72-year-old Marine Corps veteran died of "egregious neglect" at Minnesota "Care Center"

Ex-care center owner charged with manslaughter in Marine veteran’s death

The Associated Press
By: Steve Karnowski
September 24, 2019  

The second-degree manslaughter count cited the case of a 72-year-old Marine Corps veteran, identified only as R.M., who died last October of septic shock, an untreated urinary tract infection and other complications resulting from improper medical care and neglect. The investigators said doctors and nurses who treated him at a Duluth hospital just before his death found a “filthy” catheter and a 1-square-foot pressure sore on his tailbone that was draining a “foul smelling liquid,” a wound they said resulted from “utter, complete neglect.”

(thinkstock.com)

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s attorney general’s office said Tuesday that it has charged 10 people with 76 criminal counts following an investigation into the death of a 72-year-old man and what it described as egregious neglect of other patients at a northern Minnesota care center.

The most serious charges include racketeering, swindling and manslaughter counts against Theresa Lee Olson, 43, the former owner of the now-closed center, Chappy’s Golden Shores in Hill City. Olson is also accused of bilking the state’s Medicaid program out of nearly $2.2 million. The facility had been the subject of repeated disciplinary and administrative actions by the Minnesota Department of Health and the Department of Human Services, the attorney general’s office said.

“My office is holding these defendants accountable for what we believe we can prove is systematic, intolerable abuse and neglect that in one case led to death, not to mention widespread fraud, theft, and other charges that hurt everyone,” Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement.
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Nursing assistant accused of ripping off disabled amputee veteran with PTSD and dementia

Nursing Assistant Accused Of Taking Money From Disabled Veteran

Patch.com
By D'Ann Lawrence White, Patch Staff
Sep 25, 2019

BAYONET POINT, FL — A 38-year-old nursing assistant was arrested after Pasco County Sheriff's deputies said she took money from a disabled veteran with dementia.

A 38-year-old nursing assistant was arrested after Pasco County Sheriff's deputies said she stole money from a disabled veteran with dementia. (Pasco Sheriff)

Allyn Lopez of Shade Street Court in Hudson was charged with exploitation of the elderly/disabled Tuesday after the sheriff's office said she had her patient write two checks to her totaling $6,000.

The patient, who is also an amputee, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and dementia in 2017. The sheriff's office said Lopez befriended the patient while working as a certified nursing assistant from October 2016 and July 2019 at the Bayonet Point assisted living facility where he lives.
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Playing Candy Crush in the lobby of the VA so you can say you showed up for them?

Having a "fun run" because veterans are killing themselves is repulsive!

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 25, 2019

It is heartbreaking when you read about a veteran wanting to do something because he lost buddies he cared about. Noble reasons to want to prevent someone else from committing suicide, dose not mean the endeavor is the right one.

Once again, a veteran lost a buddy after seeing "dark in nature" Facebook posts posts and then a link to Pink Floyd's "Goodbye Cruel World." This suicide was number 7 of his friends. 

What did he decide to do? He decided to host a fundraiser for Mission 22 and have a "fun run" along with a Chinese Silent Auction.

“We just felt like we had to do something, said General Manager Joshua Hawkins of The Firing Pin. “We have never done something like this here. This is our first one and I’m hoping this will turn into something we do every year, and I’m hoping we can raise a lot of money for them.”

The day will feature a 2.2k fun run, with registration starting at 10 a.m. and the run itself an hour later. Food trucks will be available 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. with live music from 1 to 4 p.m.

A chinese and silent auction will take place through 5 p.m. while an Eli Fish Brewing Co. craft beer tent will be available 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Raise a lot of money for them? Seriously? Repeating a false number is not worth a dime or anyone's time!

The question raised in the article of "Why aren’t people more aware of suicide among military personnel and veterans?" proved how all these "awareness" stunts do nothing to prevent suicides.

People all over the country have been making veterans aware of something they knew all too well, how to die. What they did not know was how to heal. They still do not even know they can.

There was a time when I abstained from attacked events like this. I thought if they were trying to make a difference, it was better than nothing. The problem is, that is all they are doing. 

They had no knowledge of what was in the reports they quote but worse, they did had no basic knowledge of what was missing from the data. They did not know the history behind decades of earnest efforts to change the outcome, instead of having "fun" events after the fact.

It produces the same result for veterans in crisis as playing Candy Crush in the lobby of the VA so you can say you showed up for them. You may convince yourself you did something for them, but it was a worthless effort that did nothing for them!

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife

You can defeat PTSD!

Vietnam Veteran inspires after being imprisoned as POW

‘We made it:’ Local Vietnam veteran shares his POW story

WINK
Reporter:Erika Jackson
Writer: Briana Harvath
September 20, 2019

1,882 days; five and a half years. That’s how long Vietnam veteran Wayne Smith was a prisoner of war.

“We were in pretty bad shape, we certainly were,” said Smith.

He shared his story with us and dozens of people at Punta Gorda’s Military Heritage Museum.

The Air Force captain’s aircraft got shot down in 1968, just hours after this photo.

Now, he’s detailing his time in solitary confinement when communication was rare, but crucial.

“We used to break our knuckles by tapping on the walls and someone found out that actually, you could put the cup up against the wall, yell through it, and the other guy could listen to the other side,” said Smith.

Captured one warehouse over: prisoner of war survivor, Senator John McCain.

“We talked about anything,” said Smith. “It was important to stay in touch with each other.”

For two years, his family didn’t know if he was alive. Then, a released POW remembered his name.

“One of the things we thought was so important, any time we could, we would pass along names so in case someone made out, then we would tell the families,” said Smith.

Released during Operation Homecoming in 1973, the Naples man has shared his experience with people all over Southwest Florida.

A story, at one point, he didn’t know if he’d ever tell.

“We made it. And we survived because of each other,” he said.
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Some Republican Senators Standing Up For Troops Against Trump's Wall...finally

Senate to vote on ending border emergency that diverted DoD funds

Military Times
By: Joe Gould
1 hour ago

“Now we have a whole number of Republicans who voted with the president who see their military bases being ransacked, pillaged,” Schumer said Tuesday. “I don’t think anyone, no matter what state they are from, will want to see money being taken away from their military installations, [which is] very much needed.”

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he visits a new section of the border wall with Mexico in Calexico, Calif., on April 5, 2019. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

WASHINGTON ― Republicans will be “forced” to vote as soon as Wednesday whether to end the president’s emergency diversion of military funding to his border wall, according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Schumer and other Democrats turned up the pressure on their GOP colleagues months after 12 Senate Republicans voted to end the emergency declaration and the House failed to override President Donald Trump’s veto.

The decision to force a second vote comes after the Pentagon released the list of 127 projects in 23 states and 19 allied countries that were deferred by the administration to devote $3.6 billion to the border wall.
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