Deputy Chief Steven Xiarhos standing by side of those who stood by him..Jarheads

Father of fallen Marine mourns friends killed in Route 2 crash

New Hampshire Union Leader
By Shawne K. Wickham New Hampshire Sunday News
Jun 22, 2019

“I don’t know why God does this. I don’t know. Maybe there’s a reason.” Deputy Chief Steven Xiarhos

In Steven Xiarhos’ darkest hour, after his 21-year-old son was killed in Afghanistan, a group of motorcycle riders, all Marines, came to offer comfort and support. And they’ve stood by his family for the 10 years since.

Now, after some of those Marines were killed in a horrific crash on Route 2 in Randolph, it’s Xiarhos’ turn to stand by them.

Xiarhos is deputy chief of police in Yarmouth, Mass., on Cape Cod. He’s been friends with members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club there for a decade. News that members of the club died Friday evening hit him hard.

Those who died were “American heroes,” Xiarhos said.

“I don’t know why God does this,” he said, his voice breaking. “I don’t know. Maybe there’s a reason.”

His son, Nicholas, was 21 years old when he was killed in combat in Helmand Province in Afghanistan while going to the aid of fellow Marines.

“It was Marine bikers that came to me in my worst time in my life,” Xiarhos said.

They asked if they could hold a charity ride in his son’s honor. And Big Nick’s Ride for the Fallen has been held every year since, raising thousands of dollars for worthy causes.

In order to be a member of the Jarheads, Xiarhos said, “you have to be a combat Marine.”

Members served in different wars, he said. “Some of them are young, from this war; some are from Vietnam.”
read more here

God did not do this!

How would you turn to God in your darkest times, if you believe He just caused them? What is the point in praying for relief if you believe God is punishing you?

All of us search for answers...and someone to blame when bad things happen, especially senseless ones.

God did send people to help after the tragedy. 

God did send people who responded and tried to render medial aid until emergency responders arrived. He also sent those responders, because He called them to take on those jobs.

He caused people from around the nation to donate and help the families.

Each of us have the ability to do harm or help someone in need. Those who choose to help, listened to what their soul called them to do.

Whatever good comes out of something bad, He is there.

One accident 7 Patriots killed in New Hampshire... mind boggling!

‘We all feel it’: Motorcyclists mourn death of 7 in crash

Associated Press
By Michael Casey and David Sharp
Posted Jun 22, 2019

RANDOLPH (AP) -- Investigators pleaded Saturday for members of the public to come forward with information that could help them determine why a pickup truck hauling a trailer collided with a group of 10 motorcycles on a rural highway, killing seven bikers.

The crash in remote northern New Hampshire involved members of Marine JarHeads MC, a motorcycle club that includes Marines and their spouses, authorities said. The tragedy sent shockwaves through New England’s communities of motorcyclists and military veterans, which often overlap.

“When something like this happens, we all feel it,” said Cat Wilson, who organizes a motorcycle charity event in Massachusetts and is a friend of some of the crash victims. “There is no tighter community than our biker community.”

Authorities identified the pickup driver as Volodoymyr Zhukovskyy, 23, an employee of a Springfield, Massachusetts, company called Westfield Transport.

Zhukovskyy survived the accident and has not been charged, authorities said, but they didn’t release details on his condition or his whereabouts. A phone listing for him couldn’t be found.
read more here

Vets Mourn After Crash Kills 7 Marine JarHeads MC Bikers

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MICHAEL CASEY and PATRICK WHITTLE
June 23, 2019

Randolph, N.H. (AP) -- Motorcyclists and military veterans mourned Sunday as authorities sought help in determining why a pickup truck collided with a group of bikers on a rural highway, killing seven of them.

The crash in remote northern New Hampshire involved members of Marine JarHeads MC, a motorcycle club that includes Marines and their spouses. Authorities said they might begin identifying victims by name as soon as Sunday.

The tragedy left the close-knit motorcycle community in shock, with many remembering their own close calls on the road.

"Seven people. C'mon. It's senseless," said Bill Brown, a 73-year-old Vietnam War veteran and motorcyclist, who visited the accident scene on Saturday to put down flags. "Somebody made a mistake, and it turned out to be pretty deadly."

