We will call you and give you some information. Anytime that has ever been happened ive been lied to, every time. Every time. Every time. This thing about waiting. Thats what stuck me in a hospital. Ive been waiting and i told her not going to see you. The biggest problem in this hospital and this goes from the clerk to medical, they do not do ama protocols, period. Thats the biggest problem. All medical centers do the same thing. In tucson you get the head of the university down there that runs all the stuff that he does they are working with the va wouldnt take me off my test strips and i got a thing there that said test your blood. I walked in there with my blood sugar at 7 38 in the morning because i refuse to come here. I thought they could help it i walked out with my blood sugar still at 600 the clerk, i dont know why they had them in the waiting room Walking Around. My wife was with me. Shes a witness to it. She was really bored and suicide. The clerk was there and you know when you are 100 and your wife is gets champ va. They twisted va. He twisted around were on the dependent shes a veteran and i lost my records and then i couldnt do nothing. I walk out with 600. I shouldve been dead. I had to go to the civilian hospital to stay alive. I want to know if i can get outside help and let the va pay for because they are not going to do anything here. Let us get your Contact Information we will get the information you need. I dont think thats lying. Is going to kill me if i have to keep paying my own medication. My life is in your hands. And the only way youre going to kill me is by not doing anything for me. I have another belief system too. Im not going to die and tell god wants me. Absolutely. Theres nothing you can do to kill me until its my time, my turn. [applause] get us are Contact Information, and we will try to get your information. My name is matt and i was a combat medic in afghanistan. I was in the army from 2008 until late 2012. It took me two years after i got up to get an appointment. Im just curious, the general reason the whole va is in trouble is because you have the secret waiting list. In my relatively correct . Right. That is because you are putting people on the secret waiting list because there are too many people and not enough providers, relatively correct . Something like that . Correct. I came here june of this year and i got seen for three minutes via doctor. He didnt ask me a single question about Service Related disability and i got a letter in the melting my disability was cut in half. It asked me about my Mental Health issues. They spent three minutes saying hey whats up. Being disrespectful and then sent me on my way. Since i got out of the army my wife left me in a move back with my parents and i can get a job. I couldnt get a job for the longest time but telling them that made them think that my issues were all better. They scheduled me, living gilbert and they scheduled me for a primary care provider appointment in late august. I get a phonecall saying its been canceled and they scheduled me in september. I get a postcard saying its been canceled and i get one in early october. I get a postcard saying its been canceled so i start calling calling. Surprisingly i can get a single human on the phone. I can get an operator who im sure has been caused out more than anybody on this planet because shes the only point of contact with the human. I finally decided to screw it im going to the clinic. I walk in and tell them up head for canceled appointments because it does want to talk to someone. After walking and they told me go ahead and talk to this guy over here. He spent an hour answering phones. Dont you think its a little ironic the reason i had to go to a clinic to talk to someone was because i couldnt get anyone on the phone and i had to wait for an hour for a guy to stop answering the phone . They wouldnt even give me his phone number. So i get talking with one of the advocate people they told me i canceled all of my appointments. I have canceled five appointments and here i am . So im curious, you guys got in trouble because you are not making appointments are putting people on these bogus list but now youre being open about it and doing the same thing of making the patients canceled limits themselves. The only reason they i got tears because i went down and raise hell. I wasnt going to leave unless i had handcuffs or had an appointment today was my planet and they said december wont work . So they give me in the very next day. [laughter] theres no rhythm here and i finally got to talk to a doctor who couldnt speak english. I have nothing against immigration but i could understand him. I know of a couple of things about medicine surprisingly, i was enlisted whatever. She was telling me supplements that are proven scientifically accepted by every medical society in the world shes told me they would rot my kidneys. She does know the first thing about medicine i have to put my life in our hands . These guys go to Clown College and they come here and work for you guys. Its absolutely insane. [applause] thank you. My name is brenda lawler. I served my country very proudly as a firefighter emt in the United States air force. [applause] it seems we have a problem with this va in prescott. I was at the press get va facility. I was kicked out of there for not being suited for the place, and not