RIP Medical Debt has quietly erased roughly $65 million worth of medical debt for veterans

Veterans Receive Golden 'Tickets' Canceling Their Medical Debt

Military.com
By Patricia Kime
5 Mar 2019

It sounds crazy and looks like a scam: a golden envelope containing a letter that says part or all of your health care debt has been erased.

But for thousands of veterans and family members, the mailings, which have been going out since 2016, have been the winning ticket for getting out from under a mountain of medical bills.

RIP Medical Debt’s VP of Acquisition, Mikel Burroughs (left), and its Executive Vice President, Jerry Ashton (right). (Facebook/RIP Medical Debt)

In the past three years, RIP Medical Debt has quietly erased roughly $65 million worth of medical debt for veterans, family members, National Guard and reserve members, notifying them by mail of the action, according to retired Army Col. Mikel Burroughs, vice president of military and civilian debt acquisition and relief at RIP Medical Debt.

The random acts of kindness are not just reserved for former military service members. Since beginning its mission in 2014, the nonprofit has forgiven about $435 million worth of medical debt for civilians with significant bills who are living at less than twice the poverty level, are insolvent or have more than 5 percent of their gross income going to health care debt.

The idea began when two collections industry executives, Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton, decided to establish a nonprofit to provide a tax-deductible means for individuals and donors to give money to forgive unpaid medical debt for those in dire need.

RIP Medical Debt works like this: Donors and organizations raise the funds needed to purchase medical debt from the companies that hold it after hospitals, providers, ambulance companies and agencies have exhausted their efforts to collect payment. RIP buys the debt for a penny -- or less -- on the dollar, so if a philanthropist donates $50,000, the non-profit can erase $5 million in debt.
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VetMade Industries was bogus but made $6.5 million

Florida Attorney General closes bogus veterans charity following 8 On Your Side Investigation

WFLA
By: Steve Andrews
Posted: Mar 06, 2019

Tampa, Fla
Florida's Attorney General shut down a Tampa based veterans charity following a series of 8 On Your Side reports which revealed VetMade Industries was bogus.

VetMade Industries claimed it provided training to unemployed disabled veterans.

An 8 On Your Side investigation exposed that while VetMade collected more than $6.5 million dollars in contributions, its doors remained closed for 5 years and it trained no one.

So what happened to all that money collected to help unemployed disabled veterans? Join me tonight at 6 for this follow up
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19 year old soldier found dead in Italy

173rd Brigade soldier found dead in Vicenza barracks is identified

STARS AND STRIPES
By NANCY MONTGOMERY
Published: March 6, 2019

VICENZA, Italy — The 173rd Brigade paratrooper found dead in the barracks Sunday morning has been identified as Pvt. Peter Cimino.

The paratrooper found dead in the Vicenza, Italy, barracks Sunday morning has been identified as Pvt. Peter Cimino, 19. U.S. ARMY

Cimino, 19, was a mortarman assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment.

Cimino was from Danville, Ky. He arrived in Vicenza in August, four months after he enlisted in the Army, according to brigade officials, and was a recipient of the National Defense Service Ribbon and the Army Service Ribbon.

The cause of death is under investigation.
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“There is no doubt that my time in the Marion County Veteran’s Treatment Court saved my life

In Ocala, special court for veterans learns more about PTSD

Ocala Star Banner
Joe Callahan
March 5, 2019

“There is no doubt that my time in the Marion County Veteran’s Treatment Court saved my life,” White said on Tuesday after he listened to a PTSD seminar organized by Marion County Veteran’s Treatment Court.

Sgt. Jason White, an Ocala native, had just retired from the U.S. Marine Corp in 2014 after serving 10 years and two tours in Iraq.

White, 33, who was in the Florida foster care system as a child, arrived home to his wife of five years and his 5-year-old daughter, both of whom were strangers due to his service, White shared on Tuesday.

White has been battling post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ever since he returned home.

When he returned home, he had many tell-tale stressors. Besides childhood trauma from his time in foster care, he stressed about being a husband to a wife he had never lived with and a father to a child he barely knew.

Those struggles led him down a dark road, he noted. Erratic behavior and substance abuse led to a divorce, which he said devastated him.

