‘A godsend’: Salt Lake V.A.’s new food pantry is in high demand
The Salt Lake Tribune
By LUKE RAMSETH
First Published 6 hours ago
Green said she was surprised to find only four other VA hospitals nationwide with a food pantry, and those operated only a day or two each month.(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Aaron Hornok selects food at the Salt Lake VA's new food pantry, Thursday June 22, 2017. Research shows one-quarter of vets who got care through VA reported food insecurity in the past month. That's a higher rate than the general population.Navy veteran Carl Callahan and his wife, Shannon, receive about $1,600 in Social Security benefits each month.
They use it to pay rent and utilities on their South Salt Lake apartment, which the Department of Veterans Affairs helped them find after a stint of homelessness two years ago. They use it to pay their cellphone bills and buy gas for the car. Sometimes they use it to pay medical bills for Shannon, who takes frequent trips to the hospital for her asthma.
By the time the bills are paid, Callahan said, about $100 is leftover for groceries — "if we're lucky."
That's why the couple makes weekly trips to a new food pantry at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Opened in March, the pantry already serves close to 100 veterans and their families per month, said Natalie Green, a VA health care administration trainee who started the program.
Late last year, Green said, she realized the extent of the veteran hunger problem. Some 1.7 million veterans experience food insecurity annually. And for younger veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, the food insecurity rate is about 27 percent — nearly double that of the general U.S. population, according to a University of Minnesota study.
"We have veterans coming back with an immense need for support," she said. "We know food and nutrition directly affects health outcomes, yet [access to food] was something that was kind of missing from the whole health picture."
Part of the problem, Green quickly learned, was that VA funds couldn't be allocated for a food pantry. They must be used for traditional medical services. So she had to get creative.
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Monday, July 10, 2017
Doing More Than Raising Awareness--Feeding Hungry Veterans
With all the groups out there raising awareness and collecting lots of money for talking, how about you guys put your money where their mouth is and FEED THEM! Want to bet that will go a long way toward changing the title of your charity in a good way?
Vietnam Memorial "We wanted to do something more."
Funding secured for Vietnam memorial sculpture
Times Record News
Lana Sweeten-Shults
July 9, 2017
The Major Francis Grice Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution always has honored the country's servicemen and servicewomen.
"We as a group have honored Vietnam veterans, usually with a luncheon, but that wasn't honoring all of them," said Shirley King, an artist and a member of the organization. "We wanted to do something more."'
Two years ago, the group's then-regent, Ruth James, came up with the idea of commissioning a statue, King said, to honor all Vietnam veterans.
"Her husband was a Vietnam veteran."
And so started the DAR chapter's efforts to have such a monument built — a project that reached an important milestone recently.
The group announced it has raised the $170,000 needed to fund the artwork and landscaping around it. The memorial will be an 11-feet-tall bronze sculpture by Lubbock artist Garland Weeks, a Wichita Falls High School graduate who isn't new to the city's public arts landscape. Another of his works, "Vision of the Future," stands on the grounds of the Kemp Center for the Arts.
read more here
Times Record News
Lana Sweeten-Shults
July 9, 2017
The Major Francis Grice Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution always has honored the country's servicemen and servicewomen.
Two years ago, the group's then-regent, Ruth James, came up with the idea of commissioning a statue, King said, to honor all Vietnam veterans.
"Her husband was a Vietnam veteran."
And so started the DAR chapter's efforts to have such a monument built — a project that reached an important milestone recently.
The group announced it has raised the $170,000 needed to fund the artwork and landscaping around it. The memorial will be an 11-feet-tall bronze sculpture by Lubbock artist Garland Weeks, a Wichita Falls High School graduate who isn't new to the city's public arts landscape. Another of his works, "Vision of the Future," stands on the grounds of the Kemp Center for the Arts.
read more here
Army Combat Medic Faced One Death Too Many, His Own
Son’s suicide prompts Boylston mother to raise awareness
Worcester Telegram
By Paula J. Owen Correspondent
Posted Jul 8, 2017
Two months after his death, his mother, Rebecca L. Stark, 51, from Boylston, who works as a nurse, is raising awareness about high-functioning depression and how cancer affects everyone, not just those diagnosed.
Ms. Stark said her son was very close to his grandmother and that she was his confidante. Mr. Stark’s grandmother, Marion J. Stark, helped raise him while his mother was at work.
“She was his day care provider when he was little,” Ms. Stark said. “They talked a lot and he grew up around there.”
When Mr. Stark enlisted in the Army, his mother said, he felt guilty about leaving his grandmother, who had been battling endometrial cancer since 2006. He also had a hard time leaving his little sister, Jenna L. Stark, who was 6 at the time, Ms. Stark said.
“He felt guilty he couldn’t be there,” Ms. Stark said, holding back tears. “He would call from Korea and ask how his grandmother was doing. I didn’t want to keep bothering him, but I had to keep him informed. He just felt bad he wasn’t there. He was used to being a medic and making everything right.”
Worcester Telegram
By Paula J. Owen Correspondent
Posted Jul 8, 2017
“We honestly didn’t realize how much my mother’s death affected him until he chose to do what he did at her grave,” she said. “We never imagined in a million years. He always wanted to be a doctor and he texted me a few days before that he was accepted to BU.”BOYLSTON – As a medic in the U.S Army, Sgt. Nathan R. Stark had seen a lot by the time he was 22, including several suicide attempts and a miscarriage. But it was the death of his grandmother to cancer on his birthday last year that seemed to take the heaviest emotional toll on him. It led him to take his own life at her grave.
