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“We certainly would like to re-instate our DAV (Disabled American Veterans) van service from Honesdale to Wilkes-Barre,” said Vince Riccardo, public affairs officer with the VA Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre.
For the past 10 years, volunteer drivers had been providing free DAV van service for Wayne County veterans, but that all stopped in August. Volunteer drivers Bernie Harvey, Bruce Drake and Mike Krol say they all ran into problems with one of the veterans they were transporting. On three or four occasions, they’d stopped to pick the person up, but he was either a no-show or 15 to 20 minutes late. On one occasion, they called his house to let him know the van was leaving in two minutes, and he came out of the house instantly.
They say it wasn’t fair to make the remaining veterans aboard the 12-passenger van wait around for one person. It got to the point that they refused to take him.
“Normally, I’ve never had a veteran I’ve had to wait for. These guys are grateful to get the rides,” said Harvey, Commander of the Wayne County DAV, Chapter 114. They say the problem arose when the veteran contacted the VA and patient advocate to complain, saying they’d failed to show up. Harvey says they were told by the VA that the veteran had also written a letter of complaint to Senator Arlen Specter’s office.
Harvey says they met with the VA in July to try and resolve the issue and that’s when they were asked to write a letter as to why they were refusing to transport the veteran. Since they weren’t allowed to see the complaint letter, they refused. “We have never had, or the VA never told us about, anybody complaining about us,” Harvey said. He says they felt slighted that the VA wouldn’t stick up for them. When the VA insisted they pick up the veteran, Harvey says they all quit. And the Wayne County DAV van service stopped.
Prior to that, the volunteer drivers had taken turns twice a week: Mondays and Wednesdays making the round trip to the VA. Harvey says about 250 Wayne County veterans used their service at various times or about 10 veterans a week.
Contacted for comment on the issue, VA Public Affairs Officer Vince Riccardo said, “It would not be appropriate for me to discuss another veteran.”
“We certainly would like to re-instate our DAV (Disabled American Veterans) van service from Honesdale to Wilkes-Barre,” said Vince Riccardo, public affairs officer with the VA Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre.
For the past 10 years, volunteer drivers had been providing free DAV van service for Wayne County veterans, but that all stopped in August. Volunteer drivers Bernie Harvey, Bruce Drake and Mike Krol say they all ran into problems with one of the veterans they were transporting. On three or four occasions, they’d stopped to pick the person up, but he was either a no-show or 15 to 20 minutes late. On one occasion, they called his house to let him know the van was leaving in two minutes, and he came out of the house instantly.
They say it wasn’t fair to make the remaining veterans aboard the 12-passenger van wait around for one person. It got to the point that they refused to take him.
“Normally, I’ve never had a veteran I’ve had to wait for. These guys are grateful to get the rides,” said Harvey, Commander of the Wayne County DAV, Chapter 114. They say the problem arose when the veteran contacted the VA and patient advocate to complain, saying they’d failed to show up. Harvey says they were told by the VA that the veteran had also written a letter of complaint to Senator Arlen Specter’s office.
Harvey says they met with the VA in July to try and resolve the issue and that’s when they were asked to write a letter as to why they were refusing to transport the veteran. Since they weren’t allowed to see the complaint letter, they refused. “We have never had, or the VA never told us about, anybody complaining about us,” Harvey said. He says they felt slighted that the VA wouldn’t stick up for them. When the VA insisted they pick up the veteran, Harvey says they all quit. And the Wayne County DAV van service stopped.
Prior to that, the volunteer drivers had taken turns twice a week: Mondays and Wednesdays making the round trip to the VA. Harvey says about 250 Wayne County veterans used their service at various times or about 10 veterans a week.
Contacted for comment on the issue, VA Public Affairs Officer Vince Riccardo said, “It would not be appropriate for me to discuss another veteran.”
Since the trio of drivers had said they’d like to see Wayne Couny’s DAV van service re-instated, we asked Riccardo what it would take. He said they’d like to see the service re-instated. but that it takes “individuals to volunteer as drivers.” He also said the trio of drivers had originally “indicated to us that they would no longer be driving. I think that’s a matter they need to discuss with us.”
When asked if the drivers would have to go back through the whole driver’s screening process, Riccardo said it “would depend on their time of departure.”
Harvey said it took him “nine months to get cleared to drive the van. You have to go through a physical. Meanwhile, I’m arguing with them that I go there as a veteran and I get all my care from them as a veteran, so the records are right there. When I asked to have a chest x-ray used that was a week old ...the VA police were brought in to intimidate me ...They said I was causing problems. I said, ‘Because I asked to have a chest x-ray that was used on the same machine that you want to use one week later— I’m causing problems?’ So the VA police say to me, ‘Well, they made me do it.’ So I said, ‘Well, they sent me to Vietnam and that didn’t make that right. ‘Just because they made you get a chest x-ray doesn’t make it right.’ And you know what they did? They accepted the one x-ray. This is what goes on,” Harvey says.
Riccardo said they do require a comprehensive physical to ensure that drivers are healthy to transport patients. And they’re put through a fingerprinting process and background check that can take up to six weeks for clearance.
Drivers must also take an annual safe driving course, but Riccardo said they don’t ask more of their volunteers than they do of their drivers on staff, that it’s the same policy for both.
In the meantime, veterans are able to utilize the Wayne County Transportation System, which provides transportation for the elderly and disabled. All passengers 60 years of age or older are charged $1.75 one-way or $3.50 to the VA round-trip; while disabled individuals age 18 to 59 are charged, based on mileage. So a trip from Honesdale to the VA would cost $6 one-way for a 25 to 30 mile trip.
Anyone wishing to become a volunteer DAV van driver may contact DAV Van Coordinator Paul Hanke at 570-824-3521, ext. 7925.
