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foxnews.com/tech/microsoft-teams-up-with-the-va-to-help-wounded-warriors
As part of a new pilot program, 22 VA facilities around the country will be receiving a gift from Microsoft: X-Box Adaptive Controllers, which are specially designed for gamers with mental or physical disabilities. "We owe so much to the service and sacrifice of our Veterans, and as a company, we are committed to supporting them," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a press statement. "Our X-Box Adaptive Controller was designed to make gaming more accessible to millions of people worldwide, and we're partnering with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to bring the device to Veterans with limited mobility."
The military hospitals will be using them to help rehabilitate wounded warriors, and X-Box chief Phil Spencer says if it's successful - the program could expand. The collaboration aims to improve rehabilitation and recreation for veterans by challenging muscle activation and hand-eye coordination, and encouraging greater participation in social and recreational activities. That will include participation in e-sports as well as traditional solo gaming.
(Score: 2) by sshelton76 on Monday May 06 2019, @04:32PM (5 children)
Well there's the old saying that an anecdote isn't a scientific study.
I hear there's problems, the news reminds us of it everyday.
But my experience and frankly my family's experience for the past several generations has been that VA healthcare is some of the best in the world.
Again though anecdotes.
The fact we have any homeless vets is a tragedy in it's own right.
The problem here might be more related to one's "homeless" status rather than their "veteran" status.
I don't think for a second that this is the fault of the VA, at least not systemically. Sure there's people who don't give a shit in any org.
Yet most homeless vets I've interacted with would be homeless despite their service record. Mental health issues not withstanding there are serious issues of drug abuse and addiction to other things as well such as gambling and alcohol. This is mental health concern but you can't get treatment if you aren't actively engaged in seeking it.
If you're honorably discharged you qualify for so much help to transition that literally you cannot fathom it. But all the help in the world is completely useless if you aren't ready to receive it.
Are you aware that in most jurisdictions, the VA has screeners sitting right in jail to give help to the myriad of vets who leave service and have undiagnosed / misdiagnosed issues thereby committing crimes as a result?
My personal experience is that unlike private insurance, most of the people in the VA are there because they actually give a crap. YMMV.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @04:46PM
My brother worked at the VA hospital for 30 years after his Army service was finished. He goes to Kaiser for healthcare.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday May 06 2019, @05:09PM (1 child)
Yes.
Maybe.
Like every other veteran, I have thoughts on the subject. At times, my thoughts are mutually contradictory. Yeah, some of us were all screwed up before we ever signed up. Maybe that's where some of the homeless come from. Some others were just so damaged from their experiences, they just can't "make it". Others, like many prisoners, just need a regimented life style, which they lose when the get out. Then there are those with whom I identify - the adrenaline junkies. I've often thought that civilian life is just too damned tame. So, you have the cops, the firefighters, truck drivers, and the last portion of that group: those who just can't exercise the discipline to hold a job, pay the bills, do the laundry, etc ad nauseum.
The single biggest problem with the VA is, they are overwhelmed. A brother called out for help, and I took him to the VA in Wisconsin. It took hours just to be screened. That is JUST TO BE SCREENED. At that point, he was given a priority apppointment to see a doctor the following day. Both of us were far from home, neither of us prepared to camp out in a strange town, while waiting for a doctor to get around to him. Dude was disoriented, along with his physical problems - had I not been around, he could have just wandered off into homelessness, and/or eternity.
That's just an anecdote, yeah, but I've heard similar stories often enough to treat it like a data point.
IMO, VA failures are in fact congressional failures. If congress doesn't allocate the resources, the VA hospitals can't use the resources.
(Score: 2) by sshelton76 on Monday May 06 2019, @05:26PM
Well I agree with you on most of that. Also I wasn't considering acute mental health care in my assessment because I've never needed to avail myself of it.
The military changes you. You are not the same person coming out that you were going in. Many of us get out and our family loses the ability to relate. We see things, things we can't really talk about, things we don't really want to talk about. But if you don't want to be homeless, you need family. No one can live a life being completely alone. You lose that family connection and you end up homeless. Some turn to drugs and alcohol and that exacerbates the problem.
As for me. I've availed myself of acute care at the VA on 3 occasions at 2 different hospitals, SLC and Grand Junction of all places. The GJ hospital seems to be there more for mental health support, but I had an accident involving a finger and a saw. I was seen right away, got stitched up and I was on my way in the space of four hours. Honestly spent more time answering questions about how the saw manage to do what it did and if it was in fact a cry for help, no it wasn't, but a word of personal advice don't sneeze when running a power saw.
Personally I've had no problems with the VA. For all other care, we've used third party providers mostly because of locale. We don't live anywhere near a VA hospital and so tend to use contract facilities. Either way I've never had a problem and my family has been in the military for literally generations. Maybe we've just gotten used to it. But prior to service I had Blue Cross and Blue Shield through an employer and wouldn't go back to that level of service if they paid me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 06 2019, @07:07PM (1 child)
The VA is nice when it's nice. Not all of them are nice.
Most "homeless vets" are not vets. Veteran homelessness is a huge issue and it's real but most people who have told me they're homeless veterans are unable to answer the simplest questions about the military.
(Score: 2) by sshelton76 on Monday May 06 2019, @07:50PM
I've seen that too, I just didn't want to get into it because it was irrelevant to the topic of vets in the VA system.
But you do have to separate out the actual homeless vets who've drowned their brain in so much booze and so many drugs they no longer remember anything coherently from the guys just scamming on sympathy.
Additionally, there's always the homeless guy who's clearly never served but is convinced he's Eisenhower or Robert E. Lee. I met Admiral Nimitz about a year ago doing homeless outreach. He looked great for a man his age!