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| Posted: August 1, 2007 |
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Since inadequate facilities were uncovered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, new attention has been given to veterans' health needs. Two experts on veterans' medical care answer your questions. |
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| Paige Smith-Wyatt of Williston, N.D., asks: |
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| Did the committee consider the hiring practices to fill mental health jobs within the system, and will the DOD/VA be changing their hiring practices to open up jobs to other professionals? |
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| Jason Forrester of Veterans for America responds: |
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The Dole-Shalala Commission's final report doesn't directly address the hiring practices for mental health positions, but it clearly implies that these people should have advanced degrees. While Veterans for America has not taken an official position on this topic, we urge leaders of both the DOD and VA to carefully examine means of bringing well-qualified personnel into their mental health care systems. At present, there is a great shortage for such individuals within both the DOD and VA. In addition to shortages in these professionals, the hiring process for both the VA and DOD is lacking. For instance, it takes the VA approximately six months to hire someone. This process is much slower than that in place for civilian health care providers. Additionally there is a large pay gap between what the VA pays and what the private companies pay.
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| Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Ward Casscells responds: |
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The Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors was a presidential commission, not a Department of Defense entity. We do not have specific knowledge of internal deliberations; however, their report is available online at: http://www.pccww.gov/. The Department is reviewing the commission's findings and recommendations and will respond to them in September 2007. Whether DOD/VA will change any hiring practices to fill mental health jobs is pre-decisional at the present time. DOD has a very robust number of activities to provide support to servicemembers and their families. Military OneSource and the Military Family Life Consultant Program augment these military service and installation activities and include non-medical counseling. Most recently, the Army has hired 270 behavioral health professionals. Comprehensive in-garrison support systems are available to Service and family members. These include a wide range of community and family support, family advocacy, legal, education, and chaplain services as well as health and wellness/fitness programs and facilities. These services facilitate prevention, education, and counseling service for the broad array of everyday life stressors to improve and maintain the overall level of health and quality of life of military members and their families. Every effort is made to reduce the "background" stress of everyday life before, during, and after deployment and to encourage overall positive health states.
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