Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I cant thank you enough for being here today, the sacrifices that you have made. I pray that the sacrifices that you and your entire family made will make us a better nation at the end of the day. I think most that sign up to serve have that intention, that they will make this a better nation at the end of the day. I am a physician and also a reservist and i served in iraq for a year. That has led me to want to be here today. One of the things i know as a doctor and im sure dr. Somers you can relate, that when you have patients, regardless of their problems, there is a level of anxiety that, because they have something wrong, whether its muscular, skeletal or mental, it doesnt matter. Something is wrong and there is anxiety. It makes it more difficult and heightens the anxiety when you have all these administrative problems. I know you started to deal with that in private practice. More so maybe than when you first started. The prescription
Warrior program where they have that, the actual battalion where when somebodys got a problem, they go into that system there. I just want to get your feelings. Maybe im going down the wrong road because i think they need somebody that has a problem, they need an ombudsman, somebody thats going to look out for their interests. That if they have a particular hospital, that they can go to the administrator. They can go to anybody and say, hey, wait a minute. This is an immediate situation. This is general quarters and we need to have a meeting right now or somebody is going to die on your watch. Can you comment a little bit more on that . Its pretty much what you were talking about, buddytobuddy, the same things over and over and over again, but to cut through the red tape right then and there with individuals that understand severity of the problem. Yes, sir. This is a crucial element is to have somebody to come alongside of these severely injured, cut through that red tape and get trea
Part of what i do through the ministry im in is providing support groups through the chaplains channels. So ideal with this very closely on both sides. Medication is no longer being used as a tool to subdue the symptoms while we work on the deeper issues. No. What does the va do . The va specifically utilizes medication to control it and keep them, suppress the symptoms without working on the deeper issues. Thank you. Please. Brian was never put on any medication. Only for his back when he had that problem. Okay. Yes. Clay was on quite a bit of medication. As i said, he felt like a guinea pig, constantly being begin something different. Do you think they chose medications in lieu of therapy . Sure. Oneonone therapy . Yes. The only oneonone therapy that he spoke of that seemed to be effective at a certain point in l. A. He went to a vet center and had a counselor there that he really liked and felt he finally found somebody he to talk with. Okay. From Daniels Point of view, i think part
Focused on the cost, societal cost to our country and to the population. These extraordinary young men and the promise that they held going to haiti and making a difference right here. I want to focus in because i think from your experience you can really help the va and the dod to understand what could make a difference. I want to commend you all with the specificity of your recommendations. In particular, ive been trying to understand best practices, and whether there is any effort or known groups or the types of medications that are helpful, have any of you in any of your discussions, whether within the va or since then, the experience you had meeting with people, have any of you come across any effort to share best practices with the transition, particularly around pts and tbi and just the trauma, how we can help people coming back from this level of trauma . Maybe we can start with the sergeant, if youre aware of any types of programs that are effective. Thank you, maam. There are
So then im off my meds for a long period of time which is never good. As far as the other medication issues that have been discussed, continuity of medications from one facility to the next, im in the southern part of Washington State and people who are coming up from portland, oregon, which is about an hour away are on medications that are not transferable to the v. A. Facility where im at and so they have to start all over as a guinea pig as what was discussed earlier trying medications that they may have already tried in the past to get to the point where theyre able to approve a nonformulated medication that they had at another facility and the transition from d. O. D. To v. A. Care, it took about four years for the d. O. D. To balance about nine medications for myself and when we transitioned to v. A. Care, many of those medications were not on the form larry. We had to go back to ma guinea pig phase again and we ended up on 14 in order to utilize the medications available through