A pickup truck towing a flatbed trailer collided with the group of 10 motorcycles around 6:30 p.m. Friday on U.S. 2, a two-lane highway in the tiny North Woods community of Randolph. The pickup truck caught fire, and witnesses described a "devastating" scene as bystanders tried to help the injured amid shattered motorcycles.

This weekend's long-planned "Blessing of the Bikes" ceremony an hour to the north of the accident was expected to be especially emotional this year. Meanwhile, members of the motorcycle community had already begun organizing help for the victims' families, said Cat Wilson, who organizes a motorcycle charity event in Massachusetts and is a friend of some of the crash victims.
read more here

On a personal note:This is what all of us fear the most

We know the dangers that can come from a bike breaking down, which did happen and one of our members was killed after a saddle bag dropped off another bike.

We also know the dangers that come on the road with other drivers.

My husband and I have been with the Nam Knights MC in Orlando for ten years. They are veterans and members of law enforcement, firefighters and patriotic folks serving others who served.

It is family! Wives are usually on the back of the bikes, or on their own. We have lost members because some other driver in a car decided their time was more valuable than our lives.

We love! We love riding together and working toward helping others. I used to ride on the back of my husband's Harley until my back was so messed up, I have to meet them where they are going.

To have a pack of ten bikes hit and know that 7 did not survive, is mind boggling!


Please go to this GoFundMe and donate what you can!

Jarheads MC - Victims and Families support

On Friday, June 21st 2019 Jarheads MC was riding to a charity event at the local American Legion in Gorham, New Hampshire Post #82. Our pack was struck by an oncoming vehicle and we lost 5 patch holders and 2 supporters, and many others are injured. 

Our club and the families are going to need help and we cannot do it alone. I am pleading with you all, please do what you can, and 100% of the funds raised will go where it is needed to help ease some of the financial burden left behind after this tragic event. Jarheads MC has always been about helping veterans and their families. 

Please help us now and give what you can. Everything you can do is appreciated. We are strong enough to get through this, but we ask for and need your support.

Names and conditions of all will not be shared at this time as we are still being impacted by news as it arrives. We will be in New Hampshire the rest of the weekend supporting our friends and families.

*Jarheads Motorcycle Club is a club consisting of active duty or honorably discharged Marines and FMF Corpsmen. We ride and serve veterans and veteran families in our committees, with chapters in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Jarheads Motorcycle Club charity ride turned deadly for 7 in New Hampshire

update  Trucker charged with 7 counts of negligent homicide in crash that killed motorcyclists

USA Today
John Bacon
6/24/ 2019

A truck driver was charged Monday with seven counts of negligent homicide in a gruesome collision with a group of motorcyclists on a remote New Hampshire highway.

Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 23, was arrested at his home in West Springfield, Massachusetts, early Monday by the Massachusetts State Police Fugitive Apprehension Unit, the New Hampshire attorney general's office said in a statement.

"Mr. Zhukovskyy was taken into custody on a fugitive from justice charge," the statement said. He was expected to make his first court appearance later Monday.
read more here

update Victims of New Hampshire Marine JarHeads motorcycle crash ID’d as bikers bid goodbye

Authorities identified the dead as
Michael Ferazzi, 62, of Contoocook, New Hampshire
Albert Mazza, 49, of Lee, New Hampshire
Desma Oakes, 42, of Concord, New Hampshire
Aaron Perry, 45, of Farmington, New Hampshire
Daniel Pereira, 58, of Riverside, Rhode Island
Joanne and Edward Corr, both 58, of Lakeville, Massachusetts. read more here

Pickup Truck In New Hampshire Collides With Marine Motorcycle Group; 7 Killed

NPR
Bobby Allyn
June 22, 2019

The group was on a charity ride connected to an American Legion in Gorham, N.H., according to an online fundraiser set up for the families of the victims.

"Jarheads MC has always been about helping veterans and their families and sadly, today we are in need of that same support," wrote Doug Hayward, a member of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club.

This photo provided by Miranda Thompson shows the scene where several motorcycles and a pickup truck collided on a rural, two-lane highway on Friday. Miranda Thompson/AP

A pickup truck in rural New Hampshire struck and killed seven people on motorcycles Friday night. The crash ignited a small fire in a nearby wooded area and left a wreckage of damaged vehicles and the bodies of victims strewn across the highway.