Two months after his death, his mother, Rebecca L. Stark, 51, from Boylston, who works as a nurse, is raising awareness about high-functioning depression and how cancer affects everyone, not just those diagnosed.
Ms. Stark said her son was very close to his grandmother and that she was his confidante. Mr. Stark’s grandmother, Marion J. Stark, helped raise him while his mother was at work.
“She was his day care provider when he was little,” Ms. Stark said. “They talked a lot and he grew up around there.”
When Mr. Stark enlisted in the Army, his mother said, he felt guilty about leaving his grandmother, who had been battling endometrial cancer since 2006. He also had a hard time leaving his little sister, Jenna L. Stark, who was 6 at the time, Ms. Stark said.
“He felt guilty he couldn’t be there,” Ms. Stark said, holding back tears. “He would call from Korea and ask how his grandmother was doing. I didn’t want to keep bothering him, but I had to keep him informed. He just felt bad he wasn’t there. He was used to being a medic and making everything right.”
“Everyone was in shock,” she said. “Everybody says pay attention – people cry for help – but, sometimes they don’t. I think to myself, ‘I’m a nurse. How did I not see all this?’ I think sometimes you just have a perfect storm.” read more here
Australian Police Get Back Up For Life
Back Up for Life program fills gaping hole of support for ex-police officers
Canterbury-Bankstown Express
Danielle Buckley
July 10, 2017
“It’s like being in jail,” Mr Thompson said.
“You’re institutionalised to think you can’t do anything apart from being a police officer.”
Like a lot of ex-police officers, Mr Thompson struggled with the transition from cop to civilian, suffering post traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues when he left Campsie LAC in 2011.
But back then, there was no support.
Fast forward six years and a new NSW Police Legacy initiative, Back Up For Life, is providing post-service support for former NSW police officers and their families.
read more here
Canterbury-Bankstown Express
Danielle Buckley
July 10, 2017
“There’s a loss of identity, loss of purpose, value and their whole lifestyle,” Insp Bousfield said. “My hope for the program is that when police officers leave the policing profession there’ll always be an organisation that recognises their profession and maintains connectivity with police force.”
Chairman of NSW Police Legacy Inspector Paul Bousfield and Back Up for Life mentor Heath Thompson at Neptune Park, Revesby. Picture: Carmela RocheWhen Heath Thompson left the NSW Police Force after 23 years, he thought “What am I going to do now?”
“It’s like being in jail,” Mr Thompson said.
“You’re institutionalised to think you can’t do anything apart from being a police officer.”
Like a lot of ex-police officers, Mr Thompson struggled with the transition from cop to civilian, suffering post traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues when he left Campsie LAC in 2011.
But back then, there was no support.
Fast forward six years and a new NSW Police Legacy initiative, Back Up For Life, is providing post-service support for former NSW police officers and their families.
read more here
Minnesota PTSD Patients Get Medical Marijuana
Minnesota's medical marijuana clinics open doors to PTSD patients
Tribune Content Agency
July 9, 2017
He enrolled with the Health Department’s Office of Medical Cannabis last year in search of relief from the pain and muscle spasms caused by injuries he suffered in a helicopter crash. But along with pain relief came relief from the anxiety, intrusive thoughts and fear that haunted him for years as a result of service-related post-traumatic stress disorder.
“It works,” said Erdos, who spent five years “bunkered,” barely able to leave his home. Now, when he visits the bright, airy lobby of the LeafLine Labs patient care center in St. Paul (there is also a location in St. Cloud), he wears a big smile under the brim of his Marine Corps hat. He no longer takes any of his old anxiety meds. He has the confidence to get out and visit his buddies at the American Legion and VFW.
The cannabis prescription the pharmacist hands him each week, he said, “has improved my quality of life to the point where I can function on a daily basis.”
Tribune Content Agency
July 9, 2017
Millions of Americans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Minnesota is the latest state to offer medical marijuana as a possible treatment option.Marine Corps veteran Ed Erdos tried medical marijuana to ease his pain, and found that it also eased his mind.
He enrolled with the Health Department’s Office of Medical Cannabis last year in search of relief from the pain and muscle spasms caused by injuries he suffered in a helicopter crash. But along with pain relief came relief from the anxiety, intrusive thoughts and fear that haunted him for years as a result of service-related post-traumatic stress disorder.
“It works,” said Erdos, who spent five years “bunkered,” barely able to leave his home. Now, when he visits the bright, airy lobby of the LeafLine Labs patient care center in St. Paul (there is also a location in St. Cloud), he wears a big smile under the brim of his Marine Corps hat. He no longer takes any of his old anxiety meds. He has the confidence to get out and visit his buddies at the American Legion and VFW.
The cannabis prescription the pharmacist hands him each week, he said, “has improved my quality of life to the point where I can function on a daily basis.”
Minnesota runs one of the most tightly regulated medical cannabis programs in the nation. State law limits who can buy, sell and grow the drug, and in what form it can be dispensed. PTSD is the 11th condition added to the program, along with cancer, seizure disorders and intractable pain.
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