"Clerical staff, who care not a whit about the level of service they
give"
reminds me:
Because of "horror" stories I had heard about getting "the run-around"
and
long waiting times, I had never used VA medical care at all until about
a
year ago, when I received a letter from my neurologist at Duke
University
Hospital informing me that he'd no longer be able to see me for my CIDP
condition at the Duke clinic. Clinic was being converted to see ALS
patients only. Because he is the only neurologist of the many I've seen
who would listen to me and help me work out a treatment regimen that
helped
me drastically, I sent him an e-mail pleading with him to not "throw me
back out there" to find another neurologist who would likely think
he/she
already has all the answers and not want to listen to anything I have to
say. He called me the next morning at 8 and talked to me for nearly an
hour about ways that we may proceed. He reminded me that, if I could
become registered at the Durham VA Medical Center, where he works in
addition to Duke, he'd be able to see me there and continue the
treatments
with no other change at all. I had a little glitch in getting
registered
(cited below), saw the "Duke" neurologist at VA few weeks later and have
continued my treatments with no break at all; Medicare and Tricare
continue
to pay as they have for years. He schedules me to see him at the VA
Center
every six months; no problem with all of it so far, except the
registration
glitch cited below.
A little aside on getting registered at VA: I filled out application
on-line and printed it out, but had coupla questions before sending it
in.
'Called coordinator at Durham VA Medical Center; during our
discussion,
coordinator asked about my possible exposure to Agent Orange; 'told her,
"Don't think so; I was never on the ground in Vietnam; 'flew B-52's from
Guam and U-Tapao, Thailand." When I told her U-Tapao, she got excited
and
insisted that I go "right now and talk to Ms ?, registration
supervisor."
'Got my stuff together and off we went to Durham. Quickly found Ms.
Supervisor, who told me, "Don't have time to talk to you right now.
Fill
out these papers and give 'em to lady at window." When I started
filling
out the papers, I realized they were the ones I had in my hand already
completed! 'Handed them to lady at window, who told me to "wait here,
we'll call you by name." Twice during the next 2½ hours, we were
rebuffed
whenever we tried to remind lady at the window that I was still
waiting -
"You'll be called by name," she insisted. At 4 PM, ladies behind window
picked up their handbags, locked door and left. Nearly an hour later, I
had become very suspicious that I had truly been forgotten, and it began
to
look as if people were leaving "for the day." I asked wife to "find Ms
Supervisor, I think they're leaving for the day." Supervisor was,
indeed,
leaving for the day; when she saw SWMBO, she exclaimed, "What?!! You're
still here?!!" Yes, indeed, they had forgotten me!!!!!! Lady who
should
have taken the registration nearly 4 hours earlier was also leaving;
supervisor called her back and called me in to give the registration
info.
During the 15 minutes or so that the registration took, Ms Supervisor
kept trying to apologize, "Oh, Mister Strickland, I'm so terribly
sorry."
I never said a word; never responded to the "apology;" 'just let 'em
stew
over it overnight, worried about possible call from their supervisors
the
next day, but I never reported it to anybody. They got away with it,
and I
sure hope they had a sleepless night, but I doubt it. I regret having
not
reported it officially.
Wilton
_______________________________________
http://www.okiebenz.com
To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those
individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner
has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.