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American Morning

Benefits of Serving

Aired August 13, 2003 - 08:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In the military, it is said, Daryn, that no one is supposed to be left behind on the battlefield. But it's what happens once the troops get home that concerns our next guest, Sergeant Vannessa Turner. She served in Iraq until she became very ill and was hospitalized. When she got home after a trip to Germany, she says the military tuned its back on her. Battling a life threatening illness, the Army declared her medically retired. She needed more care, though, but it took a call from the senator in her home state of Massachusetts to get it.
Sergeant Turner is with us this morning, along with Dr. Leo MacKay, deputy secretary of Veterans Affairs. They're both are our guests in Boston.

Welcome to both of you.

Sergeant, I want to start with you. I'm told the doctors told you, you did not have much of a chance, probably about 5 percent chance of living. You're doing pretty well today. Give us an update on your condition. How are you?

SGT. VANNESSA TURNER, (RET.) U.S. ARMY: Yes, I'm doing better than expected to be. But I still have trauma to my head, and I still have trauma to my right leg, which has no feeling from the bottom half all the way down to the foot.

HEMMER: You're going to have your first treatment today at a VA hospital, is that right? You're going to see a doctor today?

TURNER: Yes, sir at 10:00.

HEMMER: It's been about a month waiting for that. Why did it take so long, sergeant?

TURNER: I really don't know. Once I got back from the Walter Reed Medical Center, I went directly to my nearest VA Hospital, which was West Roxbury told them my conditions, showed them my discharge papers, and apparently I must have missed the first orientation, because one of the admission guys said the next appointment, orientation wouldn't be until October 12th. Now mind you, this was like July 12th. So I'm sitting her, my leg is hurting, it's swollen, I'm on nerve medication, what do I do? He made a comment as to well, from July to October, go to the emergency room every day until October 12th. That doesn't make sense. So yes, I was irate. I questioned like, come on now, I need medical care, and I just walked away.

HEMMER: Dr. MacKay, how does this happen? LEO S. MACKAY JR., DEP. SECY., VETERAN AFFAIRS: In this instance, a plain and simple mistake was made. The returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have priority to get priority treatment at VA medical centers. They are entitled since they come from combat theaters operation to two free years of health care, regardless of what their ultimate rating or service disability is. In this instance, and it's regrettable, this is our highest and priority. But a mistake was made here, and I regret deeply.

HEMMER: Doctor, you used the word mistake three times. Your home senators Kennedy and Kerry say it's not a mistake, in fact, it's systemic for many, many veterans, not just the ones that come being from Iraq. Why is that the case, that a returning soldier cannot get the treatment he or she needs when they could be, in fact, in this case, on their death bed?

MACKAY: Well, we have certainly been under great strain. The truth of the matter is that we are caring for more veterans now than we have ever in our history. Almost 5 million this year are going to seek care. We have reduced by two-thirds those that are on waiting lists from a year ago some 300,000, now down to about 110,000. The system works for hundreds of thousands, for millions of veterans. But in this system, in this instance, it did not work.

HEMMER: Doctor, can you give the veterans watching this or the active military personnel and our viewers a guarantee that things like will not happen to returning veterans coming home from the war in Iraq?

MACKAY: I will give you a guarantee that we're going to do our absolute level best. We are actively reviewing cases like this. This caused a bombshell last year -- yesterday in the VA headquarters. We had a series of emergency meetings.

But that's not important. What's important is that we are going to re-emphasize and reissue our directive. We're going to relook at the proceedings...

HEMMER: But you can't give us at this point 100 percent guarantee, is that right, doctor?

MACKAY: I'll give you 100 percent guarantee that it is our policy, our intent and it is going to be our actuality that we give priority to those who are returning from combat theaters operation.

HEMMER: All right. To the sergeant one last time here, you have about a year that you have to sit out before you can reapply to enter the Army. Will you go back and make it your career again, or not?

TURNER: I'm 50/50 with that, because in the medical system, I'm classified as vascular heart disease, and I'm a soldier. I want to return back, but I'm just scared I might have a heart attack and this time not return. So I'm still thinking.

