When Are Wellness Visits Appropriate Or Not Appropriate?

Discussion in 'Philosophy & Psychology' started by Ken Anderson, Dec 16, 2022.

  1. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I am interested in how you feel about this particular wellness visit, particularly those of you who are military veterans, since it involves a veteran and the VFW.
     
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  2. Jeff Elohim

    Jeff Elohim Very Well-Known Member
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    This particular visit seems to represent the basic essence of this quote below from years ago , which I feel is likewise clearly revealing of the motives and intents of government /including corporations, education, medical, and religious/ overall for the last hundred years >>>

    "The nine most terrifying words in the English launguage are, "I"m from the Government and I'm here to help."

    Published: December 31, 2020"
     
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  3. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    I’m a little tossed around by it because for one, there has to be something behind the curtains going on between the wife, the vet and the VFW commander that isn’t clear. The vet said that he didn’t communicate with the commander but obviously knows him well enough to call him a douche and it goes on from there.

    For two, in light of today’s governmental initiatives to disarm veterans, I would personally be a little suspicious of a social worker who is chaperoned by two armed Sheriff’s deputies stating that they’re there to do a wellness check especially since none of them were vets themselves.
    And do note, no matter what the social worker said, that visit Will go on the vet’s record and Will be brought up should the vet get into any other kind of trouble.

    From a purely logical standpoint, there’s nothing wrong with wellness checks if indeed someone truly believes it is warranted.
    I would venture to say that most vets wouldn’t admit to anyone that they are thinking of committing suicide but when others see the signs and don’t say anything to anyone…….?

    That said, the VFW and the American Legion both have social services networking through the VA and unless the vet in question is known to be a violent person, there is no need for armed assistance. A vet who is thinking of killing himself generally isn’t thinking of going Rambo.

    It is as I wrote when I said I’m a little tossed around. I do think wellness checks for vets in question are in order, that is, if they are handled with discretion by vet oriented persons and without the local armed constabulary involved.
    So far as the guy in the video goes, I personally think that after a point, the vet was over reacting but I do understand it.
     
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  4. Tom Ellerton

    Tom Ellerton Member
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    Blue Cross Medicare has wellness visits that are minor checkups. I have to fill out annoying forms but we are rewarded with gift cards
    Last time I had to prove that I knew how to tell the time!
    Very insulting
     
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  5. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I think that most (if not all) insurance companies do the wellness visits, either at home or at the doctor’s office. Medicare seems to require it from doctors, and they do put you through some basic tasks like drawing a clock and remembering 4-5 words for a while , watching yuu walk back and forth to check your balance, and asking a lot of medical questions. We all get this every year; but it is different from calling the police for a wellness check for a person you think might be hurt or suicidal.
     
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  6. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Ok, Bobby, with the "no armed assistance", why is there government police at VA Medical Centers and Clinics? They are fully armed and have their own office/dispatch. To a point, since I've been using VA medical, of which I started in 1992, stopped for a few years and paid for company medical, and then started up again after my last job ended in 2007, every VA Medical Center/Clinic I've been in has these officers/police. Perhaps all U.S. Government facilities have them?
     
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  7. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Ok, SOF, just what isn't annoying to our age bracket today?? Just wondering?
     
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  8. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    The environment within which all of this occurs is having our own Federal government state that the biggest threat to our national security is returning veterans. There is no such thing as benign contact from a government official, especially one in "law enforcement," because these days more and more of them are merely agents of the Democrat party.
     
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  9. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    That's interesting. Is there an age at which this starts?
     
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  10. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    It’s not the same thing and if you had reasoned it out, you would have come to the conclusion of:

    Would you rather that the VA facility be a “gun free zone”?
    Ya know, the kind of a facility where any idiot or terrorist with a gun can go and shoot up a bunch of vets over some supposed agenda and do it without risk?
     
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  11. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    I can understand your view but the clock thing along with remembering a few words is simply a way of checking your cognitive status. If one fails those tests it could be a warning sign that a possible onset of something greater is happening.

    However, the clock thing would be lost on someone who hasn’t learned to tell time with anything other than a digital watch. I kinda wonder how the analyst would handle that kind of situation?

    By the bye Tom…..Welcome to SeniorsOnly Forum !!
     
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  12. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Yes, it seems to me that the guy at the VA or VFW, I forget which, was angry with the vet and sent the Sheriff's Department and their mental health team as a way of getting back at him, or as a warning not to defy him again, whatever the original source of discontent was about. This is my biggest fear with red flag laws. People who are angry with you over something having nothing to do with firearms or mental health will report you under the red flag law if they know or suspect you have a weapon, and there would probably also be organized teams of gun banners filing reports against people they may not even know.
     
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    Last edited: Dec 17, 2022
  13. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Not to mention that most vets do not join the VFW nor the American Legion purely because of the community functions nor the paid lobbyists. It’s a cheaper place to drink, including Sundays, and a vet is among his or her own kind.
    There is no telling what happened between the vet and the commander (wife included) when everyone is half in the bag.
     
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  14. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    EMTS here are routinely now accompanied by police response in Anchorage after a number of ambulance personnel were attacked by victims and bystanders, so I can understand the therapist being accompanied. What I don't understand is the relationship among the vets, his spouse and the VFW commander. It seems the VA should have been notified, not law enforcement.
     
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  15. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    It seems like there are a lot of assumptions being made, and the "whole story" hasn't been told. From what I gather, the vet wrote a book or something that he wanted to advertise to VFW members and the VFW commander wasn't too receptive. After reading the wife's letter (why did she need to get involved in the first place?), I can see how it might have been interpreted as a "my husband is on the edge" communication. I see missteps in the whole thing but the guy could have simply said, "I'm fine, thanks for checking on me." and let them leave. He was under no obligation to even speak with them.
     
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