More surviving wounded return home
Written by: | 10 Apr 2009
Currently there are about 23.3 million surviving veterans in this country, ranging from World War I all the way to the current Iraqi conflict.
This number keeps increasing. According to Ame Callahan, Volunteer Services and Public Affairs Manager of the Prescott Veteran’s Hospital, they provide aid to more than 20,000 veterans in the northern Arizona area alone.
“We’re doing okay, particularly in rural Arizona,” says Callahan.
“We have about 23 thousand veterans enrolled at our facilities with a total of 222,545 appointments.”
Callahan, herself a retired member of the Air Force and a current patient at the Veterans Hospital (VA) says that although times are tough, they’re getting by just fine.
Returning home wounded
“We have more surviving wounded returning,” says Callahan. “Because we have better technology, better protective equipment, it saves lives but they have more loss of limbs.”
According to the Iraqindex on brookings.edu, a compilation of statistical reports regarding the Iraq war, some 30,000 service members have returned from duty injured.
Although the number of returning vets to the United States is of great consequence, a more pressing issue faces the homebound service men and women as well as the VA hospital.
“Because we have better technology, better protective equipment, it saves lives but they have more loss of limbs.”
The failing economy has not been particularly helpful to anybody regardless of their station in life.
Unemployed Veterans
According to USA Today the unemployment rate for returning veterans of the Iraqi and Afghanistan conflicts is 11.2 percent and rising while the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the average overall unemployment rate for returned veterans is 4.6 percent. Arizona’s 2009 average is 7 percent.
Despite all of this, Callahan says the VA hospital will make do the best they can while still providing the utmost necessary care for their veterans.
“We are managing like everyone else; we’ve just tightened our belts and gone on,” Callahan says. “We would never cut any corners on our Veterans.”
Sgt. Kyle Audis
Carla Audis, mother of Sgt. Kyle Audis, currently stationed at Fort Jackson South Carolina, says she’s proud of her son and all of his sacrifices.
“I’m just so proud of him. I don’t like war but I do think we have to have the military and what they do is beyond brave; they spend years of their life dedicated to it. It’s sad a lot of people don’t feel the same way,” she says.
Sgt. Audis, now 24, was badly wounded in Sept. 2006 when a vehicle rigged with explosives collided with his unit’s station during patrol.
Requiring several surgeries for incurred wounds, Sgt. Audis has yet to receive his final one.
Requiring several surgeries for incurred wounds, Sgt. Audis has yet to receive his final one.
“He has an aneurism in his arm…and needs some bone work,” says Audis. “I just keep nagging him to try and push to get it done because it’ll be harder if he gets out and he’ll have to get a civilian job and recovery time would cut into that.”
Over the years some members of the military and civilian communities have speculated as to whether or not a veteran can receive care at a VA hospital in a timely fashion.
Eligibility
“First you must be eligible to enroll at the VA, must be connected with OEF [Operation Enduring Freedom] or OIF [Operation Iraqi Freedom] or other service connected and we can get you in, in 30 days; that’s our standard…,” says Callahan. “We don’t have big problems like other places.”
“To be eligible [for VA services] you must be service connected or be a confirmed injury by the VA or meet a low income threshold,” says Callahan.
For more information about the Prescott VA, eligibility, or programs for veterans go to http://www.prescott.va.gov/ or http://www.oefoit.va.gov/.
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