Dear Secretary of VA
For a year now Ive tried to interact with you. VA acknowledges you got
my
emails and then sends them to others. In the end its dead letter office.
I think to date the content has been relevant and worthy of responses.
So here we go again.
I started early this year with the Gulf War registry one more. That
ended up being a
farce where they didnt even take my vitals. Based on that exam alone and
the way
it was handled no veteran could benefit from its results or the data
sent to the
repository - databases.
Then I got a WRIISC referral which turned into a nightmare. After a
month I had
to get ugly about it and pull strings from above to get a response. The
WRIISC
itself then made sure all communication was one way, and If I didnt
answer
that phone that minute I could not reach them back. No one answered
phones
and when they did there was no way to leave a message. I contacted your
office and poof that same day they bent over backwards to try and reach
me.
Calling every 20 minutes.
The director of the clinic Dr. Barrett talked to me finally for a hour.
We set up a time line.
This all ended up taking 3 months to get through, start to finish. Way
drawn out.
Then he had a personal emergency and vanished on me. No one at the
clinic knew
anything and it was up to me to lean on my local VA doctor to start the
consecutive labs.
A idea Dr. Barrett proposed but never followed through on. 6 consecutive
weeks of
labs to see what the baseline would be. He didnt surface till I was 4
weeks into this.
Then fought me at the end because the labs were note earth shattering.
End them
early. Not what I wanted.
Everything dragged out till finally late August we started getting ready
for the WRIISC
sessions. Much like 2008, the first 17 video exams hovered largely over
psychology and
very little else. This became a witch hunt. As we got mid way Dr.
Barrett made it sound
like the end would be earth shattering and help get me a better rating
decision. Huge
build up that the last phone call would change my world. When we wrapped
up the
30 minute call with him was a huge let down. PTSD and TBI was his big
ticket items?
Down here in Central Texas these are sham ratings that cause more harm
than benefit
because of the VA review process. Attrition at VBA leaves largely
inexperienced people
making rash decisions and quick dismissals. VSO's down here are very
timid to use
PTSD and TBI because of how badly they are handled. By the time a person
files for
those they have imploded personally and have criminal records that
exclude them or
other issues for exclusion. Dr. Barrett is looking from the top down at
the WRIISC and
is not aware of the down side of his recommendations from the bottom up.
In fact,
little has changed with the WRIISC since 2008 as a punitive system that
really isnt
looking for physiological elements. As I proposed a fatty tissue section
for chemical
analysis and before / after genome sequencing to verfiy genetic damage
that maybe
related to the war, Real research that might find real things. I was
told I was 10 years
ahead on this and it could not be done. That is not true, it can be now.
The adipose
tissue analysis is usually post mortum as a autopsy thing. Ide rather
move that up to
show the Dioxins in the tissues from the burn pits.
The Research Advisory Committee meeting that happened September 21st and
the
22nd was so sad., Filled with technical glitches and good ole boy
posturing. Im thrilled
you replaced the chairman who for 4 years only ran interference. His
agenda largely
stalled the committee and produced no real results. He went out of his
way to keep
my ideas at bay even though he agreed with them in the beginning. His
job was to
stall and he did that. Of which I hope this new chairman does not follow
suit.
The RAC became a good ole boy system, and it allowed a monopoly created
by the
NGWRC to keep others at bay. As meetings went on, they played favorites
to Denise
Nichols and NGWRC favorites that would suck up to them. In return Denise
and
other played favorites to play down or ignore people like me openly at
the meetings.
This went on for 4 years as things stalled more and more. Did it produce
results?
Not that Im aware of. All the while GWI healthcare and benefits issues
went on
unresolved that I kept advocating. Everyone seemed very intent on
proving my VA
ACGWV advisory committee never even existed in 2008.
During the RAC meeting I was on top of many technical issues. When
asked, I told
people the meeting powerpoint presentations would probably not be up for
2 weeks.
The staff responded back angrily it would be right after the meeting. I
saved the chat
bar text conversations now over several meetings. Wont be in the
minutes. Well, as
of 9/24./2022 they are not up any where on the VA RAC website. Several
days later.
I saved the webpage and time stamp to show this. Pure spite on behalf of
the RAC
committee Ive dealt with for years now.
https://www.va.gov/RAC-GWVI/meetings/Sep2022/Sept_2022_Index.asp
Agenda
Flyer
Bios
Presentations
Meeting Minutes