Florida VA Facilities Care 2010

All large organization has it good offices and bad ones.
Yet I do not want to leave this life without Say thank you for
the times and places I received good patient/veteran/stakeholder
service.
Key West Out Patient Clinic
Administration Staff who remind of my appointments by paper
and phone calls; Medical staff/ Doctors, Nurse Practioners,
RNs who listen with respect and compassion and give me
directions to keep my body going.

Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center -
to the Administration and Medical staff of the following locations
Podiatry Service, Eye clinic, Derm clinic, Mamogram clinic,
Neuro clinic, Pain Managment, GI clinic, CT/PET service,
Patient Advocate Service, Release of Information Office, Travel Office
and Cashier, ER Admission Desk,
I must remember folks in Volunteers Services too!

You guys and gals have had a smile and patience with this female Vet.
I appreciated your work here.
Venus Hammack

PS
I could not get to these apointments without professional and
courtesy the Administrative staff of Monroe County Veterans Services
(Transportation) and the drivers of the Vans, (remember it over
100 miles from KW clinic to Miami VAMC).
Thanks again
“As we express our gratitude,
we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words,
but to live by them.” -- John Fitzgerald Kennedy quotes

IBS and Gulf War syndrome

IBS is one of the more prevalent of these multisymptom illnesses. This falls in the category of "no good deed goes unpunished". The silver lining to this dark cloud is that the focus on causes and treatment of these Gulf War symptoms may filter down to a better understanding of IBS itself, something that would be of help to all sufferers.

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies has just announced the publication of a report entitled "Gulf War and Health: Volume 8. Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War". According to the press release, the committee behind the report sought to address the issue of the fact that many of those involved in military service in the Persian Gulf War suffer from ongoing multisymptom illness.

The numbers are staggering: "nearly 700,000 U.S. personnel were deployed to the region and more than 250,000 of them suffer from persistant [sic], unexplained symptoms." Currently, the cause of these ongoing problems is unknown, and the committee theorizes that there may be an interaction between individual genetics and the environment that these vets were exposed to. The report calls for continued efforts to identify, understand, and treat these multisymptom illnesses.

http://ibs.about.com/b/2010/04/12/gulf-war-syndrome-and-ibs.htm

Iraqi Scud barrack Desert Storm

I was there, and I will never forget, the job of a medic.
Bob and Connie Clark became acquainted with the Army Reserve's
14th Quartermaster Detachment in Hempfield Township when their
daughter, Spc. Beverly Clark, brought them to the unit's open
house and Christmas gatherings.

"(Beverly) loved everyone here, from the staff to their
families, so she was so excited and proud to introduce us to
them. They were like a family to her," said Connie Clark, of
Armagh, Indiana County.

Beverly Clark, 23, died on Feb. 25, 1991, with 18 other men
and women serving in the 14th Quartermaster when an Iraqi Scud
missile slammed into the barracks housing their water
purification unit in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, during the waning
days of Operation Desert Storm.

In all, 28 soldiers were killed and 99 injured from the 14th
Quartermaster and the 477th Provisional Transportation Unit in
the fiery explosion that leveled the quarters. The 14th
Quartermaster sustained the greatest number of casualties of
any coalition unit during the war.

On Sunday, a memorial service marking anniversary of
the attack was attended by roughly 40 family members, friends
and veterans at the unit's headquarters in the village of
Carbon. Over time, the bond has grown each year among
attendees who loved the unit known as "Water Dawgs."

"After the tragedy that happened, I think we all grew closer,
because we all have something in common," said Clark, bearing
a pin with her late daughter's photograph on her coat. "Coming
here on this day means a lot, because this really was a home
away from home for our daughter and the other soldiers, and
kind of like their second family."

During a vigil at the site of a memorial dedicated to the
unit, Beverly Clark's sister, Bobbi, said a short prayer in
the cold, pouring rain. Family members, including some young
children, placed flowers and teddy bears at the base of a
wicker wreath wrapped with a yellow ribbon on which was
written, "We will always remember."

"Thank you that we have this day to remember and spend
together, and for the people that couldn't be here today,
please encourage them and lift them up," said Bobbi Clark 38,
of Greensburg.

After the anniversary, officials decided to hold
full-scale memorials every five years. In other years, those
attending normally choose to remember their fallen loved ones
in silence, said Jack Gordon, chief of information and public
affairs for the Army Reserve's 99th Regional Readiness
Command, based in Moon Township, Allegheny County.

"When you think about 16 years having passed since that day,
children who were babies then are grown ... that's a lot of
years," Gordon said.
Connie Clark expressed gratitude to the 14th Quartermaster for
allowing her and the others to gather there yesterday.
"This is a hard day of the year, and being able to come
together like this helps us to get through it," Clark said.

Hempfield unit's losses remembered - Tribune-Review
By A.J. Panian
TRIBUNE REVIEW
Monday, February 26, 2007

GW Veterans Illness Task Force -rename

Gulf War Veterans Illnesses Task Force draft report .
http://yourgulfwarvoice.uservoice.com/

ACTION: Notice with request for comments.
Jeff Peters, GWVI-TF Secretary, OSVA,
Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC
20420, at (202) 461-4814.