State police said a Dodge pickup truck hit the motorcycles around 6:30 p.m. Friday along U.S. 2 in Randolph.

Authorities are still investigating what caused the deadly collision. Police have not released the names of the victims or the pickup driver, who witnesses said survived the incident.

"It's tragic," New Hampshire State Police Capt. Chris Vetter told reporters Friday night. "Our concern right now is with the victims, the victims' families and anybody else who was adversely affected by this accident," he said.

Police said two other motorcyclists were injured and one person was airlifted to a local hospital after the crash on the two-lane highway.

Some of the riders were members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club, which comprises active and veteran Marines. They were on their way to a bike gathering in northern New Hampshire, said Charlie St. Clair, executive director of the Laconia Motorcycle Week Association, a large motorcycle gathering that ended last weekend.
read more here

New Hampshire Airman's death under investigation in Qatar

NH Airman dies overseas in non-combat incident

WMUR
Cherise Leclerc
April 20, 2019

The Department of Defense says Staff Sgt. Albert J. Miller, of Richmond, has died overseas.

Miller died on April 19th at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in a non-combat related incident.

He was assigned to the 736th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and was supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.

Miller was 24 years old.

An investigation into the cause of his death is ongoing
go here for updates

Combat Nurse told she cannot use service in Fallujah and Afghanistan?

Congressional candidates' military service records under attack
By KEVIN LANDRIGAN
New Hampshire Union Leader
August 26. 2018

...State Rep. Sean Morrison, R-Hampton, formed the Veterans Caucus in the New Hampshire Legislature after joining the Army National Guard at 30 and making combat deployments to Iraq.

"The 'combat proven' thing seemed to me to be close to stolen valor," said Morrison, who is supporting state Rep. and Air Force veteran Steve Negron of Nashua in the GOP primary.

"That means you were in direct combat with the enemy and you acted appropriately. I don't think anyone should be separating and holding themselves up on a pedestal as veterans."

A clearly upset Blankenbeker said Friday that Morrison and others who share his views should be "ashamed of themselves."

Maura Sullivan was a Marine captain in Iraq.

"I was a combat nurse in a combat hospital in a combat zone caring for combat casualties while the hospital took on an average of 18 mortar attacks in a given day," Blankenbeker said of her time in Afghanistan's violent Kandahar province during 2010-11.

Dan Helmer is the vice chairman of VoteVets, another liberal group supporting veteran candidates.

"Maura Sullivan served in Fallujah, Iraq, an incredibly dangerous area of operations where numerous Marines died, including female service members," Helmer said. "Women in combat zones often don't get the recognition they deserve and we're shocked that anyone would call into question the sacrifices Maura and other female leaders made for our country."

Blankenbeker remembers when the Afghan terrorist threat came into her Kandahar hospital treatment room.

"I cared for a woman; she was an Afghan patient. I was cutting her clothes off in a combat zone and she had a wire harness on her for an explosive," Blankenbeker said. "I had to hold that explosive device in my hand until we could get her sedated on morphine. Is that combat proven?"
read more here

Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc not suffering PTSD in silence

Still think you have to suffer in silence? Well, it looks like another General has come forward to speak about PTSD. 

"However, there is a price to pay when you are “Captain America.” For Gen. Bolduc the matter of PTSD is a personal one. One of his most courageous acts was to publicly acknowledge he struggles every day with PTSD"

How many Medal of Honor recipients have to talk about their own battles with PTSD, before you understand there is nothing to be ashamed of? How many Generals have to talk about their battles, after a lifetime of battles in uniform, before you understand what courage looks like?

Ever wonder they they come forward and talk openly about something they never have to say a word about? Do they need publicity? Do they want to play "victim" and get people to feel sorry for them? Hell no! THEY DO IT TO SAVE THE LIVES OF THOSE THEY WOULD HAVE DIED FOR!

If you still haven't gotten the message yet, the keep reading about "Captain America" Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc.

‘Everyone’s General’ returns home with a mission
Fosters.com
Jeff Childester
February 23, 2018

One the truest statements you can make about a hero is that they would be the last person to describe themselves as such. Aside from a hero’s devotion to service above self, a hero’s second most endearing quality is their humility. However, as a society it is important for us to appreciate those people we know to be heroes.