even a week later i was brutally raped and beaten. I was the third veteran he did this too. Unacceptable i think. Unacceptable. I was sent down here. Unacceptable. For being . Gay, i got the air force Accommodation Medal in korea. They sent me to korea after my 17yearold brother was killed in sedona, arizona, my hometown. [applause] my name is Martin Ridgeway and man i dont know where to begin. Its been a comedy of errors for quite a while but i will just start with my most recent interactions with the va. This is all sense the new va since all this came to light and we aint screwing with you no more. Sunday night im feeling pretty down so i called the crisis line or the guy talks to me and he was a nice guy and everything and he talked me off the ledge and said okay somebody from the phoenix va is going to to contact you tomorrow. Thank you sir. I hang up the phone and i wait all day, all day. At 2 30 i start calling the jade opal clinic because nobody has gotten back to me. And its busy, busy, busy until 3 30 and manages rings until it goes to a busy signal which means we are just cutting you off, screw you go away. So i call crisis line back because now im a little upset. I call the crisis line and he puts me on hold. Yes, i am that guy, 11 minutes. I was ready to hang up when someone finally answered. He rushed me off the phone. This has happened several times when ive called there. Okay, good, we we have got other people. Have a good day. Finally someone started calling. I get social workers that start calling. If im a social worker, i think if when one of my clients, one my patients, one of my veterans comes to me and says i need your this is what i have going on, and i say, ok. First of all, i wouldnt say ok, try to reach out to these people. That is bull shit. If i hand you a list and say try to read out reach out to these people. I want to know what is on that list. Im going to know who those people are. Im going to know they can even help you. Because trust and believe when you have somebody like me, a cold war veteran, i still have ptsd. 70 . Guys,l the rest of you who had four plus years, we are still playing the game. Im sitting here in reaching out, saying i need help. And you say i need help. You say try these. I start going on the list. Oef, oif,f them is cant help you. Sorry, we only do vietnam veterans. Or you dont have children. After about four of those, im in tears. Im not ready to call anybody else. Anybody. [applause] i sit here i even went as far to tell everybody you go on facebook, and you go to the , and youaffairs page search my name is Martin Ridgeway, you will see the post that i put on there. I want everybody to know that if and when that time comes, and i commit suicide, it is his fault. And this hospitals fault. Jeff flake and john mccain and whenever the other guys name is, everybody i have reached out the standouts come out all these town hall meetings, and everything else. Blew mee all either off, or passed me on to the next person. Becausen i went back, kiersten has her deal about how she wants to help people and not commit suicide. I sent her a personal message. Here is the deal i have problems. Do you think it many got back to me . No, they did not. I understand its not necessarily the v. A. , but those people are here too. They can hear me. I already told my family. I already started clearing my roster, getting my affairs in order. My called them during that time, is that i need to speak to a privacy officer because there are things in my record headed is illegal according to arizona law. For another thing, i just want to get it cleared up. I dont want everybody to have access to all my stuff. Guess what . That has not happened. I called and left messages with i finallyvocates, and saw one. I walked in and was lucky enough to get to see one. That led to nowhere. But i believe she sent a message to the privacy officers. Never heard back nothing from them. That was on sunday. My initial call that i need help. This past sunday . [laughter] no. This was about four weeks ago. That was sunday night. On friday afternoon, somebody finally called me to schedule an appointment to see the nurse next week. Really . One week . And the doctor five weeks from now. What do you say to that . Lets do that. The beauty of that is, then i get to go to court. The judge says you are going back and see me, and is the same day i have an appointment. I call and say i cant make that appointment, and they say, wait another month. And push me out. It is really sad. I posted several but one that i made on the v. A. Site, some of the on the crisis line did actually call me back. Just to make sure i was okay. But that is as far as it goes. Everything is pure lip service. Everyone says we will help you. And everywhere i go all these web sites, and millions and millions of dollars wasted because when i go on there they say we will try this then you go those agencies we dont have any money. Come back and see us in a couple of months after the new year. That is not acceptable. Rapid re housing for Homeless Veterans . Come back in a couple months after the fiscal year when we have money . That is not acceptable. There is the lack of legitimate services here at the v. A. The biggest problem that i have. Im a diabetic, too. I have problems controlling my sugar. There is an earth a nurse at the northwest clinic who calls a fairly