Veterans demonstrate for better health care in Albany

ALBANY — A handful of U.S. military veterans dissatisfied with their health care from Veterans Affairs gathered Wednesday morning outside U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop’s office on Roosevelt Avenue.

The objective of the veterans, according to Willie Ross, former Marine and a heart-transplant recipient, was to raise awareness of problems in the VA system and to get things moving in the right direction.

“When the (VA) clinic was on Broad, they said it would be better when it moved on base, but it’s not,” Ross said. “There’s only two doctors there and they keep saying they’ll add more. They just keep lying.”

Ross says he had to have a heart transplant because of damage to his system from “Agent Orange,” a defoliating chemical used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.

“I’m taking 18 pills a day to try to stay alive,” Ross said, “and all (the VA) cares about is money. I fought for my country, now I’m fighting for my life.”

Bishop, an Albany Democrat who represents Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District, is the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies.

Kenneth Cutts, Georgia district director for Bishop, listened as the veterans voiced concerns about VA issues in Georgia. He said he’d recently talked with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald, who has been in office since July.

“The secretary says he’s looking into the issues,” Cutts said, “and I believe he is. We’ve got to create a system where vets are provided with proper and timely health care because they’ve given so much to our country. It took us a while to get into this mess and it’s going to take a while to get out.”