Vietnam veteran shares help for PTSD at VA

Vietnam Veteran: 'The VA has helped me through it and saved my sanity'
Fox Illinois
by Rachel Droze
Thursday, June 14th 2018

DECATUR, Ill. (WRSP) — About 200 people came out for a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday to celebrate the Decatur Community Based Outpatient Clinic, which moved from the east side of the city to the west side.

Decorated war hero James Hurd, who risked his life serving in the jungles of Vietnam, made the ceremonial cut.

"I went through several bad times over there,” Hurd said.

Hurd's introduction triggered his PTSD.

"Any reminder of [Vietnam] brings tears to my eyes 50 years later,” Hurd said.

In addition to helping with Hurd’s physical ailments, the VA clinics in Decatur and Danville also help with his mental health.

“I suffer from Post Traumatic Syndrome as a lot of Vietnam infantry veterans do,” Hurd said. "After 50 years I can deal with it, but the VA has helped me through it and saved my sanity.”
read more here

Nebraska Disabled Veterans Cannot Get Care?

State senator claims VA Hospital locking out veterans from needed health care
KETV
Michelle Bandur
Jun 12, 2018

Carol Blood is working with veterans to get much needed equipment for hearing and visually impaired vets.

OMAHA, Neb.-
Nebraska State Senator Carol Blood said a growing number of veterans is being locked out of the VA health care system.

Some hearing and visually impaired veterans said they just want to be able to communicate with the TTY/TTD device.

"They are completely shut out of the VA system when it comes to communication," Shawn Wilbur, President of the Blinded Veterans Association said.

Wilbur said they can't do simple things like refilling a prescription because the VA lacks the proper equipment required by law.

"They are not equipped anywhere for these vets to do simplest of tasks," Wilbur said.

Another veteran advocated, Michael Young agreed.
read more here

What the press misses about veterans healthcare!

This shows that while veterans can go to the VA, the majority seek private healthcare.
VA Utilization

Approximately 62 percent (1,218,857) of all separated OEF/OIF/OND Veterans have used VA health care since October 1, 2001. Between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015, a total of 738,212 of these Veterans accessed VA health care.Aug 23, 2017

The total of veterans using the VA services is "More than nine million veterans are served each year by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Health care facilities are made up of 1,061 outpatient sites and 170 VA Medical Centers. May 2, 2018" 

Why is it important to know this? Because if a veteran is not going to the VA, uses private healthcare providers, the reporting gets too complicated to actually understand what is going on.

Read a news report of a veteran dying, waiting for the VA and right away, we're driven to jump to the conclusion it was the fault of the VA, instead of knowing there is more to the story.

Since most veterans do not go to the VA, they deal with the same problems and rules the rest of us do. If nothing is wrong, we do not go to the doctor. We may go for a checkup, but a lot of us do not have a primary care doctor.

No doctor, we go to the emergency rooms. Wait to be seen, deal with how to pay for it, then we are told to make an appointment for a followup with a doctor.

We wait while looking for one who is taking new patients. Then find one who takes our insurance. Wait for the appointment and for the OK from the insurance company.

We wait in the office, the see the doctor, get test done. Wait for results. Then we are told we need to see a specialist. Yep, search and wait all over again. Wait for the appointment, then go to meet the doctor, then wait for another appointment to get what we need done.

Yep, more waiting.

OK, so if you happen to be a veteran, who has been dealing with all of that, guess what happens at the VA?

Since they do not have a clue who you are, you need to prove you are a veteran, and they need to get your records. You do not have to have a disability rating to be seen as long as you want to pay for it, have insurance that will pay for it, or, you guessed it, wait while your claim is going through all the channels to be approved.

Then if you have something like cancer and your civilian doctor thinks it was because you were in Vietnam, it may be very bad news and you need to get into treatment right away. Yes, you get in line. Not fair but that is the way it is.