One such person is New Hampshire’s own Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc. After 32 years of service to our country, a native son has returned home.

Out of his uniform, and knowing nothing about his impressive military pedigree, some might suggest Gen. Bolduc was unimposing. But that is merely another distinguishing feature of a hero, their uncanny capacity to appear normal, to look like the “common man.” That is because when you get down to it, most heroes look nothing like the Hollywood actors that portray them on film. They are in every essence, everyday people, which is reinforced in the case of Gen. Bolduc when you consider many who served with him dubbed him “Everyone’s General.” I have no doubt that if you were to ask Gen. Bolduc the one thing he is most proud of (regarding his military services), being called “Everyone’s General” would be near the top of that list.

Gen. Bolduc is not that much different from many of us, except for one conspicuous attribute, his devotion to duty. He is the embodiment of all those that have faithfully served this country, and still do so today. Our military heroes live beyond the spotlight, humble in the knowledge that they sacrificed much in the service of our nation. For as proud as Gen. Bolduc must be when he is referred to “Everyone’s General,” he also must carry the weight of his other nickname, “Captain America.”
read more here

New Hampshire Hospital for the mentally ill is prison?

Families, Advocates Speak Out Against the Secure Psychiatric Unit at NH Men’s Prison
InDepthNH.org
Written by Nancy West
January 26, 2018

CONCORD — Two mothers told lawmakers their daughters are harassed, humiliated, and sometimes “locked down” at the Secure Psychiatric Unit at the New Hampshire Prison for Men, and a former patient recounted nearly dying as his pleas for emergency medical care were ignored.

The Secure Psychiatric Unit has stirred controversy because mentally ill people are held there if they haven’t committed a crime, but are considered too dangerous to be housed at the New Hampshire Hospital for the mentally ill.

At SPU, civilly committed patients who were found not guilty by reason of insanity and not competent to stand trial are commingled with convicted criminals who are mentally ill in a 60-bed unit on the grounds of the men’s prison. Presently, three women and one person who is transitioning from male to female, are housed in the unit on the prison campus with about 1,400 men.

“My daughter has been in SPU (Secure Psychiatric Unit) for three years,” said Cindy Glazier. “I can visit on weekends. That’s it. It’s a prison setting, not a psychiatric unit. It’s not for patients. She’s treated like a prisoner and it’s not set up as a hospital.

Glazier’s daughter, Patina Welch, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in 2015 to jumping out a second-story window in Lyman holding her 4-month-old boy-girl twins, killing her son and injuring her daughter the summer before. Welch told police she was trying to save them from armed intruders.

The prosecutor at the time said there was clear and convincing evidence that Welch suffered from a mental disease or defect. Welch was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and personality disorder.
read more here

All Veterans Want is Promise Keepers, Not Bumblers

Promise Keepers or Bumblers?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 24, 2017

Looks like Santa just may have his hands full of coal for every member of Congress! When you think that this bunch just managed to pull off a Bill to fund the futures of billionaires and millionaires, these same folks didn't use that same energy for our veterans.

(Guess they also forgot that the majority of our veterans are in fact on Social Security and Medicare, also facing cuts.)

AP reported that, "NH veterans want more, better medical services" and that is true. The thing is, they wanted what was promised to them on the day they became "Veteran" instead of civilian. What part of that do people not get? They are not civilians!

The Manchester VA is the subject of this report, however, it is the same story all across the country.

"Veterans offered a long list of services they felt could be provided by the Manchester center, with many seeing the need for additional mental health and substance abuse services at a time when the state is struggling with an opioid crisis and military personal are returning home."

When anyone talks about sending veterans into the mess the rest of us deal with, they are blinded by the need for fast fix. What they fail to see is that Congress has had the responsibility of providing for our veterans since 1946.  

Jurisdiction of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

1. Veterans' measures generally.
2. Pensions of all the wars of the U.S., general and special.
3. Life insurance issued by the government on account of service in the Armed Forces.
4. Compensation, vocational rehabilitation, and education of veterans.
5. Veterans' hospitals, medical care, and treatment of veterans.
6. Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief.
7. Readjustment of servicemen to civilian life.
8. National Cemeteries.

