Local veteran’s calls to VA going unanswered

KERNERSVILLE, N.C. -- Nearly every day this week, 74-year-old Maurice McRoberts has made the same call to the Veterans Affairs Health Care Center in Kernersville to schedule an eye exam.

The new center opened on Feb. 16 and had a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday afternoon.

But McRoberts says every time he calls, the same thing happens.

"I leave a message,” McRoberts said. “They just don't call back."

McRoberts, a Vietnam veteran, has cataracts and needs regular check-ups.

It’s an appointment he says he's not able to make.

None of his calls to the VA center have been returned.

"It's a shame, really, that veterans have to go through this," he said.

McRoberts was a Private First Class in the U.S. Army from 1964 to 1966.

The last four months of his tour were spent in Vietnam.

"You feared for your life every day," he said.

But today, along with having cataracts, the veteran also suffers from PTSD and loss of hearing.

"It makes me feel terrible, spent my time over in Vietnam and now they just don't answer the phone," McRoberts said.

Marlous Black, the public affairs officer for the VA in Salisbury, says phone service to the VA in Kernersville has been in and out for several days.

But McRoberts says this is a problem many veterans have when calling the VA.

"You can ask any veteran and he'll tell you, they never call back," he said.

McRoberts says his goal isn't just to get help for himself but for other veterans waiting by the phone.

"If I'm having this much trouble, they are too," he said.

The VA in Salisbury did reach out to McRoberts Friday evening after being contacted by FOX8.

He was told to call back Saturday morning and that someone would put him through to the VA center in Kernersville.