No More Immigrants Till Our Veterans Are Taken Care Of

  • Friday, August 26, 2016

From the news today, "A 76-year-old veteran committed suicide on Sunday in the parking lot of the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Long Island, where he had been a patient, according to the Suffolk County Police Department. 

"Peter A. Kaisen, of Islip, was pronounced dead after he shot himself outside Building 92, the nursing home at the medical center. Why Mr. Kaisen decided to end his life was not immediately known, but two people connected to the hospital who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss his death said that he had been frustrated that he was unable to see an emergency-room physician for reasons related to his mental health. 'He went to the E.R. and was denied service,' one of the people, who currently works at the hospital, said. 'And then he went to his car and shot himself.' 

"The worker questioned why Mr. Kaisen had not been referred to the hospital’s Building 64, its mental health center. The staff member said that while there was normally no psychologist at the ready in the E.R., one was always on call, and that the mental health building was open 24/7. 
'Someone dropped the ball,' the worker said. 'They should not have turned him away.'" 

Obviously, this is not the entire story. Perhaps he had been referred to a mental health provider before this incident. Maybe he went to that provider, maybe he did not. Perhaps he had been prescribed counseling or medication or both. He might have refused both counseling and medication.  Maybe he had caused a scene at the facility in the past. He might have even threatened them. We don't know and we may never know all the details. 

I know that our veterans are not being taken care of as they should be. The statistics are too blatant to ignore.Our government has let them down and not just recently. 

Here is one of many thoughts I have regarding our veterans: no more immigrants allowed into the United States until our veterans are taken care of. 

Teddy Ladd
Ooltewah

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