Whatever is wrong with the care our veterans receive after all these years is because Congress failed to deliver on their end of the deal.

Veterans did their jobs. When does Congress?

Last Homeless Vets Leave Veteran Resort Chapel

Last year I was in New Hampshire and met Peter MacDonald. He was standing by one of his Tiny Homes for homeless veterans. 

Very sad to see how this story turned out for the veterans he wanted to help.

Three evicted from Veteran Resort Chapel in Lee

post Fosters Seacoast Online

John Doyle
December 15, 2017

LEE — Three homeless veterans were scheduled on Friday to vacate the Veteran Resort Chapel that has been the subject of litigation with the town.

Peter Macdonald, the founder and president of the chapel, said he received verbal notice from the town that the residents had to be out by Friday, though he never received any formal eviction notice from the town.

Macdonald said he adhered to Friday’s deadline because he didn’t want the chapel’s three residents, all homeless combat veterans, to be “caught off guard” when official notice eventually arrives. Macdonald said he notified the chapel residents about the evictions in late November.

Of the three veterans, according to Macdonald, one is scheduled to move into an apartment in Hampton, one will live with a family member and another, whom Macdonald said suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome, did not have a place to go as of Friday morning.

“He’s probably going to wind up living in the woods in his car again,” Macdonald said. “That’s where he lived before, the woods.”
read more here

PTSD Service Dog Stolen From Iraq Veteran

UPDATE

Police: Dog custody fight led to felony

New Hampshire Union Leader

Shawne K. Wickham

January 12, 2018

Two weeks before a Concord woman reported that her dog had been stolen during an assault, police say she and her husband had grabbed the very same dog from relatives in Manchester who claim that Jax the pitbull is theirs.

Now Christopher McCall faces a felony charge for allegedly assaulting his sister during that Dec. 1 incident, at one point driving off with her on the hood of his vehicle.

On Thursday, McCall, 36, appeared in a Manchester courtroom, where he waived arraignment for felony reckless conduct and domestic simple assault, a misdemeanor.

He and his wife, Ashley McCall, declined to talk with a reporter after the brief appearance in Hillsborough County Superior Court North. “We really have to go,” Ashley McCall said, walking away.

Meanwhile, Concord police say they are not charging anyone in connection with a Dec. 14 incident in which Ashley McCall, a military veteran, said she had been knocked to the ground outside her apartment by a man who then grabbed Jax and fled in a vehicle.

Both Ashley and Christopher McCall posted about that incident on social media, prompting outrage and sympathy from dog lovers across New Hampshire and beyond. They did not mention that they suspected their relatives had taken the dog, and the dognapping was widely shared on social media, even prompting a crowdfunding effort.

However, Concord police soon characterized the incident as a “custody battle.” 

read more here

Iraq War vet pleas for return of stolen service dog in Concord, N.H.

WHDH News
Alex DiPrato
December 15, 2017

CONCORD, N.H. (WHDH) — An Iraq War veteran in Concord, New Hampshire said she was attacked by a man who then stole her service dog.

Ashley McCall said she had just put her 3-year-old pit bull, Jax, in her car after taking him for a walk. She was about to go run some errands when she said a man approached her and started asking her questions about Jax.

“He starts asking me questions about what kind of dog he was, what his name was and then wanted to see the dog. And I told him, I really need to get going,” said McCall.

McCall said the man then reached for her car’s door handle and opened it. McCall said she shut the door and he shoved her onto the ground. The suspect then grabbed Jax and got into an awaiting silver Ford Focus. McCall said the man then threw Jax’s service vest and leash out of the car before taking off.

“I’m screaming at him, this is my dog, what are you doing, you can’t do this! He just takes off,” said McCall.
read more here

New Hampshire Homeless Veterans in Tiny Homes Being Evicted

update Retired Marine who Fought to House Homeless Vets Has Died

Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H. 
By Kyle Stucker 
October 6, 2019 

Veterans and loved ones laid Peter Macdonald to rest this week, one week after the 67-year-old succumbed to metastatic esophageal cancer and service-related disabilities. Macdonald is best remembered as a local advocate for veterans, drawing from his own life experiences to shelter homeless veterans at his Veteran Resort Chapel in Lee, New Hampshire. read it here

Homeless veterans being evicted from Veteran Resort Chapel in Lee

Union Leader
Kimberley Haas
December 3, 2018


LEE - Homeless combat veterans are being evicted from Veteran Resort Chapel in Lee.

