Fiscal Year 2005 Hearing on Quality of Life-Spouses

Federal News Service February 25, 2004 Wednesday

HEADLINE: HEARING OF THE MILITARY CONSTRUCTION SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

SUBJECT: FISCAL YEAR 2005 HEARING ON QUALITY OF LIFE - SPOUSES

CHAIRED BY: REPRESENTATIVE JOE KNOLLENBERG (R-MI)

LOCATION: B-300 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.

WITNESSES:

SUSAN SINCLAIR, WIFE OF ARMY SERVICE MEMBER;

JOSEPH S. DAUGHTRY, HUSBAND OF NAVY SERVICE MEMBER;

ANGIE BARRETT, WIFE OF MARINE CORPS SERVICE MEMBER;

TERESA A. CLARK, WIFE OF AIR FORCE SERVICE MEMBER

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

REP. ROBERT B. ADERHOLT (R-AL): Thank you.

It's good to have you all here today, I think this is especially helpful for this committee to hear from each of you and I know this takes place every year as part of the military construction hearings, so thank you each of you for being here and taking time out of your schedule to share a few thoughts with us. I came in late, I was at another meeting but I know-I've got to know what Susan Sinclair-good to have an Alabamian on the panel, good to hear your-I was looking over your comments that you had made in your opening statements. And you noted that one of the biggest challenges was getting medical information, about injured soldiers to their family members. Could you talk a little bit about that? Do you have an examples of what you have --

MS. SINCLAIR: I do. You know, it's basically during the actual fighting that soldiers were sent to different locations. So when they were med-evac'ed out of the field, the commander lost contact with them and the system was really set up so he didn't have to follow him through his medical care. But when they would get taken to whatever facility they went to, we didn't know where they went. And our hospital commander-like, for instance we had one wife who was a Reserve wife who was from Czechoslovakia or some place like that, but she had a language problem also being English as her second language.

But a doctor called her and told her that her husband had a brain injury and that he would be back in touch with her. Well, it was seven days before we could find where this soldier was. She was thinking we were withholding information from her. She immediately called her family readiness leader, who's a volunteer, who called the hospital commander at Fort Campbell and said, can you help?

I mean he was calling old friends, he was cutting through a lot of red tape trying to find this soldier. And while I can understand-it turns out this soldier was on a Navy ship, and while I can understand they were very busy, and the doctor probably didn't think about calling the family again, it's heart wrenching. And, you know, there are other examples like that but the communications, I think, between the services is a kind of problem during peace time and during a war it really multiplies.

REP. ADERHOLT: Well, take for example with the brain injury, I mean, I would-any time there's a brain injury, that's not anything that's simple --

MS. SINCLAIR: Right.

REP. ADERHOLT: -- so I'm sure that her worst thoughts were running through her head. What-as far as advice how that may be corrected, what's your thoughts on that as far as --

MS. SINCLAIR: Well, I think some kind of database or inter- service communication system set up so that it's a little easier to find a patient.

REP. ADERHOLT: Sure.

MS. SINCLAIR: And during normal circumstances, like even ours that went to (Landstuhl ?) which is an Army hospital, the commander every day got to get on the database to get the information, but they were so busy that wasn't updated every day. So he would call the spouse and say, "Oh I see where your soldier's going to be at Walter Reed in three days." So she would immediately making plans for babysitters and transportation and that to get up there, and then an hour later her husband would call her and say, "I'm at Walter Reed, why aren't you here?" And so it was the fact that they were so busy, I think. But I think that somebody to keep those databases updated is very important for the family back home who just wants to know something.

REP. ADERHOLT: Right. And especially in the information age that we live in, that should just be. That's all I have.