For veterans, you cannot assume that being a veteran automatically gets you into the VA as soon as you need them. That does not work in the civilian world and it does not work in the VA either. Thank Congress for that since it has been their jobs since 1946 to make sure the VA was able to take care of all our veterans, especially the ones wounded or disabled because Congress sent them into combat.

TIP 1
Go to the VA and get into the system before something goes wrong and you need them fast.

TIP 2
Go to the DAV, the VFW or any of the other service organizations out there helping all veterans and if you can, kick in a couple of bucks to keep their lights on. They know all the rules and what you should be getting depending on what you did for the country and what you need because you did.

TIP 3
Do not blame the VA for everything the press keeps telling you because a lot of the times, you may think you are seeing a VA employee but it turns out, you are seeing a contractor...in other words, your care was already outsourced to a for profit group getting paid a lot more than a VA doctor!

Here is a contractor talking about what his company does! He does it for active duty and the VA.

VA Handbook

Members of Congress Should Be Ashamed

UPDATE: POTUS does not understand what he just signed!

"What a beautiful word that is — choice — and freedom to our amazing veterans," Trump said at the signing ceremony. "All during the campaign I'd go out and say, 'why can't they just go see a doctor instead of standing in line for weeks and weeks and weeks?' Now they can go see a doctor."

REMINDER: THEY SHOULD NOT BE TREATED LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, AND OH, BY THE WAY...THEY ARE WAITING IN LINE BECAUSE OF CONGRESS!!!!

If the person you elected had voted against Affordable Care Act Vote list then turned around to support sending veterans into the same situation, they need to be publicly humiliated! 

Why? Because apparently they thought this healthcare coverage was so bad for us THEY DECIDED TO PUT VETERANS INTO THE SAME MESS and this is the result!

The Government Accountability Office, Congress’ auditing arm, found veterans often had to wait between 51 and 64 days for appointments with private doctors under the Veterans Choice program. It cited a lengthy scheduling process that took as long as 70 days.

When they decided to treat disabled veterans just like everyone else, they hoped we'd be too stupid to notice what billions paid to private companies could have do to fix the VA for all veterans.

Then again, we were too stupid to notice that Congress has had jurisdiction over how we show veterans what we think of them GOING BACK TO 1946~

If this is not enough for you to actually hold them accountable, watch this video from a couple of years ago. Veterans should never have to take this betrayal! They did their jobs! Make members of Congress do their jobs!


And yes, they are helping each other out of the dumpster!

Criminal Admits Using Veterans

Salesman admits falsely billing St. Louis VA $644,000
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Robert Patrick
June 1, 2018

ST. LOUIS • A former salesman pleaded guilty to a federal charge Friday and admitted submitting $644,380 in fraudulent invoices to the Jefferson Barracks VA medical center.

Vincent DeBlasi, 72, was "trusted at the medical facility to such an extent" that staff would sign off on scores of false invoices he submitted for various tools and other commercial and industrial products from 2012-2017, U.S. District Judge Audrey Fleissig said in court, reading from DeBlasi's plea agreement.

DeBlasi had his company send the falsely-ordered items to his Fenton home instead of the medical center, and kept them in his garage. DeBlasi would then sell the items at flea markets or give them away to friends and neighbors, Fleissig said.
read more here

Cancer survivors celebrate life, hope and community support

These local veterans fought one of their hardest battles after their service, and today they celebrated
Dayton Daily News
By Bennett Leckrone, Staff Writer
June 1, 2018

“There’s much more to healing (than medical treatment) It takes family, it takes friends, it takes community.” Jennifer DeFrancesco

The Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center held its first Cancer Survivors’ Day on Friday. SCOTT KESSLER/STAFF.

When Ray Smeltzer, a Miamisburg resident and Vietnam veteran, was diagnosed with prostate cancer around a year ago, he wasn’t aware it could have been caused by his military service.

Smeltzer’s aggressive prostate cancer, he was told, was associated with a foliage-killing chemical he had encountered as an Air Force sergeant in Vietnam.

