Research - Rehabilitation - Re-Employment

Sgt. Shaft 03/08/2004

Dear Sgt. Shaft,
Your article of November 17, 2003 on the issue of decentralization and to deny oversight by the Blind Rehabilitation Service over its own program have aroused my concern that the veterans today and in the future MAY not receive quality training. Please allow me to vent my opinion as to what the American soldiers fighting in Iraq could in the future be facing as veterans.

On Friday March 13, 1953, while serving with the United States Marine Corps, on a battlefield in Korea, I received wounds resulting in a bi-lateral enucleation of my eyes, as a result of enemy mortar shelling. Immediately, three thoughts entered my mind.

What would my mother do when she received the telegram detailing my injuries? I shall probably lose my girlfriend and it looked liked football was a thing of the past.

After receiving treatment at an aid-station, I was flown by helicopter to a Hospital Ship where surgery was performed. After sailing to Japan where I was hospitalized, a military ophthalmologist bluntly told me "You don't have any eyes". I was then transported to the United States and received treatment at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. There it was recommended that I attend the Rehabilitation Center for Blinded Veterans at the Veterans Administration Hospital at Hines, Illinois.

During the rehabilitation program I received individual training by a mobility orientor, specialist in typing, braille awareness and wood shop. I did not realize at the time, that these dedicated persons understood, predicted and controlled my every existence. Their dedication in understanding my actions during the course of my training, predicted the outcome and controlled situations which enabled me to have confidence to travel independently get married, have children and graduate from Rutgers University with a Bachelors Degree in Sociology.

I am totally convinced that if individual facilities and training had not been provided by these dedicated personnel, that I would be a mass of protoplasm, contributing nothing to Society.

Within the past decade the Blind Rehabilitation Service has been plagued with spiraling problems. The need for CENTRALIZATION and process of OVERSIGHT have become glaringly obvious.

Blind Rehabilitation is a program of special needs that mandates a specific staffing, qualifications, patterns and delivery. Positions have been abolished, frozen and diluted . Guidelines have been ignored.

The second major issue is the lack of a system of oversight and establishment of communication and identical standards in all the components. The program fails because the right hand is ignorant of what the left hand is doing.

The program needs the establishment of a neutral type of funding with the realization that a Blinded Veteran needs training by a professional who is qualified to recognize the length of time required to produce quality results. PL107-135 is clearly defined and deserves complete compliance.

As a person who traveled using the long cane procedure for over fifty years, I can attest to its value.

Each Blinded Veteran deserves the right to achieve his goals according to his individual progress with the knowledge that all Blind Rehab Services have identical programs.

A program that has received international acclaim should proceed with the ideals and commitment that got it there, and not have to cope with meddling and Negligence such as through unconscionable preclusion of proper instructor-veteran trainee ratio and hiring of unqualified personnel.

Sincerely,
John C
Levittown, Pa.

Dear John
As I have stated in past columns, History has shown us what works, a standardized, centralized, and comprehensive approach to rehabilitation for our American blinded veterans; a program dedicated to the individual blinded vet, his or her psychological adjustment to blindness, inclusion of family and of course, vocational testing, training and job placement.

However, the BHC Centers and their programs have been diminished in their capacity to effectively rehabilitate our nation’s blinded veterans.

The Director of Blind Rehabilitation at VA headquarters has been neutralized by burying his position in a bureaucratic structure called Rehabilitation Strategic Healthcare Group

This bureaucratic snafu, headed by Lucile Beck, PHD, Director of Audiology and Speech Pathology has reduced the BHC Program to a lower priority within the VA medical system.

For instance the VA is having difficulty recruiting professionals in the area of blind rehabilitation. One way to remedy this situation was to request a recruitment tool referred to as hybrid status positions under Title 38 from the U.S. Congress. This would simplify the hiring process. Dr. Beck, however only requested this process for her cohorts and Audiologists, speech pathologists, and biomedical engineers, certified or registered respiratory therapists, dietitians, licensed physical therapists, licensed practical or vocational nurses, medical instrument technicians, medical records administrators or specialists, nuclear medicine technologists, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, kinesiotherapists, orthotist-prosthetists, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, physical therapy assistants, prosthetic representatives, psychologists, diagnostic radiologic technicians, therapeutic radiologic technicians, and social workers.'.

The VA is further diminishing the effectiveness of the assembly line like Blind Rehabilitation Program in West Palm Beech Florida by increasing the number of beds from 15 to 18 without increasing the staffing level at the center.

I urge the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and his Undersecretary of Health to restore centralization of the VA's blind rehabilitation program.

Shaft Kudos

Congratulations to good friend Mack" McKinney, the Fleet Reserve Association's (FRA's) Legislative Counsel on his recent receipt of the Annual Basilone Award For Commitment at a ceremony held at the Freedom Museum in Manassas, VA. Sergeant Major John L. Estrada, Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, presented the award to McKinney on behalf of the Marine Corps League and the Basilone Stamp Campaign.

Send letters to Sgt. Shaft, c/o John Fales, P.O. Box 65900, Washington, D.C. 20035-5900; fax to 301-622-3330; call 202-462-4430 or email sgtshaft@bavf.org.

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