Showing posts with label Spokane Washington. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spokane Washington. Show all posts

Monday, August 14, 2017

Hole in Spokane VA Hospital Roof--Leaked for 5 Years!

Investigation discovers staff ignored hole in roof for years at VA hospital in Spokane

Spokesman
Thomas Clouse
August 11, 2017

"The hole is scheduled to be fixed sometime by the end of the year."

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ frustrated attempts to secure changes for veterans’ care in Spokane just fell through the roof.
Based on complaints funneled through a group of veterans who have protested for a year about the lack of cooperation from the staff at Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center, McMorris Rodgers asked for staff from the House Veterans Affairs Committee to come to Spokane in June and investigate conditions at the hospital. Among the problems they discovered: a hole in the roof.
The hole apparently has been leaking water for about five years. McMorris Rodgers said VA staff has known about the problem, evidenced by the fact that someone had built a rectangular funnel to catch water dripping through the roof. The funnel channels water through a hose into a metal bucket.
But the make-shift-leak-management system is located only feet from hospital’s large electrical panel that fuels power to the entire facility, she said.
“Just how unbelievable it was to learn we had a leaking roof,” McMorris Rodgers said. “And it’s been going on for years and hasn’t been addressed.”

Just no other way to put it!


Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Ex-Spokane VA Doctor Convicted of Child Molestation Charges

Former Veterans Affairs doctor in Spokane convicted of multiple counts of child molestation 
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 
Published: 3/1/16 

SPOKANE, Washington — A federal court jury in Spokane has convicted Dr. Craig Morgenstern of child sex abuse, after hearing graphic evidence of the former Veterans Affairs doctor's secret life as a serial child molester. 

The jury found Morgenstern guilty on all counts Tuesday. read more here

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

VA Chief of Surgery Missing in Spokane

UPDATE, Sadly
SPOKANE, Wash. - Interim Police Chief Rick Dobrow has confirmed with KHQ's Cynthia Johnson that the body found in the Spokane River Tuesday morning is missing VA doctor John Marshall.
Spokane VA chief of surgery missing
Spokesman Review
Eli Francovich
January 25, 2016
The chief of surgery at the veterans hospital in Spokane was reported missing Monday after he didn’t show up for work.

Dr. John Marshall, 49, started his morning like most of his workdays with morning exercise at the YMCA in central Spokane. Security footage shows him leaving the building after 5:30 a.m. His wife, Dr. Suzan Marshall, said he usually leaves for a jog and heads back to get ready for work about 6 a.m. so he can arrive at the hospital by 7 a.m.

When he didn’t show up at work at the Mann-Grandstaff Veterans Affairs Medical Center, staff notified his family.
"Marshall served in the Marines for five years before becoming an Army surgeon, Suzan Marshall said. He served in the Army from 2004 to 2009. Marshall has worked at the VA since 2010 and was named the acting chief of surgery a year ago. Suzan Marshall is also a veteran and a surgeon."
read more here

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Veterans train to climb Denali, while blind

Blind veterans train on Quandry Peak and Mt. Lincoln for Denali ascent
Summit Daily
Melanie Wong
March 28, 2014

SUMMIT COUNTY — To Scott Smiley, Colorado mountains are the crunching of snow underneath his shoes, the scent of pine needles, the chirping of birds and the feel of fresh, alpine air on his skin.

Because the military veteran and instructor is blind, what he won’t see is the whiteness of snow or the sight of towering peaks, until guide Eric Alexander paints a mental image of the rugged mountains.

“I still think it’s one of the most beautiful things,” Smiley said. “The air is fresh, pure and clean. I live in Spokane, Wash., and you don’t get those senses hitting you all the time. There’s the beauty of seeing things, but those pictures go to my mind and it puts a smile on my face.”

