[Trace14]

Do you think this is an appropriate response from the VA to a veteran wanting to know more about a new program they will be going into soon. Also this VA person was the one that initiated the partial information and the veteran had responded once.
"
Please discuss any further concerns at your 5/5 appointment we have limited availability to communicate electronically daily. "This is one of the three sentences in her reply.
This is a VA mental hlth provider.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by Trace14

Do you think this is an appropriate response from the VA to a veteran wanting to know more about a new program they will be going into soon. Also this VA person was the one that initiated the partial information and the veteran had responded once.
"
Please discuss any further concerns at your 5/5 appointment we have limited availability to communicate electronically daily. "This is one of the three sentences in her reply.
This is a VA mental hlth provider.

I see nothing wrong and sounds appropriate to me.. reason I say it seems ok to me is because many places have their receptionists answering basic emails and dont know all the ins and outs of all the programs. you know how if you make a phone call to some companies and agencies the person who answers the call asks " how may I direct your call?" then they forwards your call on to the right person who can answer your questions. Well now we are not only dealing with phone calls but emailing is a part of life now, the result is part of a receptionists job now is opening emails and directing them on to the right people that can answer that persons questions. its pretty standard here where I am for a receptionist to open an email and answer with standard replies like... please discuss your concerns with your "adviser" "case worker" "program coordinator" or at your appointment.

limited availability to communicate electronically in my location means they are answering the emails either the first few minutes before the first appointment comes in, between appointments, or during the last few minutes to half hour before their day has ended.

many companies also dont have unlimited access, they have to pay for each email or so many characters in an email or have to charge for how long it takes to write a lengthy email, so to safe the client from getting charged they keep emails to a minimum of characters/ lines.

also something to consider the east coast is gearing up for a huge storm, which can affect internet availability and access. here where I am my internet keeps going in and out today, as do my other electrical utilities like power and lighting. so i have had to limit my internet to just a few minutes at a time otherwise I would lose everything I am trying to get done in emails and my internet time.

my point where ever this va office is maybe their internet access is extremely limited so they can not take the time to go in detail about what you need to know, that its better to get the information first hand from who ever you are seeing during your appointment.

[reb569]

It sounds kind of cold. I'm not sure I'd be too bothered by it though. It could be their workload is such that answering emails isn't feasible for them.

[Trace14]

Originally Posted by reb569

It sounds kind of cold. I'm not sure I'd be too bothered by it though. It could be their workload is such that answering emails isn't feasible for them.

I thought it was very disrespectful to veterans. Vets give their life, limb and time to protect these twits 24/7. You mean she can't respond back to a thread she started about the new BHIP program. I had questions about it, each response was two or three sentences. Give me all the information at once and I will not have to ask what else there is, ya know. Her last response was 3 sentences, one which I posted here. How long do you think to type that out? 1 minute, 2? If a veteran has questions about their care that should be answered as soon as possible, period! If I called her it would take more time. The "secure Messaging" , joke, she can respond back at her leisure.

[Trace14]

Originally Posted by reb569

It sounds kind of cold. I'm not sure I'd be too bothered by it though. It could be their workload is such that answering emails isn't feasible for them.

She could have said let me get some information up and I will get it to you. Or I can't answer your questions right now but I will get back to you.

[reb569]

I understand where you are coming from. I think I'm just in a really bad place right now. I'm in my FTW mood and basically expect nothing but crap from people right now. I'm terrified of thunderstorms. We had some nasty storms come through last night, tornado warnings, ect. Our power has been out since 8pm last night and the estimate for it coming back on is tomorrow night at 10 pm. I didn't even care that storms were heading our way capable of producing tornados. Just plain didn't care. I usually get really stressed out when storms are coming in. No longer care. Sorry for the rambling mess of a response. I don't have the energy to go back and fix it.

Anyway -- I can understand why you are upset. You have good reason to be.

[Trace14]

Originally Posted by reb569

I understand where you are coming from. I think I'm just in a really bad place right now. I'm in my FTW mood and basically expect nothing but crap from people right now. I'm terrified of thunderstorms. We had some nasty storms come through last night, tornado warnings, ect. Our power has been out since 8pm last night and the estimate for it coming back on is tomorrow night at 10 pm. I didn't even care that storms were heading our way capable of producing tornados. Just plain didn't care. I usually get really stressed out when storms are coming in. No longer care. Sorry for the rambling mess of a response. I don't have the energy to go back and fix it.

Anyway -- I can understand why you are upset. You have good reason to be.

