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Most veterans in southwest Missouri are pleased with the service they receive from area Veterans Affairs offices, according to a survey performed by the Office of U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill.
McCaskill, D-St. Louis, unveiled the results of the "secret shopper" survey Tuesday in Springfield. During the stop, the senator also discussed legislation to help veterans who were exposed to mustard gas during military experiments in the 1940s, her thoughts on Donald Trump's recent battle with the media and her disappointment in the Missouri legislature's failure to enact a prescription drug monitoring program.
She was not the only senator in town Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Springfield, held a news conference at Springfield Police Department headquarters to talk about mental health issues.
McCaskill's staff began the veterans study in 2010. Initially, the survey was focused on the veterans hospital in St. Louis, which has struggled with long wait times and other problems, but has since been expanded statewide.
"Almost 80 percent of the veterans surveyed in this area, they would recommend Fayetteville VA to other veterans," McCaskill said, noting that veterans from this region of the state often go to the Arkansas facility for services.
McCaskill added problems remain throughout the state, but she is pleased the surveys indicated there has been improvement.
McCaskill said about 1,000 veterans responded to the survey. Highlights from the survey results for southwest Missouri include:
• Sixty-three percent of respondents said they could easily schedule an appointment
• Nearly 76 percent of respondents said the facility they attend is clean
• About 67 percent said they were able to get the care they needed during their visit
• Seventy-five percent said they were treated with respect during their visits
• Fifty-one percent of respondents said the service they received was excellent, 14.5 percent said it was above average, 3.6 percent it was below average and 8.4 percent said it was poor.
McCaskill said one area where the VA facilities are trying to get better is in their treatment of women. A summary of the report quoted one female respondent who said her doctor is not comfortable treating her.
“I am uncomfortable with my doctor. I get the sense that he is used to treating middle-aged men and that he is uncomfortable, and perhaps unfamiliar, with treating a female in her 30s,” the woman said, according to the summary.
McCaskill said her office follows up with sites that see a drop in their performance levels.
McCaskill: WWII soldiers victims of mustard gas tests
During the press conference, McCaskill also discussed legislation she filed Tuesday to benefit World War II veterans who were subjected to secret mustard gas testing.
McCaskill said her office has completed a report that found thousands of veterans form the WWII-era were exposed to mustard gas during military experiments. The report said these men were sworn to secrecy, according to a press release from McCaskill's office.
The military did not acknowledge the tests until the mid-1970s and did not lift the oath of secrecy the soldiers had taken until the early 1990s, the release said. The report said the efforts of the Department of Defense and VA to find and provide benefits to the affected veterans were underwhelming.
"We realized the men who had been subjected to these horrific experiments had been treated about as badly as you could be treated," McCaskill said, adding later, "It is heartbreaking that most of the nearly 4,000 soldiers who were subjected to these experiments have died. Only 40 of them have been approved for VA benefits. Our estimates are that only about 400 of them remain with us at this point."
McCaskill's bill — dubbed the Arla Harrell Act — would mandate a swift review of denied claims, "lower the near-impossible bar" required to prove involvement with the tests, revamp the application and adjudication process and require investigations into why veterans were denied and "officially acknowledge the horror these servicemen endured."
Arla Harrell is an elderly Missouri man who was a victim of these mustard gas tests, according to McCaskill's office.
The office's report states that in 1945, at age 18, Harrell was sent to the now-defunct Camp Crowder in Neosho for basic training, where he was twice exposed to mustard gas.
“They rubbed a liquid chemical on my arm and hand and had me breathe a gas without a mask on. I had no protective clothing in the gas chamber,” Harrell is quoted in the report.
After the exposure, Harrell became very sick and was hospitalized, the report said, and later in life "suffered from various health issues including: multiple strokes, long-term pulmonary issues, and multiple occurrences of skin cancer."
McCaskill, prompted by a reporter's question, also chimed on Donald's Trump recent battle with the media over his donations to veterans organizations.
The Republican presidential candidate's fundraising for veterans charities has been a contentious topic over the past couple weeks, according to USA Today. In January, Trump skipped a GOP debate and hosted a fundraiser for veterans instead. Trump said he raised $6 million (at a Tuesday news conference, the total was pegged as at least $5.6 million), but reporters had trouble tracking down exactly where the money went. Members of Trump's staff gave out conflicting messages, as well.
"It's really bizarre this whole thing that he did about veterans and giving his own money," McCaskill said. "...I'm not sure the vets would have gotten any money if the media had not been insistent about following up and saying 'Wait a minute, you said you were going to raise $6 million for vets and you were giving $1 million of your personal money,' I'm —"
"That's pure speculation on your part," a man in the crowd said, interrupting McCaskill.
She replied: "All I know is it hadn't happened until the press started asking about it."
Disappointment over lack of drug-monitoring program
McCaskill also said she was disappointed the Missouri Legislature for another year has not approved a law that would establish a prescription drug monitoring program in Missouri, which is the only state not to have such a program.
"People know they can come to Missouri and doctor shop for (Oxycontin) and other prescription drugs," said McCaskill, who has been outspoken on the issue.
A bill that would have establish such a program in Missouri was blocked by a Republican state senator, Rob Schaaf, and his allies who led an eight-hour filibuster against the legislation, according to the Associated Press.
McCaskill said her office is exploring ways the federal government could offer grants to allow for regional prescription drug monitoring programs in Missouri.
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