Iowa veterans deserve better care

To the editor:

Iowa is not sensitive to long-term care needs of veterans injured with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury or military sexual trauma. An obscure section of the Code of Iowa requires that the Commandant of the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown keep these veterans out or remove them if they have symptoms.

The law reads like a description of the symptoms of these wounds: 'A person shall not be received or retained by the (Iowa Veterans Home) who has been diagnosed by a qualified mental health professional as acutely mentally ill and is considered dangerous to self or others, is an acute inebriate, or is addicted to drugs, and whose documented behavior is continuously disruptive to the operation of the facility.”

This law has been used to remove veterans from the Iowa Veterans Home that need specialized care. Those meeting this eviction standard are in the most need of assistance, but they cannot get long-term care because the psychiatric wing of the facility is closed.

Please let your local legislator know that Iowa is not taking care of this class of disabled veteran, and that you want change.

Bob Krause, President

Veterans National Recovery Center

Fairfield