HEMMER: Good luck to you, all right? Thanks for sharing your story with us today. Army Sergeant Vannessa Turner in Boston, Dr. Leo MacKay also in Boston.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired August 13, 2003 - 08:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: In the military, it is said, Daryn, that no one is supposed to be left behind on the battlefield. But it's what happens once the troops get home that concerns our next guest, Sergeant Vannessa Turner. She served in Iraq until she became very ill and was hospitalized. When she got home after a trip to Germany, she says the military tuned its back on her. Battling a life threatening illness, the Army declared her medically retired. She needed more care, though, but it took a call from the senator in her home state of Massachusetts to get it.
Sergeant Turner is with us this morning, along with Dr. Leo MacKay, deputy secretary of Veterans Affairs. They're both are our guests in Boston.

Welcome to both of you.

Sergeant, I want to start with you. I'm told the doctors told you, you did not have much of a chance, probably about 5 percent chance of living. You're doing pretty well today. Give us an update on your condition. How are you?

SGT. VANNESSA TURNER, (RET.) U.S. ARMY: Yes, I'm doing better than expected to be. But I still have trauma to my head, and I still have trauma to my right leg, which has no feeling from the bottom half all the way down to the foot.

HEMMER: You're going to have your first treatment today at a VA hospital, is that right? You're going to see a doctor today?

TURNER: Yes, sir at 10:00.

HEMMER: It's been about a month waiting for that. Why did it take so long, sergeant?

TURNER: I really don't know. Once I got back from the Walter Reed Medical Center, I went directly to my nearest VA Hospital, which was West Roxbury told them my conditions, showed them my discharge papers, and apparently I must have missed the first orientation, because one of the admission guys said the next appointment, orientation wouldn't be until October 12th. Now mind you, this was like July 12th. So I'm sitting her, my leg is hurting, it's swollen, I'm on nerve medication, what do I do? He made a comment as to well, from July to October, go to the emergency room every day until October 12th. That doesn't make sense. So yes, I was irate. I questioned like, come on now, I need medical care, and I just walked away.

HEMMER: Dr. MacKay, how does this happen? LEO S. MACKAY JR., DEP. SECY., VETERAN AFFAIRS: In this instance, a plain and simple mistake was made. The returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have priority to get priority treatment at VA medical centers. They are entitled since they come from combat theaters operation to two free years of health care, regardless of what their ultimate rating or service disability is. In this instance, and it's regrettable, this is our highest and priority. But a mistake was made here, and I regret deeply.

HEMMER: Doctor, you used the word mistake three times. Your home senators Kennedy and Kerry say it's not a mistake, in fact, it's systemic for many, many veterans, not just the ones that come being from Iraq. Why is that the case, that a returning soldier cannot get the treatment he or she needs when they could be, in fact, in this case, on their death bed?

MACKAY: Well, we have certainly been under great strain. The truth of the matter is that we are caring for more veterans now than we have ever in our history. Almost 5 million this year are going to seek care. We have reduced by two-thirds those that are on waiting lists from a year ago some 300,000, now down to about 110,000. The system works for hundreds of thousands, for millions of veterans. But in this system, in this instance, it did not work.

HEMMER: Doctor, can you give the veterans watching this or the active military personnel and our viewers a guarantee that things like will not happen to returning veterans coming home from the war in Iraq?

MACKAY: I will give you a guarantee that we're going to do our absolute level best. We are actively reviewing cases like this. This caused a bombshell last year -- yesterday in the VA headquarters. We had a series of emergency meetings.

But that's not important. What's important is that we are going to re-emphasize and reissue our directive. We're going to relook at the proceedings...

HEMMER: But you can't give us at this point 100 percent guarantee, is that right, doctor?

MACKAY: I'll give you 100 percent guarantee that it is our policy, our intent and it is going to be our actuality that we give priority to those who are returning from combat theaters operation.

HEMMER: All right. To the sergeant one last time here, you have about a year that you have to sit out before you can reapply to enter the Army. Will you go back and make it your career again, or not?

TURNER: I'm 50/50 with that, because in the medical system, I'm classified as vascular heart disease, and I'm a soldier. I want to return back, but I'm just scared I might have a heart attack and this time not return. So I'm still thinking.

HEMMER: Good luck to you, all right? Thanks for sharing your story with us today. Army Sergeant Vannessa Turner in Boston, Dr. Leo MacKay also in Boston.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com