There are still three homeless combat veterans living at Veteran Resort Chapel in Lee after eviction notices went out last week. (Kimberley Haas/Sunday News file photo)

Proprietor Peter Macdonald, a Marine, said he needs to sell the property to pay his legal costs. Macdonald was fined $70,675 last month by Judge Mark Howard at Strafford County Superior Court because he violated town regulations and continued to add tiny homes on his property at 101 Stepping Stones Road. The post-judgment attachment on the property is payable within three months, according to court documents.

Macdonald said Friday he also is on the hook for about $25,000 in legal fees to reimburse lawyers who argued against him in civil court.

The 8-by-10-foot structures on Macdonald's property do not have septic systems, and the town's attorney, Justin Pasay, said Macdonald does not have building, electrical or plumbing permits for the units.
read more here

New Hampshire AG Shuts Down Veterans Charity

Police Open Probe Into VetCare

Valley News

Rob Wolfe

August 26, 2017

The attorney general said some of Project VetCare’s leaders had diverted money to pay for a range of personal purposes, including a cruise vacation, a heating system for the executive director’s home, and loans and stipends for directors and their relatives.Robert Chambers, co-founder of Project VetCare, was among those named in the report. The investigation found that he used the organization’s fund to pay for a Toyota van and that his daughter had received a stipend payment.

Hanover — The Hanover Police Department says it has opened a criminal investigation into the veterans aid group Project VetCare stemming from a report that some of the organization’s directors took money for personal expenses.

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office on Thursday announced that the Hanover-based nonprofit would close and that officials involved in the misuse of the organization’s funds had agreed to repay some of the money.

Officials at area veterans groups on Friday expressed concern that news about Project VetCare’s improprieties could hurt their own efforts.

The state’s Charitable Trusts Unit, which oversees New Hampshire charities, investigated the organization and discovered “diversion of large sums of money for the benefit of the charity’s executive director, her family, an employee and some members of the board of directors,” the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office said in a statement on Thursday.

State officials have passed their findings to Grafton County Attorney Lara Saffo, who said on Friday that Hanover police had begun a probe.

read more here

Homeland Heroes Providing Comfort When They Come Home

A HERO'S WELCOME

Organization provides comforts of home to those who serve the country

Eagle Tribune
Breanna Edelstein
July 30, 2017

"We meet the vet wherever they are in life. Whatever we can do, we do. And if we can't, we find someone who can." Julie Weymouth

Ryan Hutton/Staff photo
Homeland Heroes Foundation Executive Director Julie Weymouth sits at her desk in Hudson warehouse.

"Weymouth in 2012 started her effort with a trip to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where she sat down with a chaplain and asked for some direction."

SALEM, N.H. — The Royer family watched the black faux-leather couch in their Rochester living room slowly dip and sag for a decade without being able to afford a new one.

Several weeks ago, they finally lugged it out of their home when they were given a new one, along with other free housewares, thanks to widespread community support for a local organization dedicated to helping active-duty military personnel, veterans and their loved ones.

Julie Weymouth, executive director of the Homeland Heroes Foundation of Salem, has seen the scenario play out hundreds of times since she helped start the nonprofit back in 2012. For a variety of reasons including financial hardship, emotional struggles and other circumstances, many who have served their country find themselves in need after returning home. So, too, do families while a loved one is deployed. 

Several tours to Afghanistan had taken a toll on Jeremy Royer, 37, a U.S. Army Veteran. The father and husband spent significant time on the aging living-room sofa, struggling with the residual effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, night terrors and unshakably aching joints.

Finances already were tight when his 37-year-old wife, Miranda, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma last fall. Doctors said the football-sized mass in her chest was encroaching quickly on her heart, and she'd need to fight for her life.
read more here

Doctors Warn Manchester VA is Endangering Patients

UPDATE
Stars and Stripes July 17. 2017
"WASHINGTON — The director and chief of staff of the VA hospital in Manchester, N.H., have been removed from their posts following a news report of dirty conditions, long patient wait times and substandard care, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin announced Sunday."

