Few injured veterans complete survey

Few injured veterans complete survey

Questionnaire seeks input on treatment.




Take the survey

Have you or a family member been wounded during active military duty? The Department of Defense wants to hear from you.

Visit www.health.mil/Pages /Page.aspx?ID=18 to complete a survey that will help the Military Health System make positive changes in care for wounded, ill or injured service members.



By Jennifer L. Boen
of The News-Sentinel
The response from those military personnel hurt while serving in the two Iraq wars to an extensive survey has been a minute percentage of the total hurt or coping with post-traumatic stress disorder.

As of Oct. 14, more than 15,000 men and women, serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom, had been injured and unable to return to active duty within 72 hours, according to the Department of Defense . Yet fewer than 1,000 of those individuals have responded to a questionnaire seeking input from the Military Health System (MHS) on the military personnel's experience and satisfaction with care they received.

The survey, which went live onlineOct. 1, is the most extensive one that wounded service members have ever done, said Michael Kilpatrick, director for strategic communications for MHS, which is a Department of Defense (DoD) enterprise composed of: Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs; medical departments of all five military branches; the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Combatant Command surgeons; and TRICARE, the uniformed services' health care plan administrator.

There are separate, anonymous questionnaires - one for military and one for their family members. Few family members have responded either. As of a week ago, just 200 responses had been received, and because of the slow responses, MHS has extended the deadline to Nov. 28, Kilpatrick said.

“When our troops are wounded, they must be confident that the military will do everything possible to help them heal,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a speech earlier this year, emphasizing that meeting the care needs of wounded soldiers and their families is one of his top priorities.

The VA Northern Indiana Health Care Systems, which operates inpatient and outpatient health care facilities in Fort Wayne, assists the DoD when area National Guard and reservists return from active duty, said Jeffrey Hull, VANIHCS spokesman. But the DoD has “not asked for our help with the survey,” he said.

More than 3,000 men and women from the region served by VANIHCS have spent time in either Iraq or Afghanistan in active duty, VA officials said. A study last year showed one-third of returning veterans who received VA health care from 2001 to 2005 were diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, depression or substance abuse. Almost half of the 103,788 veterans tested were National Guard or reserve members.

Awareness of the survey is done through news releases, but Kilpatrick said “we have not reached everybody,” particularly military served through the VA system in communities. “We are very focused on those who have been deployed several times.”

Smaller surveys done earlier this year found significant differences in responses regarding military care, Kilpatrick said. One, which questioned only military members, showed 75 percent of respondents were highly satisfied with care received by the military system. The other survey, which included family members, revealed an 80 percent dissatisfaction rate.

“Those who were dealing with (military members) on a day-to-day basis felt like the DoD was not doing a good job,” Kilpatrick said. Both surveys spurred MHS to do a third survey, with separate forms for military personnel and family members. Preliminary results of the MHS survey will be released Saturday, with final analysis and a plan of action given by Gates by Jan. 20.

Sphere: Related Content