Grateful for Clinic

To the Editor:

The article last week about the problems of the local VA clinic only tells part of the story of medicine in Fayette County and probably all the USA. I would ask that the reporter ‘pick up the ball’ and carry it to the goal line of fully reporting on the entire story. If you are going to do an article on health care and only report about the VA with no reference point in the community to care through physicians in the public sector, you are being deceptive and doing a disservice to the VA and veterans in general.

I am a 75-year-old disabled veteran and I have not had the same experience as referenced in the article in the ‘subject’ line. I have never had anything but a positive experience from the VA, even on the phone. In fact, I have received and am receiving better care from the VA, including phone contacts, than I did from my previous private practice physicians. Try contacting any of our local physicians/family practice clinics and you will get a receptionist or mechanical voice prompt but you will not get to the doctor or PA or NP. The medical professionals are overwhelmed due to a shortage of medical professionals in Fayette County, long before COVID-19, and high demand for their services. If you need to speak to the doctor, my experience has been leaving a message, eventually a ‘nurse’ calls you back and inquires about what you need and then, maybe but not likely, the doctor calls you back or the nurse after consulting with the doctor. If it is an emergency, the clinic will tell you to call 911 or go to the emergency room, they don’t tell you to come in or connect you with the doctor. If you walk in to any doctor’s office, including the VA, with a true emergency, they will get you in to the doctor ASAP.

The VA contract clinic that was previously located where Tejas Healthcare is now situated, did have a local phone number. But, the ‘doctor’, who actually was not a doctor but was a certified nurse practioner (NP), was only required to be in the clinic eight hours per week. If you had an emergency then, you did not see the ‘doctor.’ In fact, it took months to get an appointment for anything. Oh how soon we forget. When Judge Ed had the meetings with the VA Administrator, the complaints about quality of service filled the air from the overflow crowd of veterans. The VA Administrator did not think the clinic was fully being utilized and wanted to move the clinic to Bastrop. Ask the staff at the VA clinic if that is still the case. The answer will be a resounding NO! The VA clinic has so many new patients, they would like to bring in an additional doctor or PA to help with patient care.

Yes, it would be ‘nice’ if the clinic had a local phone number, but would it really improve what we have? I doubt it. Be grateful for the VA Clinic and excellent staff that man the clinic and provide our care. I am. I would also like to give my thanks to Jackie Wessels, our county VA rep. She does a superb job of caring for us. She is a one person office and is a dynamo.

William T. Koenig

West Point