Volunteering at the VA facility is a great opportunity to brighten the day of the residents who live there. In my visits of late there are many volunteers there during the day runnig about and helping people. They are indeed a blessing and there fulfilling a great need.
I live in the Appalachia. I don't know if many of you saw that special on abc a few weeks ago about the forgotten children of Appalachia w/Diane Sawyer. Although that town was in Kentucky it isn't far off the mark for cities and towns only short drive from here. This place was a booming industrial spot in the latter part of the 1800's up to the 1940's. The mines employed thousands of people and when the coal was mined out, the people and towns were abandoned. Some left to pursue employment elsewhere, some didn't. As the years dragged on, the poorer the communites became. Without the mining revenue to support them, they fell to disrepar and neglect.
Southern Appalachia is one of if not THE poorest region in America. Do a google search for rural appalachia and look at the images. This is where I live. Not many career professionals want to live here, which in my opinion is why our health care is second rate, not just the VA facility. The schools here are limited, opportunities available in bigger cities just flat out do not exist here. WV has a high welfare rate, obesity, teenage pregnancies, and drug abuse. We are hours away from quality care and when you are disabled or otherwise incapaciated, hours might as well be light years. WV has one of the highest percents of military service people, the military provides opportunities that just aren't available here.
Since WV has had a high rate of military service members, logically it has loads of veterans who live in these tiny no name places that now need care and their needs just aren't being fulfilled adequately. Three nurses in the VA told my uncle to "get out of this system, NOW", when the people who work there tell you that there is something terribly wrong.
I hope this facility is not representing the VA Healtcare system as a whole, but for these local men it IS their whole healthcare and they deserve better, every one deserves better.
After working here and there in the mines and a brief stay in Newark, my grandfather was fortunate enough to get on with a Elkem Metals / Union Carbide in the 1960's. It was demanding and dangerous work, but a good, honest living. My uncles and aunt moved away only to come back later because of the desire to be with family. Appalachian people are notoriously family oriented and deeply patriotic. Unfortuneatly they are very resistant to change and suspicious of anyone who comes along and tries to "make this a better place".
I'm still here because of my family. I try not to let the goings on bring me down. A long time ago (benefit of being an only child) I learned to depend on myself for entertainment. I pursue my own interestes that are quite different from others my age here and the older I get the less I care about fitting in with those around me.
I'll get off my soap box and hope no one strikes me with a rotten tomato. 