Remarks at the VA Polytrauma System of Care Conference
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Hon. R. James Nicholson
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Remarks at the VA Polytrauma System of Care Conference
Our commitment to serving veterans is paramount, and our excellence in doing so is unparalleled.
Our resolve calls to mind the words of one of my heroes, President Thomas Jefferson, who said: “The greatest honor of a man is in doing good to his fellow men …”
And because VA is doing “good” for our veterans and their families, I would like to take a moment to talk just a little about that. Brag if you will—you can, because I didn’t do it, you did. As a result, VA is stronger than ever.
We are moving forward. We are fulfilling the president’s promise to honor our country’s commitment to veterans, just as veterans once honored theirs.
The president told me to “Take good care of vets!” And he backed that up with a 12 percent increase in our budget for FY 2007. For medical care alone, the president is asking for health care funding that is almost 70 percent higher than when he took office. That means you will have the tools to carry out your mission; to do the best job possible.
From electronic health records, to patient safety, to telemedicine, we are the nation’s acknowledged leader in delivering a level of health care that already sets the national standard for excellence.
Our efforts during Hurricane Katrina earned VA a commendation from Congress for our emergency services, clinical outreach teams, and medical benefits care that served not only veterans, but the community at large and, in a sense, the country at large. In a rare display of courage and commitment, [they] stayed with their patients.
VA just recently was awarded Harvard University’s prestigious “Innovations in Government” Award. It honors our model system of electronic records which, by every measure, stand without peer in the medical community.
And recently Business Week chronicled our decade-long health care transformation, citing our winning “scorecard” across quality of care, patient satisfaction, technology and cost efficiency.
Today, though, we are at a new juncture in our transformation: at the intersection of a new century and a new generation of veterans. We need to be totally 21st century. We are being called upon to deliver 21st century health care to 21st century combat veterans. They are young. Many have young families. Some have suffered terribly traumatic injury on the battlefield. They have a different perspective than veterans from other combat generations. They have different experiences, different sensitivities and different expectations.
And that brings me to you. You are some of my favorite people in VA.
At every opportunity, I talk about our polytrauma system and the wonderful, life-saving and life-shaping work that you do.
As clinicians, therapists and rehabilitators, you have been given an opportunity to serve that is very unique.
I marvel at what modern medicine has made possible on the battlefield, and I am awed by what you do in putting these bodies, spirits and lives back together.
Every time my wife, Suzanne, and I visit Walter Reed, or any of the military treatment facilities, as we often do, and talk to these young folks and their families, I am reminded that they would almost certainly have died on the battlefields in previous wars.
Thus with every visit, I am re-committed to make absolutely certain that when those patients come to VA for the next phase of their care, they will receive no less than the very best care our nation can offer.
And that will be available with a smooth, hassle-free transition from DoD to VA.
At each hospital visit or Friday Night Soldiers’ Dinner, when I ask our wounded warriors how I can help them, the answer most often is: “Sir, can you help me get back to my unit?”
So there they are, their physiques greatly altered, their spirit and patriotism undaunted, their determination to get on with life more focused than ever.
We have been honored by circumstances, to serve these countrymen. These are young men and women who chose to step forward and become part of the wall of our national defense. They chose the military and they chose it knowing full well there would be risk. They went into harm’s way and paid the price.
Now they have come home to us; broken, but not beaten; pained, but proud; and most of all—thanks to you—not hobbled by life, but hopeful of a bright future.
I envy you and your gift, and the satisfaction that you must take, day in and day out, in truly making a difference in someone’s life, and most probably a family’s life, not just making a difference, but being the difference, in restoring function, dignity and pride in America’s finest.
To me, there could be no more important mission, no higher calling and no greater honor. ♦