Sorry you are feeling so bad. Have you talked to your primary care provider ?
Are you taking anything for depression? You have been in a slump for a while now, ya know? Your not feeling well was that depression or something else? You know that this feeling of hopelessness is not a good thing and you are heading for a bad place. Please go to the doctor or to the hospital.( (((((Reb569)))))))

[reb569]

I had a virus, then got hit with allergies right after it so I'm still physically feeling like crap, and yes, I'm very depressed. Some of it might be that I'm still not feeling the best, work is really stressful right now, but it's more than that. I truly feel that the rest of my life is going to be day after day of unrelenting torture. Worry about my daughter, medical bills out of this world, retirement possibilities basically gone, all hope of ever doing anything more tha going to work and coming home totally over. My world just really sucks. The closest person I have to what I would call a friend, who I work with, has been really cold and distant recently and that's pissing me off too. I just keep going day after day and sometimes I wonder why. I really just need a break from it all but I'm not going to get it. Don't worry though, I'm not going to hurt myself, I pay way too much out of my paycheck for life insurance to throw that away. I'll be ok. I really will. I have an appointment with my therapist on Thursday and hopefully that will help me get back on a better track. I always feel better when I leave than I do when I walk in her door.

Thank you for asking and caring. It gives me a little glimer of hope in this crazy world.

[Trace14]

Originally Posted by reb569

I had a virus, then got hit with allergies right after it so I'm still physically feeling like crap, and yes, I'm very depressed. Some of it might be that I'm still not feeling the best, work is really stressful right now, but it's more than that. I truly feel that the rest of my life is going to be day after day of unrelenting torture. Worry about my daughter, medical bills out of this world, retirement possibilities basically gone, all hope of ever doing anything more tha going to work and coming home totally over. My world just really sucks. The closest person I have to what I would call a friend, who I work with, has been really cold and distant recently and that's pissing me off too. I just keep going day after day and sometimes I wonder why. I really just need a break from it all but I'm not going to get it. Don't worry though, I'm not going to hurt myself, I pay way too much out of my paycheck for life insurance to throw that away. I'll be ok. I really will. I have an appointment with my therapist on Thursday and hopefully that will help me get back on a better track. I always feel better when I leave than I do when I walk in her door.

Thank you for asking and caring. It gives me a little glimer of hope in this crazy world.

You know I do care and want you to feel better. Sometimes we have to pull up those big girl panties, cinch them up real good and go marching to a brighter side of where we want to be. Can you and your daughter go to the VA? I know we kind of talked about that but have you looked into that? May be some financial help ya know?

[reb569]

I probably could, but not my daughter. Most of the expenses are for her. It's tough financially, but I'm actually more worried about the day that I can't cover her under my insurance anymore. It is going to break me though.

[Trace14]

Originally Posted by reb569

I probably could, but not my daughter. Most of the expenses are for her. It's tough financially, but I'm actually more worried about the day that I can't cover her under my insurance anymore. It is going to break me though.

Well what are the options? Have you looked for any financial assistance for the medical bills? I don't even know if there's a such a thing out there. But there should be some options. Need to look into that before you get too deep that you can't recover or have to claim bankruptcy, which is an option too. You can cover her through college, right? Then she gets a job and gets her own insurance, right?

[reb569]

I dont know of any programs for anyone who makes what we do. We aren't rich, but we do make right around the median per year for our area. i can actually cover her until shes 26 under current laws. If she can find work that provides insurance by that time she would be ok, but her anxiety prevents her from even trying to find even a part time job. I firmly believe that her not having insurance would be life threatening for her. I fear for her future.

[reb569]

So my therapy session went well today. I discussed my feelings of hoplessness with my therapist and we really dug into why I'm feeling like that. It didn't make me feel a lot better, but it did help to discuss it.

Because she's out of network, she has to give me receipts so I can submit to insurance. We had never discussed what code she billed me under before. So she mentioned to me that she had been billing under GAD because of my anxiety and trauma. She contemplated adding depression, but ultimately, she has left it as GAD for now. GAD doesn't really fit me, but I understand why she has used that as a diagnosis. It's wierd in a way to have a diagnosis, even though it's a billing diagnosis. She still agrees that I have Complex PTSD.

[Trace14]

Originally Posted by reb569

So my therapy session went well today. I discussed my feelings of hoplessness with my therapist and we really dug into why I'm feeling like that. It didn't make me feel a lot better, but it did help to discuss it.

Because she's out of network, she has to give me receipts so I can submit to insurance. We had never discussed what code she billed me under before. So she mentioned to me that she had been billing under GAD because of my anxiety and trauma. She contemplated adding depression, but ultimately, she has left it as GAD for now. GAD doesn't really fit me, but I understand why she has used that as a diagnosis. It's wierd in a way to have a diagnosis, even though it's a billing diagnosis. She still agrees that I have Complex PTSD.

I'm glad it went well and that it helped to discuss it. There's probably no code for CPTSD since it's not in the DSM.

[reb569]

No there isn't. i'm not really concerned about it. I know it's cptsd and she agrees. thats what's counts.

[Trace14]

Originally Posted by reb569

No there isn't. i'm not really concerned about it. I know it's cptsd and she agrees. thats what's counts.

Yep, sure is.