Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center

"As a veteran, this is why veterans commit suicide and think gee I wonder why? They do not care about you or anyone. "It's just business." this system is a part of the corruption that is supposed to care for veterans! They say they care, but that's a lie. If they did, they would be happy to help you regardless of status. Whatever happened to our country?"

"The people who care, don’t have the power to do anything. And the people who have power don’t care. The MH section of the RHJVAMC is one of the most poorly ran operations I’ve experienced. No one calls back, I’ve been denied treatment by one provider and that’s the end of the story - no second opinion, nothing. The doctors there seem knowledgeable about medication and ECT and press HARD to go that route. It’s a bit concerning how bad they wish to quickly medicate you and send you to get shocked. As far as leadership of the hospital, I’ve been trying to contact anyone from the leadership team for over 4 weeks - promised someone will call me back and no one does. Wrote a letter directly to Mr Scott Isaacks (Director) and was told that he never received it because a staff member opened it and never gave it to him. Still never contacted. Chief of Staff Dr Blasy has been notified that I’ve been wishing to speak to him regarding my concerns and complaints over the MH facility, and for 4+ weeks has neglected to return my calls. I say neglected, because they’re all aware of my attempts to reach them, and instead they choose meetings and award ceremonies over addressing their patients issues. Not that this should really matter, but of the 5 members in leadership roles at the RHJVAMC, 1 of them is a veteran. One. So basically, people are running the show who have never served a day in their life, and some aren’t even medical professionals. Serious issues with leadership at this facility, along with decision making. I found two prior OIG investigations dating back a few years ago over mismanagement of issues regarding patients, one leading to a suicide. This facility is great for many things, and I think that’s the horse they mainly try to put in front of the pack for appearance. Frankly, the entire leadership and MH department should be revamped with a patient first mentality. 4+ weeks and no response is not the definition of a leader. It’s a failure of the leadership team, the VA, and another shining example of the lack of trust a large majority of veterans have with the VA. Follow-up 1/5/2024: Mr Isaacks (Director) has blatantly ignored my requests to speak directly regarding concerns of communication and malpractice of staff members. A letter I wrote directly to him (directed by Patient Advocates) was never received by him or delivered to him, as a staff member relayed to me. I followed up the letter with an email directly to him, which he ignored and never followed up with. Mr. Blasy (Chief of Staff) called me finally over a month ago and told me MUSC would be contacting me the following day for a consult because they had a contract with them. A week ago I was told there is no contract with him, and still have yet to had a consult with MUSC. Leadership and staff still strive for incompetence and failure to communicate from top to bottom. I tried to get an operator to even transfer me to the leadership office and the gentleman told me, and I quote "we were informed we are no longer allowed to transfer individuals to the leadership office". This isn't leadership, these are business people looking to make a big buck off the backs of veterans suffering."

"I had a very good and quick experience here at the VA. The staff was very friendly, and they were very complimentary of my wife’s work of patching me up before we decided to have them check on my injury (she’s a PA). I can remember a quicker or more pleasant experience in a clinic or hospital, urgent, ER, or otherwise."

"Went here for my dad who is last stages of copd. Saw primary and was suppose to get everything in line for a pulmonary dr. Months later no appt. He can't leave the house took forever to finally get a ramp which day 3 still no show. Got glasses and he can't use them no calls back. Social Worker! Not even gonna even start.. I absolutely do not recommend this hell hole. Still waiting on ramp and this is day 3!"

"Where do I even start? 1) Community care expects you to answer every call, refuses to call when it's convenient for the Vet. I was just on hold with community care for 1 hour and 25 minutes (see photo) before I heard "I'm sorry, we're currently experiencing a system error. Please try your call again later" and I was hung up on. 2) The pharmacy refuses to give me the prescription that I was prescribed by another VA, which works for me, and wants to give me another that doesn't. They literally said, "we can write you a prescription so you can go to the pharmacy, but you have to pay out-of-pocket." No joke! She instructed me to purchase it out of pocket! I'm 100% P&T service connected disabled. 3) My drive to primary care takes over an hour, but they refuse to allow me community care. 4) I had to find out On My Own that the VA scans of my thyroid showed level 5, highly concerning, nodules. 5) I sent a secure message to my primary care regarding said results. She only called me to discuss my cholesterol. I am a health nut, fit, and have no history of cholesterol issues, but hypothyroidism IS a cause of cholesterol issues and liver failure!! Does the VA WANT me to die!!?? And... 6) there are still several other appointments haven't been scheduled since my requests in August! This VA is by far the worst I have ever encountered!"