regularly, and follows up. And this is the first one that is ever done that. When i go to the diabetic clinic they say you are noncompliant. Get the fuck out. Hit wrong with my head. I tend to forget things. Things tend to slide into the carpet. She calls to remind being keeps me on track. Now, my blood sugar is more in control than it has ever been. Because one person cared. That is the problem. How many have i dealt with in the last month . I have one person that says i am here for you i will help you and i will call you. And does. Because i come to the stand down and the town hall everybody says we will help you then the next one the same people or the same organizations say we will help you out and follow up deal know what they do . Nothing. You never hear from them again. Groundhog day. Groundhog day. Exactly. The wait times are ridiculous. I call my psychiatrist. They call me because im in crisis. And they want five weeks. I called him back and say i can make my appointment in a couple of weeks, and they say ok, the next one is for weeks after that. A month after that. That is not a recipe for success. At one point in time i didnt feel i was being treated appropriately for my situation. The doctor that i had was not an expert and he said so himself. I said okay. Next. They gave me another doctor. Do you know about this . Are you an expert . I have treated some people with that. That is not good enough. I know more about my illness , thats a problem. You were a doctor, you are getting paid to treat me, and i know more than you do, that is an issue. I had half pharmacist at the me, tellt angry with me i was doctor shopping, and medication seeking behavior. And i said if you had a Heart Disease you can into my office and i told you it is because you are fat and you did it yourself i will not give you medication. For your high blood pressure, or whatever. Would you be doctor shopping . She tells me we will put you on strattera. Strattera, ie on have been on it before. It makes me suicidal. She says it does not depression. She gets in this big argument with me. So she calls security. My psychiatrist brings me into her office bless her heart. To calm down and chill out. Which i did. Then i go home and print out everything i can find. Its about that thick. The first place i went was strattera. Com. Everybody has the smart phone. On the top of the page is a big black box. Fda warning it is known to cause suicidal thoughts in adolescents. No, it doesnt cause depression. Really . Where do we get these people . Where do we get these people . That person should not be in charge of any care especially Mental Health. She does not even know mentalhealth drugs or the side effects. That is just wrong. I was the bad guy . When we call to get help you cannot get help from patient advocates. They listen but that is as far as it has gone. It is a sad state of affairs. What you going to do about it . One of the issues that i do have , and i understand, you are not the claims department. Still Veterans Affairs administration. If there is nothing you can do about it, and sure your boss can, or his boss, or somebody. That is what i would redo in. Climbing the ladder, asking why we are screwing with these people . I believe in my heart that it costs the v. A. As much or more every month to keep me from my benefits unemployment than it does just to pay them. They will pay than in the end but everybody says you only have a couple more years to wait. And that was from travel board july 23rd. Whenedhen i ulexpe she yre thiaa . [l , a a rg clm yourl ea f t fyes d. Ars you ll pwibaget y decion in ye oo. 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I had to get on the phone so he would not get so frustrated yesterday, but now, after seeing my dad getting 10 they took it back from him. He is still disabled. 10 for getting stabbed and he did time in the marines and the navy . Something is wrong with this system. I am one who sees the other side when they are at home. They cannot get the things that they need. I went with my uncle and his caseworker to get his medical records. The doctor told him i will not give the medication until you tell the doctor you will not see him and he will not treat you he will not give you medication and i will not be there what does that do . He is still in pain. Being an exmilitary wife they give people motrin, that does nothing and some get ibuprofen. He cannot sleep at night Walking Around in a haze, we are the ones that take the brunt because they come here get no help and come home pissed off. Somebody needs to do something about this my dad and stepdad and uncle. Now here is a lot of people. Does more people have to die before anything is done . 893 days . He has done his time somebody needs to look get his appeal from 2009. [applause] i have a statement. I have been a disabled veteran 24 years. I have been treated in florida and ohio and pennsylvania and now phoenix. I will read my statement first. There are two kinds of people in this world the first of those who believe that service to others than the second tied to only believe in service to self. A person in the group of service to self. While she was collecting bonuses i was one of them. She is currently on paid administrative leave how can we trust the v. A. An system when you reward a person who purposely harmed us for many . You say you want to move for