W.G. (Bill) Hefner Salisbury VA Medical Center

Bedside manner, basic customer service, sympathy/empathy are just a few things that the medical staff could work on. Greeting people when you walk in the room, listening to the answers of the questions that YOU (the provider) asks, acknowledging symptoms, & taking your time to access the situation at hand, are all starters. Also, when prescribing a medicine, elaborate on the increased side effects that may occur. If the nurse has to give the patient something, informing them of what it is and what to watch for would also be a good start. Walking in the room with just a needle and saying ok I have a steroid... is NOT enough. The VA in Durham is by far a better choice in my opinion.

I work here! Of course I love it! Working with Veterans is the utmost time contribution I can give back.

C'mon.... There is no way all those reviews are real. This VA is just as bad as the other 3 VAs (KS, MO, FL) I have been assigned to. I had the foot surgeon from CLT tell me face to face that he has a 40% success rate for a plantar fasciitis release. Umm, go google yourself, and you'll see that high 80- to low 90 % is the average. Appointments??? On the VAs access to care website, any given clinic touts reasonable wait times but when you call to make the appt it is close to double the wait. BH is a joke.... It is filled with staff in training and then they are off to bigger and better things. This VA has 1 person to pay outside providers that participate in Choice. Sooooo, that means providers (medical and dental) have to wait 5-9 months to get paid for services they provide to Veterans. The result on these super slow payments keep outside providers from offering treatment when the VA can't handle their work load. Every Friday is 1/2 Friday at the CLT VA! Good for employees, terrible for Vets waiting for an appointment. The VA is the biggest waste of taxpayer $$ there is.

I have received care here for several years. Today, I have to say I was overwhelmingly impressed with the improvement to the parking situation and the new parking garage. It just felt so much easier to get around and everything wasnt so congested. As far as the healthcare, as with anything in life, there are pros and cons. That's exactly what you get at the VA. Whenever the cons start to outweigh the the pros, that is when you need to file a complaint or look for care elsewhere.

Despite what is in the news the VA health care system is doing a good job. Been using VA for 3 decades have had 3 surgeries all without complications. Always have had good Doctors or allowed to switch doctors. Have PTSD with severe depression have been suicidal at times. They always admitted me kept me long enough for a safe release. They then follow up with phone calls for months afterwards. The death rate from heart attacks and pneumonia at VA hospitals is lower than national average of private hospitals. Yes there are problems at some VA facilities let's concentrate on fixing those. Overall I know I an getting top notch care. Eric Johnson