All that changed a couple of years ago. An incident with his ex-wife led him to court on a misdemeanor charge and subsequently into the open arms of officials with the Marion County Veteran’s Treatment Court.

White says treatment court, founded nearly seven years ago, provided the headlights to help steer him off that long, winding dark road.

Today, he has joint custody of his daughter and now helps veterans as a Florida outreach coordinator for the PTSD Foundation of America.
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Staff Sgt. Steven McQueen gets to keep helmet that save his life

Soldier Gets Back Battered Helmet That Saved His Life During Insider Attack

Military.com
By Matthew Cox
4 Mar 2019

"I was surprised that I was able to react [as] quickly as I did because I knew what had happened instantly; I knew I was shot," McQueen, 30, told reporters at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, on Monday.

Staff Sgt. Steven McQueen, and his wife Aaron, with a plaque featuring a portion of the Enhanced Combat Helmet that saved his life during an insider attack in Afghanistan last year. (Military.com/Matthew Cox)

Staff Sgt. Steven McQueen still can't believe how quickly he got to his feet after a bullet from an enemy rifle struck him in the back of his helmet during an insider attack in Afghanistan last year.

Two gunmen opened fire on McQueen and fellow soldiers from the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade from a distance of 20 feet during the Sept. 3 shooting.

"I was surprised that I was able to react [as] quickly as I did because I knew what had happened instantly; I knew I was shot," McQueen, 30, told reporters at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, on Monday.

The bullet tore a large hole in the ballistic material, but the Enhanced Combat Helmet (ECH) stopped the round as it was designed to do.
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Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide

The new plan to prevent veteran suicides: new grants, better research, more community focus
Military Times

Military Times
By: Leo Shane III
March 4, 2019

Officials from the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee are scheduled to hold a roundtable with administration experts on the issue later this week. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Jon Tester, D-Mont., introduced new legislation on the issue last week.

WASHINGTON — The White House is creating a new high-level task force on preventing veterans suicide which will include new community outreach grants aimed at former service members and expanded projects across a host of government agencies to coordinate research and prevention efforts.

President Donald Trump will sign a new executive order on the initiative — dubbed the President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide, or PREVENTS — on Tuesday afternoon at the White House.

It’s the latest in a series of steps by his administration to address the problem, which claims an estimated 20 veterans lives every day. Last year, the president signed a separate executive order providing more counseling and mental health care for recently separated service members, who face a significantly higher risk of suicide than other military groups.

According to senior administration officials, the new order will give agency officials a year to develop plans for a more aggressive approach to suicide prevention, with a goal of more state and local community engagement.

The task force will look to develop a new grant system for mental health support and outreach similar to the Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing program, which provides funding directly to local charities and city programs to help individualize assistance plans for veterans.

The research work will also include pushing the Centers for Disease Control to provide more up-to-date information on veterans suicide research. Currently, the latest available data on the problem typically trails at least two years behind current efforts. Senior administration officials are hoping to cut that wait down to no more than six months.
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Gee, where did I hear this one before?

Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide

Trump reads staggering veteran suicide statistics 
President Trump signed an executive order aimed at creating a federal task force that will tackle how agencies can help prevent veteran suicides.

"Hard to believe an average of 20 veterans and servicemembers take their lives everyday..."

And that President Trump, is because it is NOT 20 A DAY but is much higher when the facts are actually put together!

Retired Chicago Police Officer Found Dead

Retired CPD officer found dead in apparent suicide in Chatham

Chicago Sun Times
By Luke Wilusz
March 5, 2019

A retired Chicago police officer was found dead of an apparent suicide Monday evening in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side.

The 61-year-old man was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest at 7:02 p.m. in his home in the 7900 block of South Michigan Avenue, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
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This is an article from another Officer's widow...think about it! #BreakTheSilentService and #TakeBackYourLife

Awash in Sorrow

What happens when all seems lost? What’s happening in your head can bring you down easier than a bad guy’s bullet.
Officer.com
JOHN WILLS
MARCH 5, 2019

“When people kill themselves, they think they’re ending the pain, but all they’re doing is passing it on to those they leave behind.” Jeannette Walls

“My husband, David Colegrove, was a law enforcement officer for 30 years. He killed himself in 2014, less than three months after he retired,” said Kim Colegrove. “Since his suicide, I’ve learned a lot about trauma, post-traumatic stress, secondary trauma, hypervigilance, and the common predictors of suicide among law enforcement professionals and other first responders.” Kim’s tragic loss compelled her to create The Pause First Project, dedicated to bringing mindfulness practices to first responders.

