Letter: Veterans aren’t getting the support they need

I am a Desert Storm veteran. I am writing this letter to let the people who have the little ribbons on their vehicles that say “support our troops” know what kind of support the troops really get.To the Vietnam veterans and the people who really do support the troops and veterans, I would like to say thank you.

I want to tell a story about a six-week program I participated in at the Salisbury VA Medical Center. This was a program for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. I have to say thank you to all the staff of the program who treated me like gold while I was in the program and have been very helpful since I’ve left the program.

This story is about a roommate who was a Vietnam veteran who had been trying to get his total disability for a long time so he could support his family. Several weeks into the program, we were sitting in our room after having eaten a meal and talking about Vietnam. He had been looking for a certain music CD, which he found that day and we were listening to it. He was telling me things that happened when one of the songs came on. He stopped talking and got a strange look on his face.

I could tell something bad was happening, so I got the nurses. My other roommate and I got a wheelchair and took him to the emergency room. We were in the emergency room for a long time before they finally decided to take him and do a scan to find out if the man had had a stroke.

They did the scan and came back and told me and my other roommate that he didn’t have a stroke. However, it was obvious that the man had had a major stroke.

We asked if anyone had tried to contact his wife and were told by the staff in the emergency room that they had tried, however we were later told by his wife that they hadn’t. The next morning a doctor came in and ordered another scan. At this point they said he had had a major stroke. He was sent to Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, where they decided that there wasn’t much they could do for him so they sent him back to the Salisbury VA Medical Center, where he died.

You are probably wondering why I am writing this. Well, I have often wondered, if they had sent him to Rowan or Baptist Medical Center, would my friend and fellow veteran have gotten the medical care he had earned and deserved. Would he still be with us today?

I also wanted to let you know that three days after he died, the VA Regional Medical Center in Winston-Salem decided he deserved the 100 percent disability, and the social security awarded him his claim at the same time. However, they sent his wife a letter requesting that she return the checks.

If wonder if this is the kind of support you would want for your husband, dad or brother or sister who is or isn’t a veteran. I wonder if this is the future I have to look forward to.God bless America.

James C. Ward Jr.
Troutman