Blindness for them is just an inconvenience

Gema G. Hernández

Recently, I had the honor and the pleasure of spending three days in the company of blind veterans. I said the honor not only because of what they have done in their military lives, but what they continue to do today on a day to day basis for all of us. Usually, when I participate in a conference I am there to share ideas and explore options with the audience, but this time I can honestly say it was the other way around. I learned so much from them and from the way they deal with the “inconvenience of being blind” that all the other tragedies I have faced in my life seem to disappear within the context of what I was witnessing.

I want to say that losing one’s eyesight while still maintaining quality of life is for me very difficult to imagine because everything we do in my mind requires visual validation. However, what I witnessed and experienced has taught me another valuable lesson, especially when the tremendous challenge they are facing in navigating life is considered just an inconvenience. As part of the activities of those three days I attended a town hall meeting with elected officials and the Blind Veterans Association. I wanted to see how we as a country are treating our veterans, especially these veterans that in the process of defending our way of life have become injured. What I learned concerns me because of the number of young men and women that continue to put their lives on the line for you and me.

Blind veterans’ number one concern is that they would like to have access to the latest technology available so they can make minimize the “inconvenience” of being blind. Blind veterans want options to Nursing Homes and institutional care. At this time successful programs like Assisted Living Facility waivers, community based care have not reached the veterans; they, more than anyone else should have those options, staying in their own homes with the assistance and help from the same government they served years ago. Some veterans were very concerned with the realignment of resources that is taking place in the VA that will close hospitals in their immediate areas. This will force veterans in general, but blind veterans in particular, to travel miles and miles to the next hospital.

We think that because the attention of the country is on our troops all the support is there for them to access the health care they need. Unfortunately, during the town hall meeting I learned that the department of defense’s health record of active military personnel does not immediately transfer to the VA system, creating a gap in health care coverage that in some cases takes years to resolve. In the meantime, the health and treatment information so critical for follow up medical services goes into cyberspace, leaving these individuals, who are now inactive personnel, in limbo.

It is not easy to witness the frustration our heroes expressed, and seeing the wheels of bureaucracy becoming paralyzed with an inadequate budget. The budget to help our veterans has only increased 5% in the last three years. Compared with the increases in military activities during the same period of time, the 5% increase is insignificant.

To my surprise, the fact that a group of Blind veterans was denied retroactive reimbursement for health care expenses which occurred while the health care coverage was being switched from one system to another tops my list, especially because of the argument used to deny such a reimbursement. It was concluded that the US government never promised to take care of the health benefits for life of the military personnel, therefore the non existence of a written contract convinced the court that whatever expenses occurred prior to their complete transfer to the new system is not the responsibility of our government.

This is the time that, if we want to honor our men and women in uniform, we need to look at the fine print and begin to invest as a society in closing the many gaps that exist for our veterans today; gaps in treatment, equipment, medications and options to stay in the homes they love. Veterans are the fastest growing group of elders in need of our attention and support. What has been called the Greatest Generation, as one blind veteran put it, is now in need of government’s greatest support. “No we are not begging for a free lunch, we have paid with our blood, sweat and tears for that lunch”. Amen, brothers and sisters.