But please, tell us MORE about how single-payer healthcare is ALL KINDS OF AWESOME. ‘Cause what I’m seeing with the government-run system that we call the VA, it’s anything but.

According to this, a couple from North Carolina, Hanna and Stephen McMenamin, were in a waiting room at a local VA hospital (Stephen is a retired Marine and was there to get treatment for lower back pain). There were three elderly gentlemen waiting there as well. Under most circumstances, that wouldn’t be a big deal. But it was the way these gentlemen were being treated that disgusted the McMenamins. To the point that Hanna took pictures of the men and related the following on her Facebook page –

Yesterday (2/24/17) while at the Durham, NC VA Hospital, my husband Stephen McMenamin and I witnessed some very disturbing events. The man in the wheelchair on the left, were waiting in that waiting room at least 3 hours. The man bent over grabbing the chair, was yelling in pain and was borderline convulsing and almost falling out of his chair he was in so much pain. No one paid him any attention until I approached a nurse to please check on him. This gentleman sat in the waiting room in extreme pain for hours upon hours with very little attention paid to him.

 

The gentlemen seen in the two photos on the right, came in extremely sick. He could barely walk, sit up, or breathe. My husband had been directed to a chair just off the waiting area because it reclined (my husband was being seen for extreme lower back pain). Upon this man walking in and telling the nurse he needed to lay down, and her telling him to have a seat (with very little regard for his well being), my husband got up and offered this man the reclining chair. This man sat in the chair for probably about 15 minutes before he was told he had to get up immediately. Upon being approached by the nurse (who was extremely rude to him), he told her he could not sit up and he needed to lay down. She completely disregarded him and demanded he go sit in the waiting room area, leaving the recliner completely empty. Upon seeing this, and seeing how rude the nurse was being, my husband approached the nurse and asked why this man was not allowed to stay in the recliner given that my husband had been sitting in it for 30 plus minutes. The nurse refused to provide any explanation or even her name, and stormed off while this man was still struggling. The man then asked multiple times for a place to lean back or lay down, and was completely disregarded by the nurse. Eventually after being completely neglected, he laid on the floor.

 

The point of this post is to show the issues that exist at the VA. Yesterday at the VA we did encounter some nurses who genuinely cared about the patients, but after seeing what happened, I had to share this. There are good people that work at the VA and genuinely care, but then there are people like this particular nurse who should not be working with our nations finest. We did end up getting the nurses name who was extremely rude and neglected patients in need. And are planning to go through any means to make sure people know what was going on.

 

Please share this post. Our Veterans deserve better. And the problems in the VA system are very real.

Thank you.

Soon, Hanna’s post went viral and other people were just as disgusted. That’s when the VA contacted Hanna – not to apologize or promise that they would make things right, but to get mad at her for exposing their disgusting treatment of veterans. Yes, really –

UPDATE 2/27/17- The VA is very unhappy that we have posted this photo and it has been seen around the country. They have asked us again to remove this photo, claiming on of the participants does not want this posted. They claim to have told him his face is blocked out. I am not sure that they actually told him that, and I am sure they did not mention he is not identifiable. Due to potential legal concerns, John Burk has volunteered to help us continue getting the message out. Please like his Facebook page, I will link it below. Thank you to everyone for sharing, let’s keep on going with trying to make the changes that need to be made.

There is also a link to John Burk’s Facebook page, who is taking up this issue relentlessly (and bless him for it).

The local news did a report on the incident as well, speaking further to Stephen McMenamin – read more here