Smiley and fellow veteran Marty Bailey both fought for the U.S. Army in Iraq, where they lost their sight — Smiley to a car bomb and Bailey to a grenade explosion. But being blind hasn’t dampened their sense of adventure. The two were in Colorado in mid-March to train for a May trip up Alaska’s Denali mountain (Mount McKinley) — North America’s tallest peak. Joined by Vail Valley resident and mountaineer Eric Alexander, the two got some altitude training in Summit and neighboring Park County by climbing Quandary Peak and Mount Lincoln — two of the state’s above 14,000 foot peaks.
read more here

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Marine takes down burglar with bare hands

Marine takes down burglar in his parent's Wash. home
By NICOLE HENSLEY
The (Spokane, Wash.) Spokesman-Review
Published: December 29, 2012

After two dangerous tours in Afghanistan, Marine Cpl. Alex Pohle confronted a new threat on the home front: a burglar in his parent’s Spokane Valley home.

Home for the holidays, the 22-year-old Pohle returned to their house after running errands and found the front door open “as plain as a summer’s day.” The family dog sat in the front yard along the 12400 block of East Desmet Road.

Without hesitation Pohle rushed inside after telling his wife to stay in the car. He stormed into the home, burst into his parents bedroom and took suspected burglar Christopher Schwanke, 43, to the floor.

After a short struggle, Pohle had him in a choke hold and Schwanke pleaded for his freedom. “Let me go, let me go,” Pohle’s mom heard Schwanke begging before he stopped moving.

Pohle credited his military training for the take down move and pointed out the blood on his pants and shirt that didn’t belong to him.
read more here

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Spokane veterans have to wait up to 87 days for mental health help?

Senators tell VA to speed up care for mentally ill vets


BY ROB HOTAKAINEN
11-30-11
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

WASHINGTON -- Senators gave a public scolding Wednesday to the director of mental health operations for the nation's veterans, saying the federal government must speed up services for those with post-traumatic stress disorder and other afflictions.

Faced with a 34 percent increase in the number of veterans who have sought mental health services since 2006, the Department of Veterans Affairs has not kept pace, said Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.

As a result, too many veterans are waiting far too long to get help, which is leading to a rash of suicides, increased drug abuse and other problems, said Murray, who heads the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Offering an example from her home state of Washington, Murray said veterans seeking psychiatric help in Spokane have had to wait an average of 21 days for an appointment, with a maximum wait time of up to 87 days.

"We need to fix this now," Murray said at a committee hearing that she called to examine the topic.
read more here

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Rogers served five years in the Army as a military police officer killed by police

Funeral held Monday for father shot by police
Rogers served five years in the Army as a military police officer.
by KREM.com and Shawn Chitnis
NWCN.com
Posted on October 3, 2011
MEDICAL LAKE, Wash.—The family of James Rogers laid his body to rest Monday after he was shot and killed by Spokane Police September 26th.

Roger was buried at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery in Medical Lake after a funeral service, but they are still dealing with a mix of emotions about how he died.

Authorities say a search warrant shows Rogers had a suicide note along with criminal citations and a military baseball hat inside his van.

Rogers’ father still wonders if he could have prevented his son’s death.

"I wish I would have had five more minutes to get there, so I could have hopefully talked him out of that van," Alonzo Rogers said.
read more here

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Phillip Paul captured came three days after he escaped

Washington state killer captured after field-trip escape
Story Highlights
Legally insane killer escaped Thursday during hospital field trip to fair

Escape in Spokane County, Washington, prompted manhunt

Phillip Paul killed community activist in 1987, believing she was a witch

(CNN) -- A legally insane killer who escaped in Washington state during a field trip was recaptured Sunday, the Yakima County Sheriff's Department told CNN.


Authorities combed Washington state for Phillip Paul, a killer who escaped Thursday during a field trip.

Phillip Paul's capture came three days after he escaped in Spokane County, Washington. After escaping, he was the subject of a massive manhunt.

Details of the capture weren't immediately available.

Though Paul had been confined in a mental institution because of a murder confession, he was allowed to be part of Thursday's trip to a county fair.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/20/washington.escaped.killer/index.html

Monday, August 10, 2009

Spokane VA Center Miscounted Suicides

CVA: VA Profoundly Underreporting Vet Suicides?


