The COVID Carnival Diaries: My Recent Experience at my Local VA Clinic

So it’s been a minute since I have been to my local VA Outpatient clinic. Since the COVID carnival began I have made it a point to make every effort to stay away from the place if I could help it, but as my bad luck would have it I had my annual check-up come up so I had no choice but to go.

Having no ideal what to expect, I arrived fifteen minutes early and walking up the front door I could tell the Carnival ride was about to begin.

A large woman in FULL PPE gear and scrubs (including a mask with a plastic face guard) topped off with an orange reflective crossing guard vest with the word “MONITOR” across the front (Not sure the reason for this?) stood at the front door with a very serious look and as I approached she said “HALT” like I was some kind of Russian saboteur.

“Sir do you have an appointment today?”

“Yes”

“Please stand still while I take your temperature”

She then proceeded to use a Laser Temperature gun and from a distance of around ten feet proceeded to shoot a laser at my forehead.

Due to most likely GROSS operator error this process had to be repeated several times until finally she got the number she was looking for I guess.

“Proceed to the next station” she said sternly.

Looking at her like the rude idiot bitch she was I then turned around and walked inside.

This is where shit got weird.

Inside On the floor were flourescent green arrows guiding you to another flourescent green queue barrier like in an airport ticket line (What’s with all these Reflector Vest and flourescent green? Do they think the general public is blind?)

Once inside this flourescent cattle stall you had to stand in line on another flourescent circle six feet apart and wait your turn for yet another interview.

This one you had to step in front of a Computer monitor with a camera on top. First thing it did was take your temperature then it listed all these questions on the screen (in tiny print) we all have answered a million times: Have you recently travelled to China? Do you currently have any symptoms? blah, blah, blah. But here was the weird part: To Answer “NO” you had to raise your left hand by your face and then they took a picture of you!

“Where do these pictures go?” I asked one of the attendants wearing a “MONITOR” vest.

“In the cloud I guess” she answered rudely, not showing one bit of concern.

I stared at her for a long minute considering if I really wanted to take the effort to show her what an idiot she was and decided against it. I was already tired of this bullshit.

Anyways, after all this I finally got to check in for my appointment.

Later on I was talking to another vet about it and he said they are calling this Left Hand by your face the “Fauci Salute?”

Talk about Orwellian!

This shit is getting out of hand folks.

We need to give these totalitarian bastards the Left Hand Middle Finger by our Face.🖕

Enough is Enough.

Humor: VA Celebrates Brain Injury Awareness Month by Forgetting to Celebrate Brain Injury Awareness Month

🙂 🙂 🙂

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With March designated as Brain Injury Awareness Month, the Veterans Administration held a press conference today to announce several health care initiatives aiming to increase awareness of something to do with veterans.

“To be perfectly honest, I can’t remember what this press conference was supposed to be about,” said VA Secretary Robert A. McDonald upon arriving to the podium.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has often been called the defining injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 300,000 service members have been diagnosed with TBI since 2001.

“I vaguely recall sitting in some planning meetings and watching some powerpoint presentations,” said McDonald. “As best as I can recall, it seems like there was some event coming up we were going to somehow commemorate.”

“I guess I should start writing this stuff down,” added McDonald. “Ugh, now I have a headache.”

Other Brain Injury Awareness Month initiatives within the VA include forgetting to hire enough providers, repeatedly losing paperwork, and gross executive dysfunctio

Read the Original Article at Duffel Blog

 

Train a Dog, Save a Warrior

I recently heard about this OUTSTANDING organization through a story on my local news. Since it addresses what I consider a National Health Emergency, PTSD and Preventing Suicide among Veterans, I wanted to tell you guys about it. Please pass this on to any Veterans you know that could benefit from it. -SF

 

 

How TADSAW Works

The Train a Dog Save a Warrior  (TADSAW) program serves the warrior, the family and the community, by providing the warrior with a K-9 rescue ‘Battle Buddy’ and the training and tools needed to become an accredited Warrior/Service Dog Team.
TADSAW additionally provides for the training of a Medical Alert Service Dog for any warrior’s immediate family, the spouse or children, surviving with compassion fatigue, secondary PTSD, or any other mental health issue diagnosed while the warrior was deployed or on active duty.
Whenever possible, TADSAW will evaluate the warrior’s personal dog, because the bond has been established, to determine the dog’s viability to be a service dog candidate.  If the warrior needs a dog, TADSAW’s trainers will go to a rescue shelter and evaluate and select an appropriate candidate for the warrior.  At that time the process will begin.
The program lasts from 15-20 weeks to train the warrior and dog team.  The first phase is focused on the skills needed to pass the AKC Canine Good Citizenship course, which is the benchmark standard in obedience for therapy dog work.  During the second phase, time is spent socializing the team in dog friendly public places.  When the trainer is confident the team is progressing sufficiently, the in-training Public Access work, in areas where only Service Dogs are allowed, begins.
The team will graduate and become accredited by TADSAW when the Public Access Temperament Test is given and the team passes.
A short answer as to the why and how…Petting a dog decreases release of cortisol and increases release of oxytocin into the bloodstream. Decreases in cortisol lower blood pressure and facilitate a sense of relaxation, while increases in oxytocin, this same chemical released when a mother nurses her infant, will facilitate a sense of security and well-being.

For warriors with PTSD, it has been documented that a dog helps with emotional regulation. Patients who are very anxious and have anger issues find they can’t work with a dog if they yell. They must have a calm voice. Working with a dog helps build confidence and bridge the gap with strangers. More often than not the response and the bond is immediate.

A female warrior with PTSD has sleep disorders and often awakens to find herself barricaded in her closet, behind duffle bags, with a knife. With her TADSAW SERVICE DOG she is able to sleep. Simply having a dog around allows the warriors to trust the dog to assess the safety of their surroundings, as the dogs have a much keener sensory capacity than people.

TRAIN A DOG~SAVE A WARRIOR. has found that a great majority of the warriors with PTSD choose a shelter dog because they want ‘to save something’. They may choose a dog with an injury because they have an injury too. They are both healing. They fit together. They are a team.

Veterans often suffering alone, seem to silence themselves because of the stigma still attached to psychological injuries like PTSD. The dog can calm them down and get their minds off of everything going on in their lives by focusing on the dog not themselves.

There is life after injuries. This new quality of life just might be, in part, based on a PTSD SERVICE DOG. Here’s how TADSAW’S PTSD SERVICE DOGS can help.

A rescue dog from a shelter or the warrior’s own personal dog, if deemed appropriate in temperament, demeanor, and size, will be evaluated, enter BOOT CAMP, and be trained specific commands for specific needs of a wounded warrior with PTSD.

Once trained, these TADSAW SERVICE DOGS have the ability to decrease isolation of the veteran, decrease the needs for many medications, decrease anxiety and panic attacks when in crowded public places, awaken them from nightmares and flashbacks, ‘have their backs’ when necessary, to name but a few.

This extensive and costly training is at no charge to the warrior and his dog, with training lasting 3-4 months at the least. Once training is completed and the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizenship classification is awarded to the team, and after intensive training to meet the specific needs of the specific warrior, the dog will be eligible for service dog designation, according to the American Disabilities Act.

The team will carry the necessary health certificates and documentation and will be able to accompany the warrior to stores, restaurants, living accommodations, and permitting full access to any and all places the warrior wishes to visit.

Currently, veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the DC VA Hospital are adopting pets from the Washington Animal Rescue League. It is working!

For hundreds of wounded veterans, the long walk to recovery is often a lonely one. A long walk is something most dogs love.

‘Much of life can never be explained but only witnessed.” Rachael Remen, MD

The Difference between:
Service, Therapy, Companion and “Social/therapy” Animals

Service Animals are legally defined (Americans With Disabilities Act, 1990) and are trained to meet the disability-related needs of their handlers who have disabilities. Federal laws protect the rights of individuals with disabilities to be accompanied by their service animals in public places. Service animals are not considered ‘pets’.

Therapy Animals are not legally defined by federal law, but some states have laws defining therapy animals. They provide people with contact to animals, but are not limited to working with people who have disabilities. They are usually the personal pets of their handlers, and work with their handlers to provide services to others. Federal laws have no provisions for people to be accompanied by therapy animals in places of public accommodation that have “no pets” policies. Therapy animals usually are not service animals.

A Companion Animal is not legally defined, but is accepted as another term for pet.

‘Social/therapy’ Animals have no legal definition. They often are animals that did not complete service animal or service dog training due to health, disposition, trainability, or other factors, and are made available as pets for people who have disabilities. These animals might or might not meet the definition of service animals.

Read the Original Article at their Website TADSAW

Misconceptions And Outright Lies About Veterans With PTSD

By David Allen

If you are a Veteran of the US military, especially one that served in any combat zone from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, you have undoubtedly been faced with misconceptions that many civilians have about Veterans and military service. For the most part, these are innocent and come from nothing more than a general lack of education on Veterans’ issues. Then there are those ideas that are untrue and do nothing but corrupt society’s views about Veterans. The most damaging of all of these are the ones that have to do with the Veterans who have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

It is understandable for the average American citizen to have some serious misconceptions about Veterans with PTSD because, according to the Defense Manpower Data Center¹, as of 31 January 2015, there are 1.4 million Americans who are Active duty military, or 0.4% of the US population. According to Veterans Administration (VA) numbers, as of 2014, there are a total of 22 million Veterans in the US. Adding both numbers, only 7.3% of the US population has ever served in the military (WWII to current conflicts).

As of 2014 approximately 2.6 million are Veterans of the post-9/11 era. So 96.7% of the US population has never served and therefore cannot relate to Veteran’s issues. So most repeat whatever they have heard on the news or read or heard somewhere. In my opinion and from my experiences, this is made worse by the fact that many people who work in health care don’t seem to have a much better grasp of this subject. As someone who works in the medical field, I have seen this, first-hand, and have had some intense discussions with health care providers about what it really means to live with PTSD. As we proceed, I want to address four primary misconceptions and/or outright lies.

Read the Remainder at Havok Journal