Psychologists want more done to help our soldiers
OTTAWA - A pair of Fredericton psychologists says treatment for Canadian Forces Base Gagetown soldiers who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder are in disarray and carried out by unqualified mental-health workers who are hostile towards private clinicians.
Joyce Belliveau and Robin Geneau were in Ottawa on Thursday to testify before a House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence about the quality of care soldiers receive after being diagnosed with operational stress injuries.
The pair has demanded an audit of patient files at the mental-health clinic at CFB Gagetown to determine if soldiers are receiving the help they need.
"It's a failure of leadership at the base and the clinic," said Belliveau. "I don't know how far up the chain it goes."
She said an audit is needed because soldiers are falling though cracks in the system, adding some soldiers wait years before receiving treatment.
"My fear is that 10 years from now we are going to start seeing some of these men and women in similar situations to those we saw after Rwanda and the Yugoslavia tours," said Belliveau.
"Ten years is a long time to live with post-traumatic stress disorder when it's treatable."
Geneau told the committee that problems began following the termination of the operational stress injury program at CFB Gagetown in March 2005.
She said that's when the working relationship between the base and private clinicians such as herself and Belliveau deteriorated, adding referrals from the military dropped significantly.
"The new management was literally hostile towards private therapists," said Geneau. "Clients were cut off in the middle of treatment."
Geneau said she's heard first-hand from clients referred by the Canadian Forces and Veteran Affairs who have said they aren't receiving the care they need.
Belliveau said wrong diagnoses and inadequate care create a revolving door of patients who become a burden on taxpayers' dollars.
"It means more resources are put towards mental-health clients that could have been treated and put out of the system a lot sooner," she said.
A spokesperson for the Department of National Defence said the government is committed to making investments to help treat soldiers suffering from mental-health disorders.
"The new operational stress injury clinic in Fredericton provides a team of mental-health professionals, including psychiatrists and psychologists, to assess, treat and support Canadian Forces members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorders," said a department official in a prepared statement.
But Belliveau said the clinic alone can't manage the workload.
"It will be a benefit and a help," she said. "But I think the number of people who need to accept services will not be able to be served by the clinic."
The psychologists' push for a review in Gagetown received a boost Thursday when NDP Defence critic Dawn Black introduced a motion to the Defence committee, suggesting Auditor General Sheila Fraser conduct a complete audit of mental-health services at Canadian Forces bases across Canada.
The psychologists have advocated for Fraser's involvement on the file.
"Even if they are not willing to do an audit, some external force has to go into the base to evaluate what is happening and set up better administrative and operational procedures so that clients can be referred and tracked in a timely manner," said Belliveau.
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Soldiers have less access to medical care than cdns who don't put their lives at risk - not that regular cdns should get less. But everyone including soldiers should have fair access.
My spouse is trying to go through veterans affairs for a medical problem and he was just told it would be 18 months before he sees a specialist!
And the base hospital is trying to do everything itself. I'm sure that their intentions are good, but they can't do it all, and people are falling through the cracks. Plus the staff there are going to burn out as well.
I don't understand the unwillingness to allow civilian professionals to be part of the team.
Personally, I think it's a budgeting issue and that it originates at a higher level than the base hosp.
Kudos to Joyce and Robin!!