Headline: Fayetteville Veterans Confirm Improved Pending Wait Times At Local VA
Byline: Betsy Davis
Over the course of four years, the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, has improved its pending wait times over 30 days by five percent according to data gathered by the VA.
Veteran Gary McGhee, 69, has lived in Northwest Arkansas for over 60 years. He says these wait times reflected in the data are spot on.
“I had to have an MRI and I went up there on a Tuesday and they got me in on Saturday. I only had to wait three days. You know, I think that’s great,” McGhee said.
McGhee said that these short wait times are something that many fellow veterans are experiencing as well.
“I’ve never had much of an issue with the waiting before, but I can tell that they’ve gotten better,” McGhee said. “You used to hear people gripe about waiting, but you don’t hear them gripe anymore.”
McGhee also talked about the surface improvements to the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks building and how it’s made his experience there an even more positive one.
“They have improved that place so much. It’s changed a lot since the renovation. They’ve really modernized it. Everything’s gotten better” McGhee said.
While McGhee has never had to wait over 30 days for an appointment at the Fayetteville VA, statistics show that although it’s a small number, some veterans are waiting that long.
Melinda Warren, group practice manager at the VA Healthcare System of the Ozarks, explained that if this is the case and patients are waiting over 30 days, veterans do have other options.
According to Warren, once a veteran hits the 30 day mark for waiting times, they are always given the opportunity to schedule an appointment elsewhere in the community, and the VA will take care of the costs.
This option for outside care is also true for veterans that live over 40 miles away from the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks.
“There are several different programs and budgets that allow us to take care of that for them,” Warren said.
Veteran Kenny Griffin, 54, of Van Buren, lives outside of this 40 mile radius and chooses this outside care when available. Griffin prefers the VA in Fort Smith because it is closer than the VA in Fayetteville.
“The VA in Fort Smith is very responsive to me,” Griffin said. “I called two days ago about a problem with my knee. The doctor ordered an x-ray for the next day and set up a consult with the orthopedic folks in Fayetteville by the same afternoon.”
Griffin said the orthopedist called him already and he has an appointment next week to get cortisone shots for his knee at the Fayetteville VA. He said he was very pleased with the quick turnaround, but isn’t surprised as this is his normal experience with the VAs in the area.
With all of the positive experiences that local veterans have experienced with reduced wait times, it’s difficult for some to understand why elsewhere in the country they are having problems.
“I don’t know what all happened over on the east coast, and all the places where they’ve had issues. I don’t understand why they can’t just be like us,” McGhee said.
Gary McGhee, 69
479-445-8553
He does not have an email address, he said he doesn’t know how to do “the line thing” when referring to the internet (online).
Did not want to disclose his address.
Kenny Griffin, 54
479-831-9419
2330 Vail Drive
Van Buren, AR 72956
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