Well, my Daddy is going home from the hospital today and I am very thankful for all the prayers that everyone has prayed on his behalf. It will take some time to recover but he will be with us a while longer, Lord Willing. This trial in my life has opened my eyes and given me a purpose to do more for all our veterans in this country as I know for FACT they are not being cared for by the government and with the current administration, this will continue.
I desire to organize a volunteer force that will work in conjunction with the local veterans hospitals; to assist in services that the hospitals are just not capable of doing without help. I am talking about the mental health area of the veterans hospitals.
More and more, we see veterans returning from deployments with PTSD and other mental conditions that we are not use to seeing in the general public. The truth is, there are not enough staff to take care of all of our mental health veterans and waiting lists create worse situations and more veterans are committing suicide each day, all because they are not receiving the treatments they need.
I desire to organize a group of mental health providers, either psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors, to provide services. This idea is simple. Find retired mental health workers who still have their certifications and are willing to volunteer to help do the initial screenings. They can refer the more difficult cases to the full time providers and the volunteers can work with those who are not as severe, thus lightening the load for the full time workers at the VA.
To get this going, it will take a large network of people who are patriotic and willing to step up to help. I personally am not financially able to do much other than help organize and spread the word. However, I am working on contacting philanthropists and those people who know people who can do this. Our congressmen can’t do much to make the changes needed, thus it is up to THE PEOPLE to do what is needed to help our troops in their time of need.
I need the following:
People who are good at brainstorming ideas.
People who understand mental health issues that have been properly trained and are still certified to perform services.
People willing to help schedule and organize meetings to spread the word about what I want to do.
I also want feedback from my readers, friends and acquaintances about this idea. I also want to know what you think of my idea for the name of my organization which is; VANO (Veterans Are Number One).
Please contact me through my Barnyard Mare Facebook page or by leaving comments on this page. Thank you and God Bless you and America again.
Educated Cowpuncher 