Wichita VA Hospital New Home to Homeless Vets

Wichita VA Hospital New Home to Homeless Vets


Reporter: Deb Farris


Robert J Dole Veteran Affairs Medical Center will soon be home to a temporary housing facility to help homeless vets get back on their feet.

The announcement was made official in a public hearing Monday night.

About sixty people showed up showing their support and even some opposed to the new facility. Many citizens said they are honored Wichita can finally do some good to aid those who served our country. But other neighboring residents to the hospital expressed concern over property values and safety concerns.
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I will never understand some people. During the hearing a man stood up and said, "If it's about soldiers coming back from Iraq that's one thing but if it's about them sleeping under the bridge for a long, long time, I really don't want them in my neighborhood." Does this man realize the men sleeping under the bridge for a long, long time, were willing to give up their lives for him and his neighborhood? Does he understand that most of them have un-addressed mental health conditions and they are suffering because the rest of the country forgot all about them? Even with the way they have been discharged from their own communities, they would still give up their life for the sake of someone else. It's just the way they are.

Ask any of your neighbors if they know what PTSD is, and you're bound to get a blank expression or a puzzled one. Most people do not understand that too many veterans come back with PTSD and seek alcohol or drugs to relieve what PTSD is doing to them. They know there is something "wrong" with them but they don't even know what it is or that they can be treated for it. As with most challenges the PTSD veterans face, there is also the abandonment from a family that does not understand and does not support them in getting the help they need to heal. Pushed away from their families, where else do these veterans go? Is sleeping under a bridge more acceptable to this man than helping them get back on their feet?

I don't think this man is evil, nor do I think he is so greedy about his property values it comes before these veterans. I think he is uninformed and judging people he has no clue about.