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Area veterans aired their frustrations about the Veterans Affairs department during a roundtable discussion at the Hi-Tec Center on Thursday with U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio.

The VA system has been under heavy criticism recently because veterans are reportedly not receiving proper health care.

Wenstrup said that the “highest priority right now was to get patients into care,” adding that had been a concern of his since coming to Washington.

He said there are administrative problems and problems with productivity with the VA system, but there were also “a lot of good caregivers.” But, from the administrative aspect, he said, “something got lost.”

Wentrup, who is a medical doctor, said the patient in the VA system is a “liability.” In a private practice, patients are an “asset.” Patients are how private practice doctors put food on the table for their families, he said, but a VA provider gets paid regardless of the number of patients seen.

Some of the VA doctors, he said, have never been in private practice.

“It occurred to me, they don’t even know what they don’t know,” he told the crowd.

Veterans, in a lot of cases, see a different doctor when they are able to see a doctor at all, he said, adding that it didn’t have to be that way.

Of the approximately 50 veterans present for the discussion hosted by the Highland County Veterans Services Commission, many spoke up about their own experiences and voiced their concerns with the system that included record availability, lack of record sharing between the VA and the Department of Defense, delay in care, lack of information, issues between Medicare and the VA, waiting for appointments, and care received, among other things.

“Tear down this wall that exists between when you’re in service and when you’re not,” Wenstrup said. “You’re a service member for life as far as I’m concerned. There shouldn’t have to be a wall you have to climb over.”

Wenstrup said legislators “have acted in a very bipartisan effort” in regard to the issues concerning veterans.

Robert McDonald, former CEO of Proctor & Gamble, has been appointed by the Obama administration to head up the VA, and Wenstrup said McDonald had “a mountain to climb.”

Teresa Lewis, an active duty and veterans caseworker, was on hand to provide information on how veterans could bring their concerns “front and center.”

One veteran said all he wanted was to be treated with “dignity and respect,” not to be met with a “patronizing attitude” and treated like he was wasting someone’s time.

“It’s a culture,” Wenstrup said, later adding that the system is “obviously broken” but it was discussions like Thursday’s roundtable that provided an opportunity to change things for the better.

Later, Wenstrup visited the Greenfield Rotary Club, but not as a congressman he said.

He came in uniform and addressed Rotarians as “Lt. Col. Brad Wenstrup,” he said, as he talked about what it means to serve, not just as a military member, but to serve others in general.

Since 1776, he said, more than 42 million Americans have served in the military, more than one million have died and more than one million have been wounded.

The Highland County Veterans Services Commission, which helps veterans with transportation to appointments, processing claims, navigating the system, and a number of other things, is located in the Hi-Tech Center in Hillsboro at 1575 N. High St., Suite 400. For more information call 937-393-8686, search “Highland County Veterans Ohio” on Facebook, or follow @HighlandVetsOH on Twitter.

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