Your next VA appointment could be at WalMart?

So, you need to check on your health and then since you're already there, do some shopping? That is what the VA has come up with for rural veterans, because, as they said, “Ninety percent of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart,” Scher said. 

Online VA medical appointments expanding to Walmart sites, VFW posts

“Virtual care is the future of medicine,” he told the conference crowd. “It is our most powerful emerging tool. Ultimately it will improve and ease access for millions of Americans.” 

The partnership with Walmart will be a pilot program to put telemedicine stations specifically for veteran customers at stores in rural areas (exact locations have yet to be announced.) 

Patients will be able to check in to a private room and video conference with VA medical specials across the country, covering both basic checkups and specialty appointments like dermatology consults or mental health care support.

Army Medic-War Veteran Comes to Rescue At Walmart

Army vet helps gunshot victim following Friday night shooting
FOX 4 News
LynnAnne Nguyen
December 31, 2016

“Everybody started running towards us screaming they're shooting, they're shooting,” said Semmler.

Police are still looking for the people who shot a man at a Walmart in the Red Bird area of Dallas. The victim is stable, thanks to a Good Samaritan who used his military training to step in and help as they waited for medics to get there.

Rafael Semmler was at the Walmart on Wheatland with his family, Friday night, when they heard gunfire.

Semmler says he made sure his family got out safely, then his military instincts kicked in.

“You don't really think about it, it's just at that time it's kind of like instinct, it's what you've been trained to do,” he said, “and was my first instinct was to go toward it to see if there's anything I could do to help out.

Semmler went straight to the McDonald’s inside the store where most of the commotion was.

“Another gentleman was like, I've been shot, I'm dying. So I immediately went directly to him first.”

Semmler says the man had been shot in the arm and was losing a lot of blood. After eleven years in the military as an infantryman and a medic, Semmler says he’s used to training abroad in places like Kuwait, Iraq and Bosnia, but never thought he’d be using it here at home.
read more here

Community Steps Up for Iraq Veteran Living in Jeep at Walmart

Facebook group spreads message to help veteran 
KCCI Des Moines
Eric Hanson
Dec 23, 2015

As of this writing, people in the community have stepped up and given him a hotel room to stay in.

ALTOONA, Iowa —Several KCCI viewers sent emails about a really cool thing happening in Altoona. A man named Jake Holloway posted on the People of Des Moines Facebook group about an Iraq War veteran living in his Jeep in the Walmart parking lot.
read more here

Laughlin Air Force Base Pilot Stops Tragedy at Walmart

Air Force Pilot Saves Life during Stand-off
Air Force News
by Joel Langton
October 28, 2014

LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- It was just another trip to Wal-Mart for 2nd Lt. Joshua Nelson when he popped in to grab some fish hooks for a family trip to the lake this past Spring. Little did he know that a quick shopping trip would turn into so much more.

The West Virginia Air National Guardsman was walking to the Hunting and Fishing section when he heard a woman say, "Stop, put it down!"

"I could tell she was stressed and she sounded frightened," said Nelson. "I looked into the aisle, and this young man had a knife to a woman's stomach."

According to police reports, the young man was mad at his mother, who he had a knife to, because she wouldn't buy him a gun. Nelson told his wife Brittany to go alert the store manager and call the police. Nelson, who has a concealed weapons permit stepped up beside the woman.

"I put my hand on my pistol where he'd notice, and then I stepped in between them," said Nelson. "I kept demanding he hand me the knife. I wanted him to see only one option. As I was standing beside that lady, I felt like I was responsible for her life. I was going to do whatever I had to do to protect her." Then, according to the police report, Nelson went from trying to stop a murder to trying to stop a suicide when the assailant turned the knife on himself.
read more here

Walmart CEO says hiring veterans is best decision you can make

Hire a Veteran: It's the Best Business Decision You'll Ever Make
Huffpost
Bill Simon
President, Chief Executive Officer, Walmart

I was at the White House today for an event with President and First Lady Obama and Vice President and Dr. Biden on creating opportunity for veterans. They are leading an important effort to bring together all Americans to support our veterans and military families, and it's making a difference.

The biggest issue facing our veterans today is jobs. Sadly, too many of those who fought for us abroad now find themselves fighting for jobs at home.

It's up to us as Americans to right this -- and to put our veterans back to work. And let's be clear: hiring a veteran can be one of the best decisions any of us can make. Veterans bring to the private sector that seriousness and sense of purpose that the military instills. These are leaders with discipline, training, and a passion for service. Our nation has invested in their skills, and it shows.

So earlier this year, Walmart announced that we will offer a job to any honorably discharged veteran within his or her first 12 months off active duty. We project that Walmart will hire and train more than 100,000 veterans over the next five years.
read more here

Orlando Santa Fill The Boat Wrap Up

Yesterday I went to Homeless Services Network n Edgewater Drive in Orlando to see all the toys collected last week at the Fill The Boat drive at WalMart in Orlando. Amazing to see how generous people can be.
This is the interview I did with Sean Gibbs, Veteran Services Coordinator.


This one is from last week in case you missed it.


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