It happens every few decades with each new war, a spotlight is shown on just how broken the Veterans Administration Health System is and just how badly off our Vets really are when they get back. It happened in the 1960s with the Vietnam War. My mother who was a nurse on the cardiology floor at Wadsworth VA got called on the carpet for a hand written sign she'd made that read "Leaky Roof Move Bed when it Rains. thank you. " Later she got called to answer questions for Senator Cranston's committee about the care the Vets received there. Questions like How many patients did she look after. The answer was on the cardiac wing 48 beds. How many nurses were there on her floor at night? Answer: One, just her and one aide. (note: this was before mandatory staffing ratios. All you nurses and Aides who now benefit from those mandatory ratios you know who to thank my mom Laura Burgess for shedding light on that issue.) People saw the Life Magazine Cover Article "Our Forgotten Wounded" got outraged, called for action (hence the committee investigation spearheaded by Senator Cranston.) The war ended, people went on with their lives, the outraged died and we entered the narcissistic era of the 1970s & 1980s (I can say this I was born in 1972 and raised in the 1970s and 1980s and turned 18 in 1990). The Berlin Wall came down, the Cold War ended we felt pretty darn good about ourselves. Enter the first Persian Gulf War. Reserve units were being called up before regular units, soldiers were coming back with PTSD and having difficulty getting help from the VA System. People again got outraged, groups were formed, petitions signed. Again, the War ended the spotlight on the Veterans and the VA went away. We turned our attention to the trial of OJ Simpson, scorned women everyone cheered when Lorena Bobbit cut off her husband's manhood with a kitchen knife and the sales of sports cup went through the roof. There were brief moments of grief (Wacco, Oklahoma City, The Death of Princess Diana) and with Oklahoma City we briefly turned our attention back to the Veterans and now to the first responders. Then an unknown intern Monica Lewinsky and a reporter Jennifer Flowers came forward and said "I had sex with President Clinton." Gasp, horror, our president got caught what almost every president before had done but with cable channels and the internet this was news! Not to mention that a sex scandal is far more interesting to people than a scandal involving a healthcare system. Then Al Qaeda hijacked four commercial airliners and flew them into the twin towers, the pentagon and one which never made it to the destination on the West Coast thanks to the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93. Suddenly we were at war. We were outraged! First of all, how dare they attack us, the United States of America! Secondly we turned our attention to the military and first responders who ran into burning, collapsing buildings and decided the lives of their countrymen and women were worth saving even at the cost of their own. Military enlistment skyrocketed. Still as in the 1960s protests and prayer vigils were held, peace songs became all the rage again. Songs about that day were starting to emerge (Who can forget Alan JAckson on the CMA Awards with Where were you when the world stopped turning). Eventually though the war dragged on, and thoughts of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan gave way to thoughts of the Kardashians and what other pseudo celebrities were up to on various "reality shows." The reality of the wars just weren't sexy. Then CNN broke the story "A fatal wait: Veterans languish and die on a VA hospital's secret list." Detailing how the Phoenix Arizona Veterans Administration Hospital faked a wait list for the Veterans to see specialists all so they could keep their numbers looking good while patients died. The surprise come to find out this was common practice at other VA sites. Yep, you guessed it, outrage, horror, "How can we not take care of our Vets?" Then predictably, the outrage and horror died faster than the veterans who died waiting for care. Most recently there's been much outrage and horror for various reasons about the return of US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdah who had been held as a POW then released. The initial horror at what he had been through replaced quickly by horror towards him based on the speculation of the media that he's a traitor and a spy. Now that he is back in the United States and getting prompt medical care with the VA there are those who say why does he not have to wait the way the rest of the vets wait. Those wishing his presence on the phantom wait list as an indirect death sentence to a supposed traitor. Think what you will, but this outrage will pass. Our attention will be turned to whether or not the owner of the LA Clippers will comply with the NBA and sell his team from which he will make billions and we will once again become outraged about this. Then something else will come along and our attention will once again be diverted. For if history has shown us anything, we outlive the outrage.