Spokane VA Center Miscounted Suicides
August 10, 2009
Spokesman-Review

The number of Spokane, Wash.-area veterans who killed themselves in a one-year period is far greater than the Spokane Veteran Affairs Medical Center knew at the time, a VA investigation has found.

The VA's Office of Medical Investigations discovered that from July 2007 through the first week of July 2008, at least 22 veterans in the Spokane VA service area killed themselves, and 15 of them had contact with the medical center.

Spokane VA had previously reported nine suicides and 34 attempted suicides in that time period. All of them had some contact with the medical center.

"The methods and sources routinely being utilized by the medical center to identify veterans who have committed suicide may be inadequate," a report by the VA medical inspectors said.

The suicides came amid heightened concern for the mental health of Soldiers and veterans nationally. In response, VA facilities have strengthened protocols for identifying patients at risk of suicide.

The inspectors' report was released late last week by the Veterans Health Administration to Spokane resident Steve Senescall, after a year spent trying to find out more about the death of his son, Lucas Senescall. The young man's body was found hanging in his Spokane home a few hours after he sought psychiatric help at the Spokane VA.

Although the report was completed on Feb. 4, Senescall did not receive it until late Thursday, hours after The Spokesman-Review called VA headquarters and the office of U.S. Sen. Patty Murray with inquiries about the father's efforts to obtain the information.

On July 7, 2008, Steve Senescall accompanied his son -- who had a history of mental illness, including a previous suicide attempt -- to the medical center's psychiatric ward, where Lucas was seen by Dr. William L. Brown.

Rather than admit Lucas, Senescall said, the psychiatrist had the veteran make an appointment for an office visit in two weeks.

"I want to know why, when he was rocking back and forth in his chair with his hands over his mouth to keep from crying, he sent him home," Senescall said.
Senescall's suicide was the 15th in a little more than 12 months by a veteran who had at least some contact with the Spokane medical center.

The discrepancy between the nine deaths reported earlier by the Spokane VA and the 22 noted in the medical investigators' report came as a result of the medical center comparing death records from the Spokane County medical examiner with records from all three branches of the VA -- the Veterans Health Administration, the Veteran Benefits Administration and the National Cemetery System.


The description of Veteran 2 matches the case of Richard Kinsey Young, a 35-year-old Navy veteran who killed himself in April 2008 after a 16-month struggle with back pain and depression.




The most common complaint was lower back pain, reported by 54 percent of the Soldiers, a previous Spokesman-Review investigation found. Two of the veterans who killed themselves were Iraq or Afghanistan veterans, including Spc. Timothy Juneman, a 25-year-old National Guardsman and former Stryker Brigade Soldier who was injured in a roadside explosion in Iraq.

Juneman hanged himself at his home in Pullman, where he was taking classes at Washington State University after being released from inpatient suicide watch at the Spokane VA in January 2008.


read more here

Spokane VA Center Miscounted Suicides

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Lucas Senescall's suicide raises questions about PTSD care

When will they get the message that the suicide hot line is great but they need to have the rest of the VA up to speed or all it does is prolong the suffering?
Army Vet's Suicide Raises Questions About VA's Treatment of PTSD Cases
Written by Jason Leopold
Thursday, 14 August 2008
by Jason Leopold

The tragic death earlier this month of a 26-year-old Navy veteran who hung himself with an electrical cord while under the care of a Spokane, Washington Veterans Administration hospital depression underscores what veterans advocacy groups say is evidence of an epidemic of suicides due failures by the VA to identify and treat war veterans afflicted with severe mental health problems.

Lucas Senescall, who suffered from severe depression, was the sixth veteran who committed suicide this year after seeking treatment at the Spokane VA, according to a report published last weekend in the Spokesman Review.

Senescall’s father said his son was “begging for help and [the VA] kicked him to the curb,” according to the July 20 report in the Spokesman Review.

On Tuesday, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wa, addressed the increasing number of war veterans who are committing suicide, specifically pointing out the death of Lucas Senescall, during a speech on the Senate floor.