At a four-star veterans’ hospital: Care gets ‘worse and worse’
Boston Globe
By Jonathan Saltzman and Andrea Estes, Globe Staff
July 15, 2017

So far, 11 physicians and medical employees — including the hospital’s retiring chief of medicine, former chief of surgery, and former chief of radiology — have contacted a federal whistle-blower agency and the Globe Spotlight Team to say the Manchester VA is endangering patients.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — This is what the US Department of Veterans Affairs says a four-star hospital looks like:

One operating room has been abandoned since last October because exterminators couldn’t get rid of the flies. Doctors had to cancel surgeries in another OR last month after they discovered what appeared to be rust or blood on two sets of surgical instruments that were supposedly sterile.

Thousands of patients, including some with life-threatening conditions, struggle to get any care at all because the program for setting up appointments with outside specialists has broken down. One man still hadn’t gotten an appointment to see an oncologist this spring, more than four weeks after a diagnosis of lung cancer, according to a hospital document obtained by the Globe.

Remarkably, leaders of the Manchester VA have confirmed many of the problems, from the fly-infested operating room — “an episodic issue,” said one administrator — to thousands of patients waiting indefinitely for specialist care, which the leaders blamed on the private company hired by the federal government to set up veterans’ appointments outside the hospital. read more here

But as Congress has a habit of doing, they just talk about fixing the VA. When you read this part, be prepared to grab your head first. It will explode like mine did!

“They ignored him basically for 20 years and allowed this thing to grow and grow and grow,” said Abramson, who recently wrote the VA in Manchester and in Boston that his client intends to sue for negligence.

And as for the VA, this is the statement that came into my email.

VA Announces Immediate Actions at Manchester VA Medical Center
07/16/2017 04:55 PM EDT


WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs David J. Shulkin, M.D., announced actions the department is taking immediately to respond to whistleblower concerns at the Manchester, New Hampshire, VA Medical Center (VAMC) detailed in an article in today’s Boston Globe.

The VA Office of the Medical Inspector and the VA Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection are being sent in beginning Monday to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the Manchester VAMC, including all allegations in the article.

In addition, effective immediately, the department has removed the director and chief of staff at the facility, pending the outcome of the review.

Alfred Montoya, the director of the VAMC in White River Junction, Vermont, will serve as the new director of the Manchester VAMC and the new chief of staff will be announced shortly.

Dr. Shulkin said, “These are serious allegations, and we want our Veterans and our staff to have confidence in the care we’re providing. I have been clear about the importance of transparency, accountability and rapidly fixing any and all problems brought to our attention, and we will do so immediately with these allegations.”

You Could Be in the Hands of Contractors and Not Know It

Reminder, if you still want to blame the VA employees for all that is wrong, but the press usually won't tell you, here is something from Peter Biello a reporter in New Hampshire "VA Hospitals Step in as Federal Program Hits Growing Pains"

The federal government hires a third-party contractor to do some of that appointing now. Health Net is who that company is now, though I think that could change. Is it fair to the Manchester VA have employees do some of this work, especially since Health Net is in theory supposed to be doing it already?

Manchester VA Assistant Director Kevin Forest answered,

"We already do a lot of that work. Choice isn’t the only program we use to provide care to veterans in the community. We coordinate care for veterans who receive care at other VAs, we coordinate care for veterans who receive care out in the local area hospitals, and we work closely with Health Net now to make sure veterans receive appointments through their provider network."

Then again, if you think any of this is new, would be good for reporters to also remind you that veterans have had to fight the government since they started fighting for the government. 

On June 17, 1783, Congress received a message from soldiers of the Continental Army stationed in Philadelphia, which demanded payment for their service during the American Revolutionary War. The soldiers threatened to take action that day if their complaints were not addressed. Congress ignored their message, but the soldiers did not act on their threat. Two days later, however, the Congress received word that a group of about 80 soldiers had left their post at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, approximately 60 miles (97 km) west of Philadelphia, and had joined with the soldiers stationed at the city barracks. The group of approximately 500 men had effective control over the weapons stores and munition depot.^[2]