UPDATE FROM 3/2/17 BELOW (scroll to bottom of post)
Yesterday (2/24/17) while at the Durham, NC VA Hospital, my husband Stephen McMenamin and I witnessed some very disturbing events. The man in the wheelchair on the left, were waiting in that waiting room at least 3 hours. The man bent over grabbing the chair, was yelling in pain and was borderline convulsing and almost falling out of his chair he was in so much pain. No one paid him any attention until I approached a nurse t...o please check on him. This gentleman sat in the waiting room in extreme pain for hours upon hours with very little attention paid to him.
The gentlemen seen in the two photos on the right, came in extremely sick. He could barely walk, sit up, or breathe. My husband had been directed to a chair just off the waiting area because it reclined (my husband was being seen for extreme lower back pain). Upon this man walking in and telling the nurse he needed to lay down, and her telling him to have a seat (with very little regard for his well being), my husband got up and offered this man the reclining chair. This man sat in the chair for probably about 15 minutes before he was told he had to get up immediately. Upon being approached by the nurse (who was extremely rude to him), he told her he could not sit up and he needed to lay down. She completely disregarded him and demanded he go sit in the waiting room area, leaving the recliner completely empty. Upon seeing this, and seeing how rude the nurse was being, my husband approached the nurse and asked why this man was not allowed to stay in the recliner given that my husband had been sitting in it for 30 plus minutes. The nurse refused to provide any explanation or even her name, and stormed off while this man was still struggling. The man then asked multiple times for a place to lean back or lay down, and was completely disregarded by the nurse. Eventually after being completely neglected, he laid on the floor.
The point of this post is to show the issues that exist at the VA. Yesterday at the VA we did encounter some nurses who genuinely cared about the patients, but after seeing what happened, I had to share this. There are good people that work at the VA and genuinely care, but then there are people like this particular nurse who should not be working with our nations finest. We did end up getting the nurses name who was extremely rude and neglected patients in need. And are planning to go through any means to make sure people know what was going on.
Please share this post. Our Veterans deserve better. And the problems in the VA system are very real.
Thank you.
UPDATE 3/2/17- The VA contacted us indicating that two of the men in the photograph would like this taken down. With that being said, they have "suggested" that we remove them. I want to make this very clear, we are not posting this to disrespect or embarrass anyone, especially these Veterans. If anyone has a way that we can contact either of these men, please let us know. If we receive confirmation from these men, or their family, that they would like it removed, we will IMMEDIATELY remove this post and do what we can do also have it taken off of the news pages. But at this point I feel as though the VA cannot be trusted as a source for this, because they want this post removed because this exposes them.
This is not meant to embarrass or publicly humiliate these men. Never did I EVER think this post would blow up the way it has. I am in the process of trying to confirm if any laws have been broken, and if I do receive confirmation from a RELIABLE source that this is violating something, I am more than happy to address that. I see a lot of people commenting about HIPAA. I have confirmed that that would NOT apply to this situation. I am not a medical provider. Also, when this photograph was initially posted, I felt as though no one was identifiable based on the angles. Once this post blew up, and that was put into question, I immediately blurred out their faces, regardless to if I thought they were identifiable or not. Any photos that have been provided to the media, I have asked them to please blur where necessary and have been assured that they would confirm with their legal teams regarding that. Point is, this is not meant to humiliate these Veterans, this is to raise awareness that the VA setup needs to be addressed. This is more than just a nurse that, in my opinion, should not be working there. This is not meant as a witch hunt. This is meant to put a photograph of what many of our Veterans experience, that most people do not see unless they step foot into a VA. I am not saying this photo is EVERY VA. I am not saying this is everyone at the VA. But what I am saying is that the VA system needs to be addressed. And I am doing this to speak up for those who may be scared to. I am doing this because you cannot argue with a photograph. If the VA wants to claim this is misleading, that is their prerogative. But I can tell you, I did not stage this. What you take from this is up to you. We have started a page called Help Put Veterans First. If you would like to follow, I will link it below. I have also linked John Burk's page below, he has been a huge support through all of this.Thank you for your continued support, it has not gone unnoticed, and it because of the thousands of comments and messages that I have received that I am not going to give up. Thank you!
JOHN BURK'S PAGE:
https://m.facebook.com/johnburk1775/
Help Put Veterans First:
https://m.facebook.com/helpputvetsfirst