“I went through a number of years without any evidence of contamination, but in my later years I found that I had a very aggressive and rapidly growing form of prostate cancer that they’ve associated with that exposure,” Smeltzer said.

Seeking treatment, he went somewhere new: The Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

On Friday, he attended an event at the VA Medical Center to celebrate cancer survivors. Through all of his treatment and surgeries, Smeltzer said, the VA has supported and served him.
read more here

What is wrong with this report? This!

WGME News blew suicide report, no shocker
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 10, 2018

Chock this one up to a powerful story ruined by a reporter not knowing anything about the subject he just called an "emotional plea" to prevent suicides. 

What is wrong with this report? This!

"According to a statistic released by the military, 22 veterans are dying because of suicide every day."

WGME needs a lesson on the difference between the "military" and the "veterans" they just reported on. The DOD=Department of Defense, and they do release a suicide report every quarter, but since reporters stopped covering that, here is the link to the average of 500 service members taking their own lives every year, counted by the military, but not anyone else.

Here is the link to the suicide report from the VA on veterans committing suicide, with the "22 a day" and the simple fact that number came from just 21 states, and limited data.

This is how much this report cost the tax payers.

"The cumulative cost of the State Mortality Data Project has been $46,771.29 as of 11/16/2012; including FY12 expenditures of $35,094.23 and FY13 expenditures of $11,677.06. All cost associated with the State Mortality Data Project are related to state fees for processing and delivery of mortality data."

All that for a report that was not complete.

"To date, data from twenty-one (21) states have been cleaned and entered into a single integrated file containing information on more than 147,000 suicides and 27,062 reported Veterans. In addition to the issues identified above, barriers to full project implementation include inconsistent availability of requested information in all states, barriers to providing non-resident data and sending preference to provide de-identified data due to conflicting interpretations of Social Security laws. Negotiations with states are continuing as we begin requesting more recent years’ data as well as renewing or revising previously completed Data Use Agreements."

What makes this worse, this was on the same report,

"Estimates that the number of suicides among Veterans each day has increased, are based on information provided by 21 states and may not be generalizable to the larger Veteran population. To account for uncertainty in the estimated number of Veterans who have died from suicide each year, confidence intervals were calculated using variability in the percentage of Veterans reported among all suicides in participating states."

Ya, but a reporter told everyone that was the number and that is how all this BS got started, including dopes like me who believed it, instead of reading the report. About a year later, I finally found the report and read it. Then after the first page, I put duct tape on my head to prevent it from exploding! 

So, then we had people who not only went by the headlines, they decided they didn't even need to know anything more about any of this, but deserved millions of dollars in donation for TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING THEY DID NOT EVEN BOTHER TO LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT!

OK, that rant is over. Now back to the story they news crew blew!

Here is the video on Facebook that captures a veteran, Jeff Paradis telling others they are worth living! He mentions "22 a day" as he cries pleading with other veterans to fight for their lives! 

He was visiting one of his buddies at the VA who survived to fight another day!

VA Nurse Now...Was Homeless Veteran Before

Once a homeless veteran, this nurse turned his life around to help other veterans
THV11 News
Author: Brejamin Perkins
Published: 5:19 PM CDT May 7, 2018

“Back in 2003, I came to the VA as a homeless veteran,” said Hathcock. He admits he never imagined himself entering the hospital doors as a RN.

Registered Nurse David Hathcock, at the Veteran’s Hospital in Little Rock, was recently ranked one of the best nurses in Arkansas.

He and many others on that list are being recognized this week for the work they do for us all.

Hathcock has an interesting perspective, as he once was in the care of nurses he works with today. The service he received, is now what he provides.

“Back in 2003, I came to the VA as a homeless veteran,” said Hathcock. He admits he never imagined himself entering the hospital doors as a RN.

Now he gets to scan his badge with pride every day.

“The VA is here for you and they will help you get your life back, but you have to put the work in. I didn't just show up here thinking they were going to do everything for me,” he said.

