Dear Veteran and/or Friend and Supporter of Veterans,
Iowa policies toward veterans are very important to me, and I am known throughout Iowa for my advocacy for veterans individually and through the Veterans National Recovery Center.
These are my views as to why Iowa veterans should vote FOR Jack Hatch for governor, and AGAINST Terry Branstad.
Veterans need to vote for Jack Hatch because he will bring a new direction to caring for Iowa’s veterans that have PTSD and Traumatic Brain injury. Nationally, these are the top unmet health care needs for vets, with an estimated 800,000 vets with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and 250,000 with TBI.
Iowa has an active role in this through the Iowa Veterans Home (IVH). IVH is charged by law with the same veterans’ health mission as the VA. It is a back-stop to the VA and supports over 600 disabled and retired veterans. But the Branstad Administration has been squeezing and narrowing its mission. It even closed the psychiatric wing of the IVH and eliminated services amounting to over $5,000 per resident.
These services are important. The patterns of care that goes with those services are unique. War wounded coming back from the Middle East, plus Vietnam veterans where Agent Orange has compounded the effects of aging, need a specialized facility such as IVH for exceptionally long term care.
Terry Branstad first proposed that IVH be considered for privatization in the early 1990’s. When he returned to office, the thought was still in his mind. He has tried to privatize various aspects of IVH and has ended services necessary for long-time residents such as the wheel chair repair facility and recreational services.
These are cruel actions to a disabled veteran whose only other option is to watch television in a small room for years on end. Branstad cut these costs to provide cash for his massive commercial property tax cut. Sadly, as pat of this, IVH has been re-purposed as a profit center on a conventional nursing home model by replace the missing state appropriations with federal Medicaid/Medicare dollars that do not cover specialized veteran care .Accordingly, those services that make the IVH a specialized place for veterans have been cut. And, he has politicized the management of the facility by creating proportionately 10 times more at-will management than any other agency in state government.
In your lifetime, you may never know a person that needs the services at the Iowa Veterans Home. But for those that need it, it should be more than a warehouse for damaged people. That service member who did a sacrifice for you needs a chance to live a life with interest and meaning.
That is why I am voting for Jack Hatch in November.
Yours,
Bob Krause
Veteran Activist