As of this writing, February 2019, law enforcement has already lost 33 officers to suicides. That’s an astounding number, particularly when compared with total line of duty deaths thus far—17. Why the disparity, why are we killing ourselves in such high numbers? Much of the reason stems from what cops see every day. Horrible things, man’s inhumanity to others. Beatings, shootings, murders, they all cause indelible memories that can haunt many officers for the rest of their lives. The resulting trauma affects not only the victims of crime, but also the witnesses and those who investigate the incidents.
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Spokane firefighter battles PTSD

‘Facing the monster’: Spokane firefighter battles PTSD

The Spokesman Review
Megan Rowe
March 3, 2019

“It turned out to be a very difficult recovery from the injury. A lot of pain, sleepless nights, strong medication. … Somewhere in that process, all of the events I’ve witnessed over the years and all the sadness just flooded back to me.” Lou Franchino

Not long ago, had you asked Lou Franchino, a Spokane firefighter for 23 years, if he would ever return to work, he would have said no.

He was experiencing extended bouts of insomnia. While awake, he described a near-constant state of anxiety. Traumatic calls flashed through his head at a breakneck pace: People who shot themselves in front of their family members, people who died in fires, from sudden infant death syndrome or a heart attack at a family dinner. Franchino was having breakdowns, erupting into tears at a moment’s notice. He felt trapped as a car passenger.

“It’s like being on anxious, high alert, all day long, 24 hours a day, you just can’t turn it off,” Franchino said. “And you talk to yourself like ‘Come on, calm down, you’re safe, everything’s fine.’ You can’t turn it off.”

Franchino sought answers from multiple doctors and everyone arrived at the same conclusion: Franchino was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Luckily for Franchino, Washington legislators passed a law last March which allowed him – and all other first responders – to receive treatment through workers’ compensation. A similar bill is expected to be signed in Idaho by Gov. Brad Little.
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Oklahoma GriefShare giving what those left behind need....support

A look at suicide: Van Buren’s GriefShare program offers support

Booneville Democrat
By Scott Smith / Times Record
Posted Mar 3, 2019

An individual’s suicide can be such an unpredictable, hard-hitting shock to that person’s loved ones, often causing an uncomfortable, long-lasting cocktail of feelings for those left behind, according to one area individual.

When someone loses a relative or friend to suicide, that person can be overwhelmed by feelings of confusion, sadness, guilt, anger and more, said LaToya Shepherd, an outreach pastor who oversees the GriefShare support program at Heritage Church in Van Buren. The 14-week, faith-based program employs video presentations, testimonies, a workbook and, if the participants are comfortable enough to participate, opportunities to share to help in the healing process, she said.

“There is a lesson that touches upon suicide in this,” Shepherd said of the program, which is held at 3 p.m. Sundays at Heritage Church, 1604 E. Pointer Trail in Van Buren. “And in no way does this lesson condemn the person who committed suicide or the family of that person. Even with the program being Biblically based, the lesson is very helpful and very hopeful. It’s not condemning at all.”

In addition to outlining the GriefShare workbook for participants, Shepherd is able to use her real-life experience to help others cope with their loss and move through the grieving process.

“My former husband tried to commit suicide but wasn’t successful,” she said. “He lived and is now a certified counselor who works in Oklahoma and is helping people.
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Bridgeport Police Officer Found Dead

Police release name of Bridgeport cop who died in suspected suicide

CT Post
By Julia Perkins
March 3, 2019

If it’s determined to be a suicide, it would be Bridgeport police’s second in a little more than a year. Officer Thomas Lattanzio died by suicide on Dec. 4, 2017, putting a spotlight on the too-common suicides of law enforcement officials.

BRIDGEPORT — The city is mourning the loss of Sgt. Mark Belinkie, a 19-year-veteran of the Bridgeport police, whose death police are investigating as a suicide.

Belinkie, whose name Bridgeport police released Sunday, was found dead in his Milford home on Saturday.
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#BreakTheSilentService and #TakeBackYourLife

You took a job to save others...

and that should include you too!