This is how I feel sometimes when I'm dealing with the VA. Confused and scratching my head.
I promised myself that I was only going to write positive
things because tis the season to be jolly.
Unfortunately, no one told the individuals who work in the VA Choice
program, in the Atlanta medical center.
Just as a little back story, I really need to stop telling y’all
all of my business, but back in January I sprained my ankle. I went to emergency and they said it was just
a bad sprain, but it still hurts. I am
very cautious with this ankle because back on Christmas Eve 2011, I fractured
it in two places. Even after going to
emergency I was still plagued with this excruciating pain in my ankle. So in July, I went to see podiatry. He gave me a couple of braces that help when
I wear them, but I don’t want to wear braces every day. I want to wear my 3” heels and make myself believe
that my knees aren’t hurting as bad as they are. Just so you know I had figured out a way to
work past the knee pain so that I could still wear my heels but this ankle
thing was just a little too much for me.
As always, I do have a tendency to digress but don’t worry I’m
back now. After about 3-weeks of
emailing podiatry, and one letter reporting them to the Secretary of the VA I
finally got a call back about setting up another appointment. Because the appointment was in February 2017,
I asked if I could have a Choice appointment.
The young lady said of course and told me she had put in the referral
and for me to wait at least 8 business days before contacting Choice. Imagine my surprise when I called after
waiting a full two weeks and there was no referral (dripping with
sarcasm). The nice young lady gave me
the number to contact the Choice (Non-VA Care) office at the Atlanta VA.
After three weeks of leaving daily messages and one letter
to the Secretary of the VA, they finally called me back. The sad part is that they took so long to
call me that the people from the actual Choice office had already called and
set an appointment for me. The part
about the call that really set me off is that the lady who called never
apologized for the delay, and had the nerve to try to justify the time that it
took for them to call me. The kicker
though was that she told me that if I had any issues to give them a call. This was so funny to me that I actually
laughed on the phone when she said it.
Just so you know I am not normally a rude person but her telling me to
call them back if I had any problems, when they were my problem was hilarious
to me. I’m sure she called me a few “choice”
words in her head at this point.
In AA they tell you that before you can solve your problem
you have to acknowledge that you have a problem. I’m not in AA by the way but who knows what
may happen after I finish this journey I’m on with the VA. Back to my point – the fact that she never
apologized and tried to make excuses lets me know that things are not going to
get better. I hope that you all are
receiving better treatment from the individuals at your VA centers. I would love to hear about your experiences,
positive or negative.
As always, thank you for your support.
TTYL – Be blessed.
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