“More than five years [after the start of the Iraq war], we should have the resources in place to treat the psychological wounds of war as well as we do the physical ones. But we don’t,” Murray said. “When someone with a history of depression, PTSD, or other psychological wounds walks into the VA and says they are suicidal, it should set off alarm bells We can’t convince veterans or service members to get care if they think they will be met with lectures and closed doors. That is unacceptable. At the very least, we must ensure that staff at military and VA medical centers have the training to recognize and treat someone who is in real distress.

“Time and again, it has taken leaks and scandals to get the Administration to own up to major problems at the VA – from inadequate budgets to rising suicide rates. And its response to rising costs has been to underfund research and cut off services to some veterans. Service members and veterans need more than an 800 number to call,” Murray said.

Paul Sullivan, the executive director of the advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense, agreed.

“The facts show VA lacks consistent and complete policies and oversight on the subject of suicide, as VA leaders confirmed during the trial in the lawsuit veterans brought against VA.”
click post title for more

Saturday, July 19, 2008

VA Refused Medical Care to Suicidal Veterans

Why is this still going on? Why are they being turned away when they finally seek help? When they want to live, why are they not helped to stay alive?


July 20, Another Tragic Suicide: VA Refused Medical Care to Suicidal Veteran in Spokane, Washington

Kevin Graman


Spokesman-Review (Washington)

Jul 20, 2008

Lucas Senencall "was begging for help, and they kicked him to the curb," said Senescall's father, Steve Senescall, of Spokane, who drove his son to the hospital and was with him during a brief consultation with [VA psychiatrist William] Brown. . . . Sullivan said the problem could get worse, that the VA is unprepared to absorb 1.7 million returning Iraqi and Afghanistan war veterans if they need care. The health care system currently is treating 325,000 of them; of those, nearly 134,000 are being treated for mental health conditions.

LIVES LOST AT HOME

July 20, 2008, Spokane, Washington - A distraught 26-year-old Navy veteran who had a history of mental illness hanged himself within three hours of seeking help at Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The July 7 death of Lucas Senescall was the sixth suicide this year of a veteran who had contact with the Spokane VA, a marked increase in such deaths.

Last year, there were two suicides among veterans treated at the local VA.

Senescall's death comes amid heightened concern nationwide over the suicide rate among veterans.

VA officials said the medical center continues to take steps to identify veterans at risk of harming themselves, and it is training all employees in suicide prevention. Citing confidentiality rules, officials would not identify the recent fatalities.

But the identity of one other veteran who killed himself this year became public when his family wrote U.S. Sen. Patty Murray in April about concerns with VA mental health care. Spc. Timothy Juneman, 25, a National Guardsman and former Stryker Brigade soldier who was injured in a roadside explosion in Iraq, died March 5.

The same VA psychiatrist, Dr. William L. Brown, attended Senescall on the day he died and Juneman in early January when he was released from inpatient suicide watch at the Spokane VA. Brown had prescribed Juneman several medications, including potent antidepressant, anti-anxiety and antipsychotic drugs.

Parents of both dead veterans have independently raised concerns that the Spokane VA could have done more to save their sons.

"He was begging for help, and they kicked him to the curb," said Senescall's father, Steve Senescall, of Spokane, who drove his son to the hospital and was with him during a brief consultation with Brown.

Said Juneman's mother, Jacqueline Hergert, of Toledo, Wash.: "This thing should never have happened with my son."

Juneman was a combat veteran diagnosed by the Spokane VA with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. He was attending Washington State University. "As soon as those diagnoses were made, somebody should have been standing on a soapbox for him, and nothing was done," Hergert said.

Juneman's body was found in his Pullman home March 25, nearly three weeks after he had hanged himself. He had missed several appointments at the Spokane VA. In records obtained by Juneman before his death, Brown wrote that imminent redeployment to Iraq with the National Guard was a "major stressor" contributing to Juneman's condition, his mother said.

