‘We’re just numbers,’ local veteran contends
Retired Marine Cpl. Christopher Morris wears a shirt from a friend who served in the International Security Assistance Force with the British Royal Marines and was killed while serving just two weeks after they exchanged shirts. Since retiring from service, Morris attends West Virginia University and is a veterans liaison at the school. The flag behind Morris was flown by Congressman Tim Murphy on the one-year anniversary of the day Morris' truck was blown up by a bomb in Afghanistan, causing soft tissue damage in his back and traumatic brain injury.
Retired Marine Cpl. Christopher Morris earned a purple heart from his service in Afghanistan. The face of George Washington on the medal broke off after Morris threw it in frustration while trying schedule an appointment with the VA to get help for various medical and psychological issues.
Jacquelyne Kancir is an unnoficial caregiver for her husband, Frank. He is a Marine veteran who has post-traumatic stress disorder and medical problems stemming his service in Iraq.
Retired Marine Cpl. Christopher Morris talks about the scheduling difficulties and wait times he's experienced in dealing with the VA.
Editor’s note: This is the first in an occasional series on the challenges U.S. military veterans face after service.
Retired Marine Cpl. Christopher Morris didn’t know where else to go, so he stayed there, in his Morgantown apartment, wishing heavy metal would drown out his racing mind, wishing his eyes would stop darting up to the bullet hole in the ceiling, wishing his thoughts would stop drifting toward the New River Gorge Bridge.
Morris knew he didn’t want to go out like his roommate who left the bullet hole behind after his suicide. But he was running out of options.
After months of trying to get the care he needed from the Department of Veterans Affairs for post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic injuries caused by a bomb blast, he was close to giving up.
”They’re trying to get things, on the outside, to look better,” he said. “The easiest way for them to deal with us is for us to just kill ourselves because we’re just numbers.”
On March 30, veteran Michelle Langhorst, 31, of Plum, shot herself in the head at the H.J. Heinz Campus of the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System in Aspinwall, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office.
VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System interim Director David Macpherson said he cannot reveal the details of the case for privacy reasons, but he denies she had difficulty with access that led to her suicide.
”I’m absolutely sure of that,” he said. “I can’t reveal details, but I know the facts of the case. I know the care she received that day. I’m 100 percent sure it was not an access issue.”
Morris, a Washington native attending West Virginia University for psychology, believes the VA is more concerned about their reports than their care. In August, President Barack Obama signed a reform bill to reduce wait times for veterans. The performance target is for all veterans to be seen within 30 days. At regional clinics and hospitals, a small percentage of veterans still wait more than 90 days for care.
Pennsylvania’s appointment wait times exceeding the 30-day performance target are 1.8 percent, well below the national average of 2.8 percent. The Associated Press compiled a nationwide data set of wait times at VA facilities to see if the funding injection reduced delays in care. The data shows that the number facing long waits has not changed.
The Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg, WV, which is more convenient for many Greene County residents, has the fifth-highest percentage of wait times in the country, with 7.1 percent reporting delays of more than 30 days.
Beth Brown, director of the Clarksburg VA medical center, said it can be difficult to recruit staff to the rural location. They used funding from the reform bill to hire additional staff, extend hours and add floating doctors to the Clarksburg system.
“We continually are in a recruitment mode,” she said. “We’ve identified the staff that is needed. Now it’s just a matter of finding someone who is willing to come here.”
While wait times were decreasing immediately after funding was issued, delays spiked in January. Macpherson attributed this to a seasonal backlog created during the holiday season and weather. At the Washington and Uniontown CBOCs, or outpatient clinics, the increased delays continued into February.
In January, 2.65 percent of veterans waited more than 30 days to get an appointment at the H.J. Heinz Campus, while 7.06 percent waited more than 30 days to get an appointment at the VA medical center in Clarksburg.
Macpherson said most long delays are caused by a cancellation, either on the part of the VA or the patient.
Jacquelyne Kancir, who is married to retired Marine Sgt. Frank Kancir, knows how difficult it can be for a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder to keep an appointment. Kancir was injured in a mortar attack in Iraq.
”I’m just not the same person. I don’t want to be out with civilians,” he said in his Canonsburg home. “It’s a lot different. I’m a lot different.”
Confined spaces and groups of strangers put him on edge. In any public space, he is looking for an exit and a potential threat to himself or someone else. Some days, he can’t bring himself to leave the house, especially to drive more than an hour for an appointment, said his wife.
”It’s like asking a veteran that’s an amputee to walk to the nearest VA. He just can’t do it,” she said.
She says that the VA should accommodate him because his inconsistency in making appointments is a direct result of his service.
”The vets who are in crisis in our area, may God keep his loving protection over them because the VA is not the answer for this demographic,” she said.
She said their worst experience with wait times was at the medical centers, not outpatient clinics.
The outpatient clinic in Uniontown, which is close to some Greene County residents, and the clinic in Washington were well below the national average for wait times. For four of the five months since funding was issued, veterans experiencing delays were less than 1 percent.
Alan Petrazzi, program manager of primary care, said these two clinics have doctors who can float between the two facilities when there is a need. This, combined with extended hours, is helping keep wait times below the national average.
However, wait times increased sharply at both facilities between December and February, from 0.60 percent to 3.68 percent in Uniontown and from 0.34 percent to 2.53 percent in Washington. The spike was attributed to weather and transportation.
”I think we’re always trying to improve access,” said CBOC administrator Adam Critchlow. “We’re always trying to do better with these situations.”
For Jacquelyne Kancir, tracking her husband’s medical care involves color-coded charts and pill counting. She took charge of managing his appointments after a weeklong lapse in a prescription sent him to the hospital with very high blood pressure.
“It’s terrifying. I mean, we’re young, We’re not prepared to lose one another yet,” she said. “It made it really real that day that it’s a possibility.”
Kancir gets his medication by mail, which takes 10 days. Every three months, he must attend an appointment for a refill. If he misses the appointment, he must go without his medication.
Morris and the Kancirs both say the problem lies with the VA system, not the individuals who are a part of it.
”When I call them, they have a sadness in their voice,” she said. “They know they should be doing more, but they don’t know how to help.”
For Morris, the Morgantown Vet Center is a bright spot in the system. Vet centers, which provide readjustment services and counseling, are under the umbrella of Veterans Affairs, like medical centers and outpatient clinics. But because of their specialized care model, they are lacking something the other facilities have.
”We don’t have a waiting list,” said Morgantown Vet Center team leader Samantha Blevins. “If someone comes in today and needs to be seen, we see them. If they come in late, someone will stay late.”
Morris said the center helped him get up from rock bottom shortly after that September night when his rommate killed himself.
He is waiting on one signature to allow him to see a doctor outside the VA health system to give him cognitive behavioral therapy to treat his PTSD. He has been working with veterans advocates for two months to get the signature.
”I’m trying here,” he said. “The solution is there. Instead, I’m still waiting.”