Florida Needs to Learn From Harvey's Mistakes Preparing for Irma

Harvey victims can't always get life-saving aid easily, volunteers lament

FOX News
Hollie McKay
September 6, 2017

After Hurricane Harvey slammed ashore almost two weeks ago, scores of Americans made their way to Texas – but offering a helping hand in crisis is far from straightforward, which has left many volunteers frustrated and disheartened.

Water bottles waiting to be delivered to those in need after Hurricane Harvey.

Major players from the Texas National Guard and Texas State Troopers to the Red Cross, FEMA, Salvation Army quickly dispatched into the disaster zone, along with police, church groups, local and state aid groups and other well-intentioned people, quickly creating a chaos akin to too many cooks in the kitchen. It left assets and supplies languishing.

“We were trying to help a small community of people without food, water or electricity and had little contact with rescuers to receive supplies. They were very upset,” Chris Fiore, a 20-year-old volunteer Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and Texas native, told Fox News this week from Deweyville, Texas – a small town about 110 miles northeast of Houston washed out by floods. 

“But we were told by police that they couldn’t let anyone in and didn’t seem to have a good reason behind it. We had cases of water, MREs, dog food and basic sanitary items – we just wanted to bring people supplies. It was impossible for me just to sit in my house while people are in need.”

Fiore was joined by five well-trained U.S. military veterans that had aligned with Southeast Texas (SETX) Disaster Relief. One of those veterans told Fox News that for the first couple of days they routinely saw and heard law enforcement personnel actively turning away volunteer search-and-rescue organizations with supplies or information about people who needed help.
read more here

Links for Florida Veterans During Hurricane Irma

Hurricane Irma Updates – U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Information on this page is current as of 10:30 a.m. EDT, Sept 7.  For the latest on VA’s response and inspiring stories of service to Veterans impacted by the hurricanes, read more on the blog. For those impacted by Hurricane Harvey, click here.

VA Medical Centers, Clinics and Other Facilities

Veterans from storm-affected areas who require immediate assistance may contact the Health Resource Center Disaster Hotline at 1-800-507-4571

For the latest updates on operations at specific VA facilities and associated clinics, please visit your facility’s website and the Facebook pages listed below. Information provided on the facility pages may be more current than what is posted here.

• VA Caribbean Healthcare System (website)  –  VA Caribbean Healthcare System (Facebook page)
  • All outpatient appointments and elective procedures at all the clinics in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands have been cancelled for September 6 and 7, 2017. The Emergency Room located in the San Juan VA Hospital in Rio Piedras will continue operations. The VA Hospital has the coverage and supplies to continue services to Veterans admitted in the inpatient areas.
• San Juan Regional Benefit Office (website)
  • The VA San Juan Regional Benefit Office will be closed on Thursday, Sept. 7 for the entire day due to Hurricane Irma.
• Puerto Rico National Cemetery (website)
  • Puerto Rico National Cemetery will be closed until NOON today, Sept. 7, 2. All services scheduled for September 6th and 7th have been rescheduled or postponed.
• Miami VA Medical Center (website) – Miami VAMC (Facebook page)
• West Palm Beach VA Medical Center (website) – West Palm Beach VAMC (Facebook page)
• North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System (website) – North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System (Facebook page)
• Bay Pines VA Medical Center (website) – Bay Pines VAMC (Facebook page)
• Tampa VA Medical Center (website) – Tampa VAMC (Facebook page)
• Orlando VA Medical Center (website) – Orlando VAMC (Facebook page)
• VA Vet Centers –  updated information on Vet Center operating status in the affected region.
• Additional facility information:
  • The St. Petersburg Regional Benefit Office outbased locations in Sunrise and West Palm Beach will be closed beginning 12 pm, today, September 7. These offices will remain closed on Friday and Monday, September 8 and September 11.
  • The St. Petersburg Regional Office and all remaining outbased VBA locations in Florida will be closed on Friday and Monday, September 8 and September 11.

  VA Pharmacy Disaster Relief Plan

  VA has activated the Pharmacy Disaster Relief Plan for Veterans in Hurricane Irma impact areas. Eligible Veterans in the affected areas with a VA ID Card needing emergency supply of medications will be able to go to any retail pharmacy open to the public with a written prescription or active VA prescription bottle (not older than 6 months and with refills available) to receive at least a 10 day supply. Note: This does not include controlled substances. Patients must present a valid VA ID Card.
  The Heritage Health Customer Care Line is available for VA patients in the affected areas at 1-866-265-0124, option 1. Heritage’s hours of operations for hurricane coverage: Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET, Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET

  VA Benefits

  VA’s Veterans Benefits Administration has developed mechanisms to help Veterans receive their benefit payments if their normal mail cannot be delivered.

Floridians Prepare for Monster Invasion, And Irma!

National Reporters and Irma, Which is Worse?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 13, 2017

This is what is coming to Florida.

Hurricane Irma Is Passing Over Virgin Islands as a Potentially Catastrophic Category 5 Hurricane; Dangerous Threat for Florida, Southeast

Weather Channel Update

Sep 6 2017 04:00 

But so are they!

You may think this is bad enough, but consider what, or who, is coming because of Hurricane Irma, it can be worse than it has to be if reporters forget that our lives are on the line now and for a very long time to come.

I remember Charlie, Frances and Jeanne in 2004. None of them were much fun. Every year since then, whenever hurricane season started, as soon as the weather report had anything brewing in the Atlantic, we took deep breaths, and waited, remembering what we had already experienced. To put it bluntly, it sucked!