The Spokane VA couldn't contact the 161st Infantry of the Washington Army National Guard to advise officials there of Juneman's diagnosis. Without a patient's consent, the VA cannot inform the Department of Defense about the medical condition of "active veterans" such as Guard and Reserve members.

The week before he died, Juneman received final notification that the National Guard had rescinded a promise not to send him back to Iraq for two years.

Brown has declined through VA officials to comment on either Juneman's or Senescall's case. His superiors at the Spokane VA said they were unable to speak about specific cases because of laws protecting patients' confidentiality.

However, Sharon Helman, the medical center's director, and Dr. Gregory Winter, chief of behavioral health, said each of the six suicides this year was being investigated. As of this year, they said, every hospital employee is undergoing suicide prevention training.

"We have dedicated mental health staff who are very passionate about treating veterans, whatever their diagnosis is, to ensure they receive the quality, safe care that they deserve," Helman said. "When there is even just one suicide we are going to do everything we can to look at our process to determine (whether there is) anything we can do to improve that process and that care."

Winter said that when he came to the Spokane VA medical center seven years ago, his staff numbered about 30. Today, largely as a result of increased attention to the mental health of returning veterans, that number has grown to 52 behavioral health workers, who see about 4,500 patients.

"We save lives every day in the mental health service and all the other services as well, but we are not 100 percent," Winter said. "It is a tragedy when we lose a veteran and we ask ourselves many, many questions when that happens."
go here for more
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/articleid/10703

When my husband's darkest days were claiming more and more of his life with each passing day, he finally reached the point when he said "Drive me to the hospital." We headed to the VA hospital in Bedford MA. Driving on Route 128 for the half hour drive, I was afraid for him. The color of his skin had drained. The twitches I was used to seeing were out of control. I prayed all the way to the hospital.

I thanked God that all the years of trying to get him to go to the VA for help had come to that point. When we got there, we waited for hours for someone to see him. We were told there were no beds in the Rehab for him. I feared having to take him home. Being turned away from the hospital would have been too much for him and I knew that if this chance, this glimmer of hope of him being helped, was not fulfilled, it may have been his last chance. I cried. I begged. I talked to a doctor and pleaded for his life. We waited most of the day and they finally admitted him. I knew we got lucky with the doctor having compassion for us.

It was 1993. It had taken me 11 years to get him to those doors. Back then when I contacted the media, The Lynn Item, the Salem News, Boston Globe and Boston Herald, I was told our story was nothing more than "sour grapes" and if he was being turned away, there had to be a reason for it. No reporter wanted to listen, hear our story, or take the time to even investigate what was happening to our veterans back then. All the talk of appreciation for the troops after the Gulf War had come and gone. Vietnam veterans were still paying the price and no one cared. The only time their stories showed up in the newspapers, was when they had committed crimes. Reports of their early deaths were limited to the simple words of "Vietnam Veteran" when most of their lives were ended by suicide. They were suffering in silence and dying in obscurity. Families were falling apart but no one seemed to care.

What is the excuse for all of this now? Do they have any excuses left to use? The reports of this began to be reported in 2004. Only a few were released in 2003 regarding the new veterans and the newly wounded. Because of the media attention, congress has passed Bills to prevent more like Timothy Bowman, Jonathan Schultz and Joshua Omvig from being turned away but here we have two more stories all these years later.

While reports come out on steps being taken and some VA facilities moving mountains to treat the wounded, PTSD is still claiming lives. Veterans are still being turned away when they finally reach out for help begging to stay alive. There is no excuse worthy of them or their families.
The numbers we saw after Vietnam were staggering. What we saw back then, will be multiplied with Iraq and Afghanistan simply because of the nature of this new attitude that redeployments are acceptable even though each redeployment causes a 50% increase risk of being wounded by PTSD. They go back for a 3rd, 4th, 5th deployment. If we were unprepared to care for the wounded 20 years after Vietnam, how long will it take us to get there with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans lives on the line now? Will we ever be? How many more wives, husbands and parents will have to face what I did in 1993, thanking God they reached out for help only to be turned away from the help they need to live?


Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington