Sioux Falls veterans say VA program isn't getting them the critical care they need
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Veterans packed into the Disabled American Veterans headquarters in Sioux Falls to air grievances about the Community Care program through the Veterans Association on Tuesday night.
They took their turns standing at a microphone and speaking about being put on hold for hours while on the phone trying to find doctor’s appointments, or waiting months for an appointment, the community care program employees spoke about a hostile work environment and lack of resources.
In the hot seat was Lisa Simoneau, the director of the Sioux Falls VA Health Care System who oversees the Community Care program. U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds sat near her, listening to the complaints and promising his office would do something to help.
“My God, care,” said Hosea Bennett, the commander of VFW Post 628 and an Army veteran, adding that Simoneau had not visited himself or the men in his post, which made her out of touch with the people she is trying to help. "Just come see us."
The Community Care program, also known as Care in the Community, was part of the 2018 Mission Act bill that says if veterans enrolled through the VA needed treatment the VA could not provide, the veteran would be approved to get care in the local healthcare community and the VA would pay for it.
However, the veteran must meet certain criteria to be approved for care outside of the VA.
Rounds voted against the Mission Act and has been critical of it, saying he worried some of the bureaucracy was limiting veterans from getting care from a local healthcare provider.
During the two-hour long town hall, veterans like 33-year-old Kirk Nelson spoke about how their medical issues, from physical wounds like hurt backs, to mental illness, had not been treated.
Nelson started to experience back problems at the end December.
“I ended up in the ER three times begging for an MRI. And then I was inevitably denied that MRI for Care in the Community, because I didn't meet some standard,” he said.
He went through a private provider and traveled to Denver for the MRI in January.
Nelson also spoke about how simple requests for behavioral help either are denied or lost in the loop of Community Care.
“It should be the care of the actual veteran that supersedes any value,” he said. “I lost more friends home due to suicide than I ever did overseas, and I am scared shitless of being in this civilian world more than I am overseas in Iraq or Afghanistan, simply because I know every year I lose two friends to suicide.”
Courtney VanZenten, the veterans service officer for Brookings County, said she waited 70 days to get an appointment to see a therapist.
“Thank God, I was not suicidal,” the 38-year-old Air Force veteran said. “The VA didn't know that. Thank God, I have gone through enough therapy to get me through, but it wasn't easy and it wasn’t fun.”
While VanZenten was able to get care eventually, others were not as lucky. A staffer for Rounds read the numbers for the amount of calls made to the Community Care hotline of veterans trying to seek treatment for some ailment.
On Monday, out of 196 calls made to the line, 50 were answered and 132 calls were abandoned.
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“We are allowed to basically work from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. if we can mentally handle it,” said Rich Siegmann, who works for Community Care. “We can’t keep it up much longer.”
Siegmann added that because of the toxic work environment, staff have continued to leave.
Simoneau told the crowd she was working on hiring more staff members, adding in the last three weeks, she’d hired seven new people. The reasons for the lengthy hotline waits – one veteran waited an hour and a half — were because staff caught COVID-19 and could not work at the call center.
“We know we messed up,” she said.
Follow Annie Todd on Twitter @AnnieTodd96. Reach out to her with tips, questions and other community news at atodd@argusleader.com or give her a call at 605-215-3757.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota Veterans say VA's long wait times are delaying care
