Acting El Paso veterans affairs director addresses veteran’s concerns

by Arnaldo Rodgers

As part of a town hall meeting held by U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, on Saturday at the University of Texas at El Paso, Dancy addressed his plans to work on fixing the long wait times facing veterans in El Paso. More than 150 people, including a majority of veterans, attended the meeting.

“I’ve been here six days and from what I have seen for myself, I have identified four specific issues that I want my staff to focus on,” Dancy said during the meeting. “Access is number one. In terms of access to care and that includes making sure veterans who need (wheel) chairs, etc. get that in a timely manner.

I can’t address why that didn’t happen in the past, but I am going to address that.”

According to national audit of Department of Veteran Affairs clinics, El Paso veterans seeking a mental health appointment had to wait an average of 60 days. For an initial specialty care appointment in El Paso, veterans had to wait an average of 90 days. Data from the federal audit showed El Paso had some of the longest wait times in the nation.

Christopher Sobey, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, said he has waited months for doctor appointments, treatments and to get his medication.

“Where to begin, there is a number of things wrong with the VA system,” Sobey said, who was shot in his left leg which resulted in multiple surgeries, severe nerve damage and the loss of more than a pound of muscle, flesh and tissue. “It has taken so long and I am still going through all of this just to get the treatment and meds I need.”

“I am not asking for something that I don’t need, I need these pain medications to function. The pain is so bad on some days that it is hard to even get up or live a normal life,” he said.

Dancy, who is replacing John Mendoza as the director and will hold the position for up to 120 days, said the three other areas he will focus on includes changing the mindset of the El Paso VA to a patient-first approach, rebuilding trust and continuing to improve the quality of care provided to veterans.

“The second issue I am going to focus on is making sure that we have a patient-centered approach,” Dancy said. “The third thing I think is very important is making sure we strength veteran’s trust in the VA. From the comments I have heard (at the meeting) is that the trust has been eroded so that is one thing I am going to focus on. The fourth will be continuing to make sure we provide a high quality of care to our veterans.”