12/23/2007
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Staff photo by Jim Evansfrom the Kennebec Journal
QUESTIONS REMAIN
No complaints from those who switched to Somerset County center
Vote on 1 may hurt some in election
Steeple at center of debate in Whitefield
VETERANS REQUIRE ASSISTANCE: Homelessness takes center stage
J.P. DEVINE: Overcome sadness with hope
BASKETBALL: NBA Hall of Famer Barry doles out advice at Thomas College
HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY: Maranacook sophomore Mace dominates Class B field
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
A year later, families await answers on fatalities
Owner of topless coffee shop on the comeback trail
Officials report cheaper, better service after switch
Two people in critical condition
Young Marines stick to program
Issue of homeless veterans at center stage
GIRLS SOCCER STATE CHAMPIONSHIP: Winslow falls to York in Class B
Bard hits her marathon stride
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
In June, when his prosthetic leg broke, Pennington, 24, was unable to get it fixed and lost a measure of his independence.
The months-long delay in getting his leg fixed was only the first of what he describes as a series of barriers that prevented him from getting the help he needed through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Pursued by demons that followed him home from Iraq and frustrated by seemingly endless difficulties in accessing the help he needed, the Detroit man turned to alcohol and his life entered a downward spiral, almost ending in a drunken driving accident on Sept. 19.
Depressed and angered by his inability to get his life back on track, Pennington got drunk and drove into the wall of the Bank of America building on Exchange Street in Bangor, traveling at what a Bangor Police Officer later told him was about 55 miles per hour.
"It was my statement: 'I am done,'" Pennington said as he sat in his home next to a table piled high with medical paperwork.
But the crash that almost claimed his life signaled a breakthrough of sorts.
Hospitalized for days afterward, Pennington started receiving treatment for the post-traumatic stress disorder he was diagnosed with more than a year ago at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Other help has come only after he and his wife, Marjorie, began speaking publicly about their problems. Pennington said he got fitted with new parts for his prosthetic leg on Thursday after he and Marjorie talked to the media this week about their problems.
After the prosthetic leg broke, Pennington said, he developed large bulbous infections on his stump that became so painful that he was eventually forced to use a wheelchair or crutches.
Now, Pennington said he has already seen a big improvement.
"It feels great. I am not limping any more, I am not using my cane," said Pennington, whose disability is classified as 100 percent service-connected.
Pennington spent three months and his 23rd birthday in Walter Reed after he lost his left leg and parts of his right leg and foot when an explosive device made of three 155-millimeter artillery rounds detonated next to his Humvee.
Pennington, a paratrooper, was the turret gunner on the lead scout vehicle that day -- April 29, 2006 -- when the bomb exploded about 12 miles north of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.
A combat veteran who was on his second tour in Iraq and had already served one tour in Afghanistan, Pennington put a tourniquet on his shattered leg himself before other soldiers pulled him from the truck.
Back home in Maine, after more than a dozen operations at Walter Reed and learning to walk again, he thought he was ready to take on new goals, including college and a career in politics.
EARLIER OPTIMISM
In an interview given a year ago, he described himself as positive and looking forward to new challenges.
He said he wanted to be in a position to help other returning veterans.
This week, the still boyish Pennington at times shows flashes of anxiety and smokes cigarettes as he talks about the unexpected problems he encountered in the past year, a time he had expected to be moving forward, not falling further behind.
The Detroit man blames his long wait for medical care on the Veterans Affairs system, not the people who work for the federal department.
But more than 18 months after he was first wounded in Iraq, Pennington said he is still waiting for the benefits he needs to get an education and move on with his life.
"I would rather be depending on myself," said Pennington, who said he was discouraged by Veterans Affairs personnel from applying to Colby College in Waterville, where he hoped to study political science, because it was too expensive.
He said he also qualifies for about $8,000 worth of adaptive furniture to help him get around his home -- but he has only received a handle with suction cups to help him balance in the shower.
From the start, he said, the medical care he has received at Togus has not measured up to what he was promised, nor to the care his military friends receive in other states.
At his first visit to a physician's assistant at Togus, he said, he received two bottles of narcotic pain relievers.
When he complained that the pills left him listless and unable to function, he was told to take fewer of them.
He finally weaned himself off the pills entirely but the only thing he found to dull the pain was alcohol, he said.
Pennington said he had asked for, but never received, alternative pain management help.
"I would rather be back in the military in Iraq right now than dealing with the V.A. system in Maine," he said.
STRUGGLE FOR FAMILY
Marjorie Pennington, Matthew's wife, said it has been a struggle to get Matthew the help that he qualifies for.
"It has been a fight. A fight for my marriage. It is crazy -- they (Veterans Affairs officials) put a lot of stress on the family," she said.
Jim Doherty, staff assistant to the center director at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Togus, said Friday that federal law prohibits him from speaking specifically about Pennington's case, although he said he has been authorized to say that Veterans Affairs officials had been in contact with Pennington frequently before they received calls from the media.
In general, however, Doherty said Veterans Affairs works hard to meet Maine veterans' needs.
"I would consider it very rare that (veterans) fall through the cracks," he said.
Patients who need help with a prosthetic limb receive care in a timely manner, said Doherty, although he said the length of the wait may depend on what part is needed and on the sophistication of the unit.
When a stump becomes swollen, he said, it may also be necessary to wait for the swelling to go down before the patient can be refitted.
The Veterans Affairs medical center also has a pain management team that can treat discomfort with a variety of medications or other means, he said.
Mental health care is available at clinics at Togus, Bangor and Portland, and readjustment counseling for returning veterans is available at five Veterans Affairs centers located throughout the state, according to Doherty.
"We have all these services that are available but Veterans Affairs health care is voluntary," said Doherty.
OPTIONS
Care providers give veterans options and recommendations but Doherty said it is up to the veteran to choose the option that is right for him or her. They can also choose to do nothing.
Three full-time staff members work solely with soldiers returning from Iraq or Afghanistan, helping them get services and tracking their care, he said. Overall, he said, roughly 1,500 veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan receive medical care through the Veterans Affairs system in Maine.
Veterans Affairs workers try to meet with all returning veterans several times when they come home and also try to brief families before the veteran returns about benefits available, Doherty said.
A total of about 38,000 veterans receive health care through the Veterans Affairs system in Maine, he said.
Alan Crowell -- 474-9534, Ext. 342
acrowell@centralmaine.com
Reader comments
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But, hey, maybe you could use some of that negative energy you have to criticize for something positive. Since Togus can't seem to get its act together for the benefit of the soldier, perhaps you could help organize a building party for the benefit of the Penningtons. Are you up to that challenge? Help build the things Pennington needs for his house.
Suction cups for the shower? That's it? The VA ought to be ashamed of itself. Almost as ashamed as you should be of yourself for criticizing instead of lending a hand to the guy who gave his all for your freedom.
What say you, Mainers? Do you have a heart for this guy or will you just sit on your ample butts criticizing the less fortunate?report abuse
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