Most of us paid close attention to what was happening in Texas and we were heartbroken for them but we we also deeply admired how they responded. They helped each other! They helped total strangers. They did whatever they could to make sure they did not let anyone do it alone without trying to make a difference.

We saw all the First Responders leaving their own families and homes to make sure Texans were as safe as possible. We saw National Guardsmen, Coast Guard, volunteers from all over the country and groups, rush in to help total strangers. 

What we saw were images like this on the Weather Channel

Matthew Koser, hypothermic and shaking, is rescued from atop his car after looking for important papers and heirlooms inside his grandfather's house after it was flooded by heavy rains from Hurricane Harvey August 29, 2017 in the Bear Creek neighborhood of west Houston, Texas. The neighborhood flooded after water was released from nearby Addicks Reservoir. (Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

What we also saw were many reporters also risking their lives to make sure their stories were told. Most, were commendable and people from across the country responded because of how you told their stories. You showed us the heartbreaking images of destroyed homes as much as you showed us the heartwarming images of people being rescued.

What we also witnessed are things like this.

I track what you are reporting all across the country on veterans stories. It is bad enough that few of the national reporters care to get the story right and do not take the lazy way out, that is, when they bother to report on them at all. Most of the posts within the over 28,000 on Combat PTSD Wounded Times, do not come from CNN, MSNBC or FOX, even though all three are operating 24-7. Guess that politics means a lot more than our veterans, or is it just an easier topic? Not sure which anymore.

Most of the reports here are done on the local level, all across the country by their local reporters, telling the stories about people right in their own backyards. When we are hit with something like a natural disaster, so are they. They do not get to hop on a plane and get back to their own territory and put is all behind them.

With Social Media what is now, to tell the truth, national reporters are not as vital as they used to be. It is about time that they either figured that one out and respected that their topic of the day is our lives!

So, as the stores run out of water, bread, and food, along with alcohol, gas stations run out of gas and everyone is getting evacuated into the Orlando area, looking for what we don't have. I was driving to work at 5:00 am, searching for gas to make sure I'd be able to get to my job the rest of the week. Finally after 3 statations, I found some left.

Please keep that in mind when you are complaining about the hardships you have to endure to report on what we will have to live with long after you get to go home and forget all about our stories the same way you just forgot all about Texas and what Hurricane Harvey did to them.

"Father Conway helped us pray," USS Indianapolis Survivors

Seeking Posthumous Navy Cross Award For Saving, Praying With Sailors At Sea

Hartford Courant
Bill Leukhardt
September 2, 2017

It's clear city native U.S. Navy Lt. Thomas Conway, the last American chaplain killed in World War II, is a hero.

In the three days he lived after torpedoes sunk the USS Indianapolis on July 30, 1945, survivors say he swam among terrified fellow sailors and marines encouraging all not to give up as they floated day after day without food, water or shade in shark-infested waters.

Conway died on Aug 2, 1945, three days before rescuers arrived. His body slipped out of his life jacket, lost in the sea as were the dog tags he had collected from dead shipmates.

Sharks killed many pitched into the water. The ship lost 879 of its crew of 1,196. Only 317 lived to be plucked from the Philippine Sea. Nineteen are still alive.

"Father Conway helped us pray," USS Indianapolis Survivors Association secretary Peggy Campo of Illinois recalls her late father, Don McCall, a survivor, said. "Hell yes, we prayed."

But the hero priest has never received a medal for his sacrifice.
read more here

Homeless Shelter to Evict Homeless Veteran Whistleblower?

VA, charity send veteran to the streets after attempts to blow the whistle on veteran's shelter

WBTV 3 News

Nick Ochsner

September 4, 2017

Armento said last-minute assistance from the VA was his last hope for staying off the streets. Now, because he has not received that help, he will not have anywhere to go.

ASHEVILLE, NC (WBTV) -

An Asheville veteran faces life on the streets after trying to blow the whistle on questionable practices at the long-term residential facility for homeless veterans at which he was staying.

(Corey Schmidt | WBTV)

Greg Armento moved into the Veterans Restoration Quarters run by the Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry in September 2015. He had recently moved back to Asheville, in need of a place to live after losing his job as a graphic artist.

The ABCCM runs the Veterans Restoration Quarters with money from a grant program administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs known as the Grant Per Diem program.

The Grant Per Diem program pays organizations a daily amount of money to provide homeless veterans room and board. Organizations that house veterans as part of the program take in roughly $1,300 each month for every veteran given food and shelter.

First, he called Senator Thom Tillis’ (R-NC) office. When that didn’t lead to a change, Armento filed a lawsuit against ABCCM in federal court.

A letter from the VA to Tillis’ office confirms the local Asheville VA Medical Center reviewed Armento’s complaints of being forced to work for free as a condition of living at ABCCM’s facility and confirmed that was a requirement to participate in the charity’s service hour program.

There is nothing in the VA’s manual on the Gran Per Diem program that says a charity participating in the program should require veterans to perform service hours as a condition of receiving room and board.

A court filing on behalf of ABCCM in response to Armento’s lawsuit characterizes the service hour requirement as “voluntary” service, even though the same filing acknowledges a document from the VRQ that clearly states service hours are mandatory for staying at the facility.

Armento didn’t get help from calling Tillis’ office or the VA but he did get an eviction notice from ABCCM.

The 62-year-old veteran has been told that he must vacate the VRQ by Tuesday, September 5, 2017.

read more here