CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. -- Hi, this is Tricia. Thank you for calling the Veterans Crisis Line. What’s going on tonight?
Tricia, a crisis line operator, is talking with someone we'll call Steven. Her long black hair frames her face as she bends over her desk, eyes closed, listening and then replying softly.
Steven, will you take a few deep breaths for me, it’s really important that I understand what you are experiencing.
In a few cramped rooms inside a dark red brick veterans mental institution built here in the 1930s, Tricia Lucchesi, along with some two dozen mental health professionals and veterans, fields the calls that come in every minute through the Veterans Crisis Line.
Tricia is 52 and has years of experience in teaching and mental health care; her son is an enlisted airman in the Air Force. Her headset is decorated with blue sparkles. She listens, oblivious to the bustle and ringing phones around her. When she responds she speaks slowly, pouring warmth down the phone line.
David Wood: Huffington Post 3/8/2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/veterans-crisis-line_n_1322423.html
Monday, March 12, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
VA funds to surge as troops return
The nation’s 22 million military veterans would receive more federal funding for health care, fighting homelessness and finding jobs under President Barack Obama’s proposed budget for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The plan calls for VA spending to grow 10.5 percent to $140.3 billion in the next fiscal year, up from $126.9 billion this fiscal year. The proposal comes as other segments of the military prepare for big cuts.
The White House wants to spend more on mental health services, health care needs of women veterans, and $1 billion over five years on a Veterans Jobs Corps to put 20,000 former soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to work.
The jobs would focus on building roads and trails on public lands.
By Barrie Barber
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)