Hathcock was once a veteran in the VA’s Drug Treatment Program. He gives the hospital credit for helping him start his life over because they gave him opportunity and a job, now career.
read more here

If your group ignores older veterans shame on you!

Keep in mind that this chart is from the Veterans the VA knows about. Too many others were not counted. What it does show is that most of the veterans committing suicide in Missouri, as well as the rest of the country, are over the age of 50. If your group won't help the majority of the veterans needing help the most, shame on you!

Why shame on you? Just read what came with this report from St. Louis Post Gazette

Phillip Crews, 62, shot himself in the hospital’s emergency room waiting area just after 4 a.m. on March 26, city and VA officials said.

An estimated 20 to 22 veterans die of suicide each day, at an average age of 60. While it is unknown how many of those deaths occur at VA facilities, they include a 76-year-old who shot himself in a parking lot of a New York hospital in August 2016, a veteran of Afghanistan who hanged himself at age 32 in a Tennessee hospital in November 2016, a 63-year-old Navy veteran who shot himself in a car at a North Carolina hospital and a 35-year-old Marine who overdosed on fentanyl at a Massachusetts VA psychiatric facility.

VA David Shulkin Fired--Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson Replacement

Shulkin is fired; White House physician Jackson will take over at VA
Stars and Stripes
By NIKKI WENTLING
Published: March 28, 2018

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday fired David Shulkin as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs and replaced him with Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson, the president's White House physician.

After weeks of speculation that Shulkin would lose his job, Trump finally announced his decision to dismiss him through the president’s preferred mode of communication — a tweet.

Now Jackson, 50, will be responsible for the second-largest federal agency, with more than 350,000 employees. It operates on a nearly $200 billion budget and includes a health care system serving nine million veterans nationwide.

Jackson was selected as White House physician in 2006, while he was still serving in Iraq as an emergency doctor. He served as a physician for former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Jackson appeared before the White House press corps earlier this year, when he reported he examined Trump and found the president to be in "excellent health.”

Jackson must still be confirmed as VA secretary by the Senate. In the interim, Trump announced Robert Wilkie would serve as the acting secretary. Wilkie serves now at the Defense Department as undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.
read more here

62 Year Old Veteran Committed Suicide at John Cochran Division Veterans Medical Center Waiting Room

Veteran kills self in John Cochran VA Medical Center waiting room
St. Louis Post Dispatch
March 26, 2018

St. Louis Police Officer Michelle Woodling said the 62-year-old man committed suicide inside the hospital waiting room at 4:19 a.m. Monday.

The John Cochran Division Veterans Medical Center, photographed on Monday, June 9, 2014, is located at 915 North Grand Boulevard in St. Louis. Photo by Christian Gooden

A veteran committed suicide inside the John Cochran VA Medical Center at 915 North Grand Boulevard early Monday.

Authorities have not identified the victim. The hospital said he was a veteran.
read more here

Veteran had to call 9-11 from VA emergency room to get help?

Veteran calls 911 from VA emergency room
ABC 25 News
March 22nd 2018

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (KFOR/CNN) – A patient at the Oklahoma City, OK, Veterans Affairs hospital says she was so distraught from stomach pain that was going untreated, she called 911 from the emergency room.

Robin Harrison says she went to the VA for a routine appointment, but when she left, she started to feel debilitating stomach cramps.

“[They] literally doubled me over, and I fell on the ground,” Harrison said.

Her doctor sent her down to the ER, where Harrison listed her symptoms for a triage nurse.

“I told her I was in extreme pain, that it felt like I was having labor pains in my stomach,” Harrison said.

The veteran was told to wait, and while waiting, she lay down on a bench.

“I’m starting to cry and moan, and it’s like, ‘I can’t help it. This hurts so bad,’” Harrison said.

Harrison says after about two hours, the pain was too much to bear, so she started going up to the registrar’s desk and asking to be seen sooner. No one came.
read more here

Veteran Faces Charges After Being Shot at VA?

