan, Charles Sheehan
> Miles. So this was unique to have a VA employee talk about
> the way things have gone since then without being flowery or
> Pro-VA.
>
> Even though it was Atlanta, we got presentations from the primary
> VISN folks in Alabama as well as Georgia.
>
> The veterans panel was the largest yet, so there was a good
> turn out for that. I think it was 10 people who spoke.
>
> The discussion part at the end was upsetting though. Mark
> Gorenflo announced that our committee was on hold by VA.
> The Texas visit is a wash out, which some treated as a happy
> moment. There is a system wide shake down, and inside VA
> each advisory committee is being auditted for effectiveness.
> Its possible that our committee might be scrapped before
> we complete our job. At best we might make it back to DC
> for delibreation in April. There is no way to make the Texas
> visit while this is happening.
>
> The overall atmosphere is pretty much in unison. I dont think
> anyone on the committee has expressed a truly negative
> opinion of Gulf War veterans. So we have been asked to start
> drafting our recommendations for April. I think its going well
> in that there will probably be some obvious recommendations
> that most will agree to, some that might get beaten, and some
> that will be scrapped. I dont get the impression that there will
> be a negative hostile report at the end.
>
> What I dont like is our committee wrapping up before Obama
> gets to stick his head up long enough to notice. He is too busy
> with rescuing the country before he can look this way. If the
> committee made it to December he might take notice. I get
> the impression that there is pressure from inside VA to wrap
> this up quickly for this very reason. Like with the obvious aspects
> of the GWVIS report with the gigantic drop it in numbers. To
> say all is well and then make sure things remain quiet.
>
> On a darker note. When the committee went to Seattle they had
> record flooding that washed out roads all around the city. When we
> went to Atlanta they had a rash of tornados rip through all around
> us. So maybe its better the committee doesnt come to Texas
> because we would be wrecking my home state.
>
> On a lighter note. I got to see the Coke Cola museum in down
> town Atlanta. Said I was a veteran and got in for free. Stayed
> at the Ritz Carlton, met some neat people. Very swanky.
>
> There will be changes in 2009 for Gulf War issues. It is
> coming in some form or another. I suspect it will be through
> Congressional mandate after Shinseky passes on the
> recommendations. Face it, we havent had a Secretary of VA
> pencil whip a recommendation of the RAC since 2002. No doubt
> our committee will suffer the same. So we take the reports to
> Congress and lobby for change. It will happen one way or another.
>
> The RAC meeting is Monday morning. I will be attending as will
> be some others that havent shown in a while. By the end of next
> week VA should have a response to the GWVIS report numbers
> since this is committee business.
>
> More to follow....
>
> Sincerely
> Kirt P. Love
> Director, DSBR
>