VA hospital and / or clinics in area (Detroit, Grand Rapids: school, DMV)

[peppermint]

My husband and I, as some of you may have read, recently moved to Rochester Hills. My father is a disabled vet living in Mississippi. His health is continuing to deteriorate, and it looks like he might have to move closer to us in the next few years. He will have to be near a good VA hospital. I read the few reviews that are up about the Detroit VA, and they weren't stellar. Can anyone on this message board help me? Currently, he drives over two hours to a good VA hospital in Alabama (the ones in MS are awful) so anything within two hours might work.

Thank you so much for any information or any links to informative websites.

[djmilf]

Looks like the only VA Hospitals within reach of Rochester Hills are in Detroit, Saginaw and Ann Arbor. - Where are VA medical facilities in Michigan?

I have no personal experience with any VA Hospitals, but I used to have a brother-in-law (now divorced from my sister) who had a history of mental illness and had to check himself into the VA Hospital in Ann Arbor on a regular basis. I never heard that there was anything bad about the place from either him or his wife.

[peppermint]

Thank you. I am researching the one in Ann Arbor. If necessary, my husband and I can move closer to that any of them so we are closer. This step is likely a few years (3 max, I'd think) off, but it could be this winter. We just don't know. My father's health is not good so we have to prepare. Another bout in the hospital (he had a week stay this summer), and I think he'll have to move.

[detwahDJ]

Meet Our Management Team - John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit, Michigan
I have been utilizing the VA system for years, first in Detroit (then in Allen Park), now in Grand Rapids (outpatient only). If you need inpatient services, your choices are Detroit and Ann Arbor. I had to travel from Grand Rapids to Ann Arbor for surgery. If you need outpatient services you can utilize a community VA clinic and let them refer you for the important stuff (less convenient). But stay close to either AA or Detroit for convenience.
Detroit VAMC is affiliated with Wayne State medical school and is quality as far as I know. I believe it uses Detroit Medical Center/Detroit Receiving surgeons. Possibly the VA part gets overused and bogged down, but many doctors and surgeons are shared.
Ann Arbor VAMC is affiliated with U of M medical school. The VA hires GPs for diagnoses and (some) testing at its clinics then refers patients to either Detroit or AA for surgeries.
In short, I have had recent experience with AA, but not with Detroit so recent experience with Detroit would be more helpful.

[RingWalk]

I shouldn't even be posting, such is my paucity of knowledge, but I would guess you would want to gravitate toward Ann Arbor. My grandfather was in the system years ago but the details are fuzzy to me...he was dissatisfied with the VA hospitals but I believe they have been improving, according to friends of mine.

That being said, the general conventional wisdom regarding anything regarding a social service is to try to steer clear of Wayne County.

That's not much help but in lieu of more specific advice, there you are.

[peppermint]

Thank you all for your help. I think the Ann Arbor system will work better for him. He is nervous about Detroit. It's easy to understand why he would think so with all the negative publicity. It's not fair, I guess, but that's the way it goes.

[grumpyoldlady]

My husband is a Viet Nam vet. Back in '83, he went to the AA VA hospital for Agent Orange screening. The doctor wanted a skin tag removed for testing. A nurse came in, told him to turn his head, and chopped the skin tag off his neck with a pair of scissors. Dang thing bled for 3 days. They didn't do anything to stop the bleeding. A band-aid was soaked before he was down the hall.

He also told them about his Nam related nightmares, hyper awareness and other symptoms that we now know were symptoms of PTSD. They told him he should "see a shrink". End of story. No offer to get him into the VA system. We moved to Minnesota in 1994. After 23 years of marriage hell, I finally found a site that described him perfectly...ALL his symptoms. Our local Veterans Services Officer interviewed him and immediately recognized his PTSD. He got him into the VA medical system, evaluated and subsequently treated for PTSD and his other medical conditions. He's been under their care for 7 years now and I have nothing but good things to say about the Fargo VA Medical Center and our local Outreach clinic. If the AA facility had done their job correctly, he wouldn't have gone 23 more years without diagnosis and treatment. My 2 cents worth....or maybe that was 50 cents worth.

[peppermint]

Well, my family can totally sympathize! My father tried to get admitted into the system in the '70's when he got back from 'Nam. They told him there was nothing wrong with him. In the '80's he tried again with a VA in a different state. Same story. Around 2006, he went to a third VA in a third state, and they diagnosed him with PTSD. He's 100% DAV now, but the last thirty years were a nightmare for my mom. I didn't have a "normal" dad until 2006, but even now the nightmares continue. The way this country treated her veterans is an absolute disgrace.

Almost 70 now, my father is receiving the care he was denied for thirty years. If the AA VA doesn't treat him well, we will find a VA that will. Our family doesn't put up with substandard care anymore.