Army veteran shot by police at VA clinic faces charges
Associated Press
By ANDREW SELSKY
Published: January 30, 2018

Negrete's service record, obtained by The AP from the U.S. Army Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, shows that Negrete served in Iraq for one year starting in October 2008 and then in Afghanistan from October 2010 to August 2011. 

SALEM, Ore. — An Army veteran who was shot during a confrontation inside a Veterans Affairs clinic in Oregon where he went to seek help for mental problems was in jail Tuesday, charged with attempted assault, unlawful use of a weapon, menacing and other crimes.

Gilbert "Matt" Negrete allegedly displayed a knife Thursday after arriving at the clinic in White City, where he had an appointment. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office said VA police tried "less-lethal force options" to disarm Negrete before one of the officers fired, hitting him in the chest. Negrete, 34, was flown to a hospital in nearby Medford. No one else was injured.

Negrete was released from the hospital Saturday and is in the county jail with bail set at $250,000, Deputy District Attorney Laura Cromwell told The Associated Press. Negrete was arraigned Monday via a video hookup from jail, Cromwell said. He is being provided with a public defender.

Authorities will convene a grand jury later this week which will determine whether to indict Negrete, Cromwell said in a telephone interview. She anticipates that his attorney will urge the grand jury to take Negrete's military history into account. At least five of seven jurors must concur for the case to move forward.
read more here

Veteran Shot At Oregon VA Clinic by Security Guards

UPDATE
Army veteran shot by police at VA clinic faces charges

UPDATE
Man shot at VA clinic arrested days before
The Associated Press
By Andrew Selsky
JAN. 27, 2018

SALEM — A man made paranoid and incoherent statements at a Veterans Affairs clinic and confronted an employee with a knife before he was shot by a security officer, law enforcement officials said Friday.

Gilbert Matthew Negrete, 34, of Medford remained in a hospital in Medford on Friday after being shot once in the chest by a Veterans Affairs police officer Thursday in nearby White City, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement that Negrete had a run-in with the law earlier in the week.

Police had arrested Negrete on Tuesday on charges of driving under the influence of a controlled substance and attempting to elude police. He was released from jail Wednesday due to jail overcrowding. The sheriff’s office said a man believed to be Negrete then tried to get his car from an impound lot and allegedly threatened an employee with a knife.

Negrete had an appointment at the VA clinic on Thursday, the sheriff’s office statement said.
read more here 

Man shot at Oregon veterans clinic during altercation
Associated Press
Andrew Selsky
January 25, 2018

Veterans at the clinic receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other issues expressed shock about the shooting.

SALEM, Ore. – A man said to be a military veteran seeking mental health care was shot by a security officer at a Veterans Affairs clinic in southern Oregon on Thursday after an admissions area altercation in which authorities said the man became combative.

The man was flown to a hospital after the shooting in the southwestern community of White City with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening, the Jackson County sheriff's office said in a statement.

Shawn Quall, an Army veteran of the first Gulf War who is from Bend, Oregon, said he heard the man shouting before the situation escalated.

"I was walking down the main hallway when I overheard a veteran yelling at intake people that he was here for the fifth time trying to get health care, and was upset at what he thought was a runaround," Quall told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Quall kept walking down the hall, but when the yelling got louder, he started running back and heard someone yell: "He's got a knife!"
read more here

Congress wants to know why 4 top VA jobs still open

Senators call out Shulkin on VA’s unfilled top jobs
STARS AND STRIPES
By NIKKI WENTLING
Published: January 17, 2018

WASHINGTON — Why four top jobs within the Department of Veterans Affairs remain unfilled nearly one year after President Donald Trump took office drew the attention of members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Wednesday as they questioned VA Secretary David Shulkin about the state of the agency.

VA Secretary David Shulkin raises his hand to take an oath before the start of a Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
CARLOS BONGIOANNI/STARS AND STRIPES

The VA, the second-largest federal department, is operating without permanent leaders for its benefits administration and large health care system. Also missing are its IT leader and the assistant secretary for the agency’s new accountability and whistleblower protection office. The leadership void came up at the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing, where Shulkin gave testimony on the “State of the VA.”

