Veterans Affairs committee  How do you fix it?

Veterans Affairs committee  You need more people. That's the bottom line. You need more people in Veterans Affairs. You need more people at that level, not higher up. At that level, focus on putting the policies together, getting these people and getting them out seeing the people. That's the level we need to get this done.

Veterans Affairs committee  Really, there's not much help for caregivers now. As we said, there is only one criterion where caregivers get help, which would be for spouse and children under 25. That is, if the veteran gives permission, is recognized [Technical difficulty—Editor] and has a case manager, they can get help, but if you take any other situation where that veteran doesn't fit into that criteria, there is nothing, and there is so little for families.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes.

Veterans Affairs committee  You're right on that. They just disappear. I guess they have to look at that level in Veterans Affairs to see what can be done to support them.

Veterans Affairs committee  Certainly if they had more of that, that obviously would help. I think more of them is also another issue that's really important. With these OSI clinics, you can't get into them without a case manager. They work wonderfully, but in my practice of all veterans, I only have two people in an OSI clinic, because they had to have a case manager put them there.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, you've just solved it by saying, “more caseworkers with smaller caseloads”. That would be fantastic. The other thing is that when people do get a caseworker, they're very good and they work hard for them, but the problem is that they don't have them very long. They are often told, “Well, you don't need one anymore.”

Veterans Affairs committee  That's about it. Usually I don't know exactly who qualifies or why, I mean, it's not—

Veterans Affairs committee  You need to publicize it more. Send it out to veterans. Send it out to all people. Make it big and public, because they don't know. I'm using it for dying patients at the moment, but get it out. That's the big thing.

Veterans Affairs committee  Well, part of it is because I was in the military for so long, and I was on a lot of missions, and a lot of my patients come from the missions that I was on. The other part is that I think that you could recruit [Technical difficulty—Editor]. It takes a lot of time, and there's a lot of paperwork involved, and if you're on “fee for service”, you wouldn't get paid very well.

Veterans Affairs committee  Yes, you certainly do. If you do a medical, you can charge VA for that, but you don't get paid by Veterans Affairs for anything really. This is an issue too because the civilian side of it doesn't recognize you for what you're doing, and they make it quite hard on you. At one point, they all thought that I should have been billing Veterans Affairs for everything I did.

Veterans Affairs committee  It's very frustrating. I can't seem to get help. I try all sorts of tricks, because I've been at it a long time. I can call and I rather beg people to take patients. I have a situation with a fellow who is 33; he can't get help. His mother and I were on the phone. The father's a veteran; he's a patient, and the son is a patient.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you for allowing me this opportunity to speak on behalf of veterans, veterans' caregivers and families. I would like to start by telling you about myself. I am former military medical officer who served in both the regular and reserve forces.