The upper echelons of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have noticed what Augusta's hospitals do for war-wounded troops, and President Bush's appointed head of the agency visited Tuesday to have a look for himself.
This month Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center finally got a federal recovery coordinator, a medical expert charged with helping severely injured troops wade through bureaucratic processes.
U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake's tour of Eisenhower and the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Centers, accompanied by two members of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, should also bode well.
The secretary heaped praise on the active-duty rehabilitation unit -- a collaboration between Eisenhower and the Augusta VA -- and hinted at expanding its mission. The unit treats injured troops returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some with brain or spinal cord injuries, amputated limbs and multiple bone fractures.
Dr. Peake spoke of expanding primary care space at the Uptown VA off Wrightsboro Road and adding another federal recovery coordinator if caseloads warrant it. He commended the "continual warm handoff" -- a reference to the top-notch care active-duty troops get from hospitals that have traditionally handled veterans. A crack case-management team has kept bureaucratic troubles to a minimum, he said.
"All of these things are part of the transition that is going very smoothly, from what I can see," Dr. Peake said. "I think the atmosphere is extremely positive for people who have served their nation here."
Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Richard Burr, R-N.C., the ranking member of the veterans affairs committee, called the rehab unit a unique model for delivering 21st-century health care, one that should be emulated.
Fourteen months ago, Mr. Isakson held a committee field hearing at the Uptown VA in the wake of revelations of neglect and paperwork nightmares for patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. He said he wanted Congress and the Pentagon to see better ways of caring for returning troops.
"This is the shining example," Mr. Isakson said Tuesday.
Laurie Ott, the executive director of the CSRA Wounded Warrior Care Project, said she hopes Tuesday's visit spurs discussion in Washington of what else Augusta's hospitals are capable of.
"It sounds like, if anything, he's flexible," Ms. Ott said of the secretary.
During the tour, Dr. Peake's entourage stopped by the rehab unit's exercise gym, where Sgt. Dave Schneider sat at a table with a therapist, making pencil sketches in a notebook.
Sgt. Schneider, a 27-year-old from Charlotte, N.C., suffered a brain injury and a broken neck in a stateside vehicle accident last year and said that since then he has gotten the best care at the Augusta VA.
He told Dr. Peake and the senators that he likes being around patients his own age who have had similar experiences in the Army. The secretary asked him whether he's getting better.
"They say I am, but I don't believe 'em," he joked, drawing laughs.
Reach Johnny Edwards at (706) 823-3225 or johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com.
VA'S TOP DOC
Tuesday's visit to Augusta was U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary James B. Peake's first since being nominated for the post by President Bush last year and unanimously confirmed by the Senate in December.
Dr. Peake is a 1966 West Point graduate who served in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division, earning a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He earned his medical degree from Cornell University, then became an Army surgeon at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. He served as a cardiac surgeon and commander of several medical posts, then as Army surgeon general from 2000 to 2004. He retired in 2004 as a lieutenant general.
As head of the VA, he directs the nation's second-largest Cabinet position, with more than 250,000 workers.
Source: www.VA.gov
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