One of the many internet myths going around is that if you are a veteran using the VA medical system for your healthcare, your doctor will ask if you are ever angry, depressed, or suicidal, and if you say yes, the government will cancel your concealed weapons permit (CCW) and confiscate your guns. I guess the fact the that CCW permits are issued by states, not the Feds, doesn’t matter because we all know that if it’s on the internet, it has to be true, right? Because they can’t put anything on there that isn’t.
I’ve been treated at VA hospitals in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Florida, South Dakota, and Arizona and have never been asked any of those questions. However, when I went in for my routine annual exam this past week, the nurse taking my vitals did ask me if I was being abused by anyone. I told her no, and then said I had never been asked that before. She said, “We don’t usually ask men that question unless they are elderly.”
At first I just laughed, but then I remembered that I do qualify for Social Security this year, so I guess I am officially elderly. Some people might be afraid of reaching that milestone, but not me. It means I have made the long awaited transition from pervert to dirty old man. A waitress will slap a perv for pinching her on the hiney, but you just have to love a dirty old man, right? Golden Corral, here I come!
Most of yesterday was spent doing what I’ve been doing for the last few days, trying to format the printed version of Miss Terry’s Kitchen
Sometime in the afternoon Judy Howard, author of Coast To Coast With A Cat And A Ghost
Later we went into town to spend some time with cousin Beverly, and we took her to Culver’s for dinner. They have been advertising their new North Atlantic cod dinners, so Terry and I both tried them. They were excellent, as good as you’ll find at any Friday night fish fry. As I was getting my debit card out of my wallet to pay for our meal, the young lady behind the counter saw my VA card and thanked me for my service and then gave us a 15% discount on our bill! In addition to a Senior discount. How cool is that?
On the way back to the fairgrounds RV park we stopped at the new WalMart that opened just across the interstate. They seem to be using some kind of subdued energy saving lighting and I didn’t like it. It was like I was wearing sunglasses inside the place.
Today I really want to wrap this darned cookbook up, and Terry has a project on her loom that she’s involved in. We’re going back to do some things with Beverly in the afternoon, so it will be a busy day.
Have you signed up for our Free Drawing yet? This week’s prize is an audiobook of Dog’s Run, my stand alone mystery set in a small town in Ohio in 1951. It’s grittier than my Big Lake series, but everybody who has read it says it’s my best work yet. I tend to agree. All you have to do is click on the Free Drawing link and enter your name in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, my friend Shirley Bourget has her fantasy Awakened
Thought For The Day – Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. – Helen Keller
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Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
OK, but they ARE asking you if you have any guns in the house! I’ve had it happen to me personally hidden in the middle of medical questions, first by a home nurse and later by my new family doctor. What’s going on???? I wanted to say “none of your business”, but it was thrown in the middle of the usual questions about my physical well being and took me by surprise. And I’m a happily married 78 year old grandmother, about as non-threatening as anyone could be.
“I don’t know how what should be a relatively easy project can become so difficult.” That comes with being elderly.
Nick, I enrolled in the VA system three years ago in Tampa. As part of the initial screening process I was actually asked if I’ve ever wanted to harm myself or others. I assume it was because I was enrolling for the first time, because I’ve never been asked that again. But apparently the question does get asked.
I had the same question as Jim Walter but nothing about guns when I enrolled at Tucson facility in Nov. ’13.
Nik, what is the procedure to get VA to take care of a Vet? I am a vet. I was discharged on a Friday and went to work in sales on a Monday. I always had benifits through work. I am now on Medicare and SS. Do you leave the Medicare to go Iinto VA and eliminate the Medicare cost AND my supliment plan?
Then what happens when you are a non VA area? I have never looked into this before padon my ignorance .
Norma, I don’t know why a civilian doctor would ask if you have a gun, but it has never come up with me at the VA.
Scooter, if you are an honorably discharged vet, take your DD-214 to a VA hospital or clinic and tell them you want to enroll in the VA medical system. I’m not on Medicare so don’t now how that works with VA benefits.
Scooter can probably pick up some good info in the Escapees veterans forum, don’t need to be a member to participate.
http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?s=ac621918ce5106fa31ca695c5278388b&showforum=21
As a result of one of your earlier posts about Judy Howard’s books, I read both of them and found them very enjoyable. Now I need to write the reviews on Amazon.
I am 65, not a vet, and at my last physical, the questionnaire asked if there were any guns in my house. That question, along with some others that I considered overly intrusive, was not answered. No one said a thing about the blanks on my “completed” questionnaire.
Nick my young friend, you have been a great help in my life and attitude, only you can make me look skinny.