“One thing that concerns me deeply is the four positions that remain unfilled in the department,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., the committee chairman. “I know you’re trying, but this is one of those things where an ‘A’ for effort isn’t enough.”

The job of undersecretary for benefits has been vacant since October 2015, when then-undersecretary Allison Hickey resigned after being implicated in a government watchdog report for helping two VA employees manipulate the department hiring system.

The VA created a commission last spring to choose a new undersecretary. Shulkin told senators Wednesday that the commission sent three names to the White House. Their first choice for the job withdrew, Shulkin said, and Trump’s administration is now vetting the second choice.
read more here

Oregon VA Hospital Turns Veterans Away Because of "Risk"

At Veterans Hospital in Oregon, a Push for Better Ratings Puts Patients at Risk, Doctors Say
New York Times
By DAVE PHILIPPS
JAN. 1, 2018

“The doctors were mad; the nurses were mad,” said Mr. Savage’s son-in-law, Mark Ridimann. “And my dad, he was mad, too. He kept saying, ‘I’ve laid my life on the line, two years in Vietnam, and this is what I get?’”

ROSEBURG, Ore. — An 81-year-old veteran hobbled into the emergency room at the rural Veterans Affairs hospital here in December, malnourished and dehydrated, his skin flecked with ulcers and his ribs broken from a fall at home.

A doctor examining the veteran — a 20-year Air Force mechanic named Walter Savage who had been living alone — decided he was in no shape to care for himself and should be admitted to the hospital. A second doctor running the inpatient ward agreed.

But the hospital administration said no.

Though there were plenty of empty beds, records show that a nurse in charge of enforcing administration restrictions said Mr. Savage was not sick enough to qualify for admission to the hospital. He waited nine hours in the emergency room until, finally, he was sent home.

Fewer patients meant fewer chances of bad outcomes and better scores for a ranking system that grades all veterans hospitals on a scale of one to five stars. In 2016, administrators began cherry-picking cases against the advice of doctors — turning away complicated patients and admitting only the lowest-risk ones in order to improve metrics, according to multiple interviews with doctors and nurses at the hospital and a review of documents.

Those metrics helped determine both the Roseburg hospital’s rating and the leadership’s bonus checks. By denying veterans care, the ratings climbed rapidly from one star to two in 2016 and the director earned a bonus of $8,120.
read more here

UPDATE

Roseburg VA official calls New York Times story about patient care 'false'

"At its core, the Roseburg VAHCS is primarily an outpatient center, and that’s why the hospital’s clinical leadership has made clear to its physicians that the facility has limited capabilities to care for patients with certain clinical conditions that are far better treated in nearby community hospitals.

This is precisely why we’re being transparent with our doctors about the conditions that the facility is unable to treat, because it’s in Veterans’ best interests for them to be seen at other hospitals in the community with greater capabilities to deliver them the best care for those conditions." You can read the rest here

Homeless Veteran "They wouldn't help me."

Turned away at Bedford VA hospital, a life lost
Veteran's suicide adds to questions about response, policies
Lowell Sun
By Todd Feathers
UPDATED: 12/30/2017

He sought care at VA hospitals in Arizona, Wyoming, and South Dakota. About three years ago, Earles decided to move to Massachusetts.

BEDFORD -- Byron Wade Earles sat hunched over, his head resting in his hands, by Building 78 of the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital.
The nurse who rushed out to help found him bleeding and despondent.

"They wouldn't admit me," he told her, according to an account of the incident in Earles' medical records. "They wouldn't help me."

As the nurse spoke with him, Earles took out a knife and began to cut his throat.

