A vet's story
Vietnam vet suffers through VA health care system
Vietnam veteran Eddy Watkins stands in his home in Pinehaven Friday. Watkins now suffers from PTSD and some physical ailments because of his time in Vietnam. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Cable Hoover

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Gaye Brown de Alvarez
Staff writer

GALLUP — Pinehaven resident Carolie Watkins thinks the Veterans Administration Health Clinic has some problems. She has been helping her husband, Edward Watkins, and her father-in-law, Elvis Watkins, with their health care needs since 1999. She drives them back and forth to the clinic. She makes sure they get the care they both need. She raises hell when they are ignored or treated badly.

Elvis Watkins, 82, is a World War II veteran. He was a ship’s gunner in the Navy during his four-year tour. Edward Watkins is a Vietnam vet who served two tours. He was on patrol in a armored personnel carrier when, while looking for land mines, the vehicle hit one and blew up. Watkins, who was sitting outside, was blown off and injured. The APC driver was killed and two surviving soldiers were helicoptered out.

“But you know how it is when you’re 19 years old,” Edward Watkins said in a interview on Thursday. “I had a big bruise on my back and I had blood in my urine for days afterward. I just went back to work. I didn’t spend any time in a hospital.”

Now, at age 62, he is 100 percent disabled, with debilitating post-traumatic stress disorder, hearing loss, and problems from his exposure to Agent Orange, which was used as a defoliate in the dense jungles of Vietnam.

The Army claimed they had lost the records of the incident on that day, so he was not entitled to a Purple Heart medal.

The Army suggested he try to find someone who was there at the incident to write a letter.

But Edward wasn’t sure of their names. They were just on patrol together, Carolie Watkins said. “But he has pictures.”

The Watkins decided to keep trying for the Purple Heart after they talked to Sen. Tom Udall’s field representative, Cal Curley.

“Senator Udall has been working with the Watkins family to ensure Mr. Watkins receives the proper recognition and health care for his sacrifices to our nation. He is proud to have helped secure and award Mr. Watkins the Army Commendation medal and will continue to work on his behalf and on behalf of all of Gallup’s veterans,” Marissa Padilla of Udall’s office said.

But the VA health clinic is another story. “Everyone is upset and tense at the clinic,” she said. The fact that some of the contract doctors are Asian, Watkins said, occasionally affects some of the vets suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“If these guys flip out, they look at these (Asian) health care workers and they don’t know that they’re not trying to kill them,” she said. “It’s done in Albuquerque and here and I even heard one patient almost choked one (an Asian doctor). Why do they cram this down these vets’ throats?”

“I’ve never heard of anything like that, I think it’s all make believe,” said the new clinic director, Shirley Roper. “I’ve had many Asian physicians here and that’s not been my experience at all. They’ve done outstanding jobs.”

One day, Elvis Watkins, a diabetic, stopped by the Gallup VA clinic after he stubbed his toe and it was looking rather sinister. He was told by Roper that they could fit him in. But he sat for eight hours in the waiting room and was never seen by anybody. Carolie was furious. She said she drove to Albuquerque to complain.

“That’s ridiculous,” Roper said. “We’re not even open eight hours. Our hours are 8 a.m. to noon, then we close for lunch, then 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. I’ve never had a patient sit there that long.”

Now, Carolie said, they tell veterans to go to the emergency room at Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital or to the Albuquerque VA emergency room.

“A VA clinic is not the place to be if you don’t get along with people,” Carolie said. “Veterans need special, understanding health-care workers.”

Edward Watkins, who has seen former-doctor Chander Bhatia more than 30 times in the past 10 years, agreed but said he doesn’t have too many problems with the Gallup clinic, unlike the VA hospital in Albuquerque.

“It’s so bad over there in Albuquerque, that I’d rather drive to Denver for treatment. I’m not going back into the Albuquerque hospital. It’s awful.” He told horror stories about some of his treatment, particularly on the psychiatric ward, where he was once held after some of his medication didn’t mix together.

“The doctor called me a liar,” Edward said of Dr. Gilbert Esser, a psychiatrist at the VA Hospital. “He told me ‘I have the power to take your benefits away.’”

Udall and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., are working hard to help vets get the treatment they deserve. The paperwork for expansion of the clinic is starting and the clinic hopes to hire a new doctor from a VA clinic in Alaska. He is going through credentialing right now, which takes anywhere from six to eight weeks, Roper said. If everything with his credentialing works out, he should be able to start work in July.