More should be
done to help vets
I am a disabled veteran, and I am absolutely appalled by the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department.
I have experienced malpractice, fraud and gaslighting by their doctors. They ignore real problems, and there is zero accountability.
The community needs to demand better from our VA and our elected representatives. We just had a parade to celebrate veterans, now let’s do the uncomfortable and ask for meaningful change in the health care system for our veterans.
We need to stop with the judgements and figure out better ways of healing from trauma. The system is clearly not working, and we need the community to help us change it.
Why are we not offering health services focused on healing to our veterans? Why is there nothing positive for veterans who are struggling?
Veterans are hard workers, so why are we not using that as a tool for positive change? Why not help them create sustainable living? Why are we not offering a better solution for housing other than a waiting list?
We could easily create a space for veterans focused on healing and offer them training in sustainable farming, living, fishing, etc.
There is so much bullying in schools, why not train and utilize veterans?
We are doing the bare minimum for our veterans, and it’s time to change that. We need our leaders to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth, which is that veterans have been struggling after coming back from war, and we are having the same problems that have been around forever.
I don’t have all the answers, but I know our community does. So, let’s step up for our vets and start holding the system accountable and create positive change for our future!
Josh Sze
Hilo
Nursing shortage
a serious problem
Regarding the article, “SB63: Proposal to solve Hawaii nursing shortage stops short of real fix” (by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii), I strongly believe Hawaii is in crisis due to the nursing shortages.
Firstly, Hawaii has needed nurses for a reasonable amount of time but only increased due to the pandemic in 2020. Nurses are leaving the profession due to the high stress load. A depletion of nurses affects us, how we are cared for as a society, and the next generation.
Not to mention, almost a quarter of nurses have answered that they had contemplated leaving the workforce due to COVID-related crises, job fatigue (24.7%), safety (39%), retirement (21.6%), and caregiver strain (9.3%).
In 2019 and 2021, about 5,000 nurses have left the field, the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs reported. Given these points, many nurses are departing the profession, and as a state, we need to make up those numbers to increase the workload.
Correspondingly, solutions for the nursing shortages could be to provide more qualified nursing professors to help out each of the colleges in Hawaii, adding more seats for nursing students.
Another resolution could be more funding to supply for the nursing program.
If no action is being carried out, patient mortality will increase, which will be linked to higher death rates. Next, nursing burnout will rise, leaving them to work overtime and feeling overwhelmed.
Having inadequate nursing staff may harm a patient, increasing the length of their stay. It may also increase wait time in the facilities, affecting the quality of care for patients.
Uniquely, if people respond with action, it will leave fewer burdens on the nurses and will have a significant impact on the community, such as smaller amounts of individuals coming into the hospitals, shorter hospital stays, and, most importantly, fewer deaths.
Lorieanne Domingo
Hilo