Byron Earles, a homeless Army veteran,
tried to commit suicide on Nov. 7, 2016
after the Bedford VA hospital s mental
health clinic denied him admission.
He died by suicide two months later.
(PHOTO COURTESY OF PAUL EARLES)

The 44-year-old Army veteran had arrived at the Bedford VA mental health walk-in clinic on Nov. 7, 2016 -- days after being discharged from the Brockton VA -- asking to be admitted to the hospital because he was thinking about hurting himself and others.

The Bedford clinic turned him away, according to a portion of Earles' medical records obtained by The Sun, because a mental health worker did not believe his account of a recent suicide attempt and suspected he wanted to escape the cold.

Maureen Heard, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said Earles left of his own accord after a psychiatrist suggested he seek a homeless shelter. Hospital administrators declined an interview request, but Heard said several clinic policies changed as a result of the Earles incident.

While Earles didn't die that day -- two VA police officers convinced him to drop the knife so the nurse could treat his wound -- he did die by suicide two months later, on Jan. 6, after walking out of a counseling session at the Bedford hospital.
read more here

Dayton VA Medical Center Christmas Eve Service

Veterans come together for Christmas Eve vigil

WDTN 2 News

Kristen Eskow

December 24, 2017

“You can be so far away from home and think that maybe you’re forgotten about,” said Wendell Rome, chief of chaplain service for the Dayton VA Medical Center.

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – Veterans and their families gathered for an annual service Sunday night to honor veterans and those currently serving our country.

The Dayton VA Medical Center hosted its annual Christmas Eve vigil. As Christmas carols filled the lobby, it brought back memories for veterans like Marvin Schroeder.

“We were all brothers and sisters separated from our own families,” said Schroeder, who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam war.

Schroeder recalls those Christmases spent with his family of fellow soldiers.

“We made the celebration all together, and we really made the best of what we had,” he said.

“You can be so far away from home and think that maybe you’re forgotten about,” said Wendell Rome, chief of chaplain service for the Dayton VA Medical Center.

Chaplain Rome said he knows the feeling all too well. A veteran himself, he remembers spending Christmas in Iraq.

“It was just a difficult time, it was lonely away from home,” he said. “But yet we’re serving our country and so we just kind of band together and do the best that we can.”

read more here

Deputy Proved Saving Veteran's Life Takes More Than Moments

Deputy’s action saves veteran’s life

Grand Lake News
By Darin Hinman
Posted Dec 13, 2017

Delaware County Sheriff's Deputy Cody Thompson receives challenge coin from Mark Morgan, Director of the Muskogee VA 
Darin Hinman Delaware County Journal

In all, Thompson spent a combined 15 hours helping the man, and ultimately encouraging him to seek out treatment. Thompson assisted the veteran to develop a treatment plan and followed up not only with the man, but also with his family.

Law enforcement officers make critical decisions every day, some with life and death consequences. One decision, made with compassion, by Delaware County Sheriff’s Deputy Cody Thompson Cody Thompson not only made a difference but saved the life of a veteran in need. 

Earlier this year, Thompson was sent to conduct a welfare check for a veteran, living in Delaware County, who called the veteran’s crisis line.

Thompson, who served in the U.S. Army from 2010 to 2016 as a combat engineer and spend time deployed to Afghanistan, took the time to ensure the man was treated properly during their encounter.

“He needed the help,” Thompson said. “He just wanted to sit and talk. It felt like the right thing to do.” read more here

Veteran Found Dead at Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center

Veteran's death outside Phoenix VA hospital investigated as possible suicide
AZ Central
Chris McCrory, The Republic
October 20, 2017

Phoenix police were investigating the death of a veteran who may have taken his own life outside Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center, officials said.

Police said the death was reported as a "self-inflicted gunshot wound" near the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department building on Friday morning.

The incident "happened outside the facility and was not done in sight of or around other people," said Paul Coupaud, a spokesman for the Phoenix VA Health Care System.

The agency urged any veteran experiencing a crisis, or family members concerned about a veteran's mental health, to contact the Veterans Crisis Line at 800-273-8255. This line is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Police had not released the man's name by Friday afternoon.
go here for updates