Ms. Belden reports almost total failure in her attempts as a neighbor to Walter Reed hospital to volunteer at that institution to help out the wounded soldiers. Walter Reed is apparently the main hospital serving the seriously wounded troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It is regularly in the news when politicians and entertainers visit, since they seem regularly to have photo ops with the recuperating soldiers. It has also been the subject of repeated stories of inadequate services and dilapidated facilities. Ms. Belden was told that
only clerical or administrative work opportunities were offered. I was not to think I would have any contact with patients or their families. Absolutely not.Americans are famous for their willingness to volunteer. Fortunately, as opposition to the war in Iraq is increasing, so too is support for the American troops who are doing their governments will and following orders in that difficult campaign. The Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area with its millions of residents could willingly provide thousands of person years per year of volunteer service to those who have been seriously wounded in the service of their country. All that is needed is that they be asked, accepted and put to work.
One of the first things that people should be asked to do is to improve and manage the volunteer service. How about asking for volunteers to put the physical facilities in better shape -- there are lots of people who could do that work.
I understand that there is a distance between soldiers who have served in war zones and us civilians, but there is a huge medical community in this city who would be willing to donate services, and a huge military community with lots of people who could and would understand the trauma of the returned wounded veterans. I find it hard to believe that Walter Reed is overstaffed, and still the staff is too busy to do a better job than they seem to have been doing to date.
Ms Belden says:
Others in the neighborhood have offered home-cooked meals, transportation to shopping, free art classes, or anything else the soldiers or their families might need. But Walter Reed is a closed world.A little home cooking might help a recuperating soldier!
Finally, Ms. Belden reports:
A group of my neighbors tried a while ago to offer help, but they were rebuffed. They were told by a high-ranking officer at Walter Reed that there was a "cultural" gap between them and the soldiers. "This is the NASCAR crowd," he said.I am not sure that he meant the soldiers or the neighbors were the NASCAR crowd, but I agree with Ms. Welden that in this rich geographic area we have residents who match with every cultural and ethnic identity of our American military; the same citizens who volunteer to serve in our citizen army will also volunteer to serve the soldiers wounded in our service, albeit at different times of our lives.
4 comments:
The problem is that the military has to protect the wounded and recuperating soldiers from this kind of thing.
I'd rather thousands get turned away than to let ONE bad seed in to mess with the boys and families. They've been through enough and after having Code Pink stand outside the gates for a couple of years, I don't think they deserve to have a single "non-supporter" in to tell 'em they are killers or to complain about Bush and to pity them.
"Credentials" can't be checked and I'm sure there are few willing to take a chance on something like this happening again.
I stand corrected. I don't like to believe anyone could be so stupid, mean, and ill mannered to volunteer at a military hospital to heap abuse on soldiers wounded while doing their duty. But of course you are right that there are such people and the system should keep them from doing damage.
Still, I think there is a countervailing risk that we are not doing as much for these soldiers as we could if there were more resources in use, and that more resources would be volunteered if people were allowed to volunteer them.
With the added resources, perhaps with some repositioning, it should be possible to better manage the volunteer system. Volunteers who would contact the wounded could be screened carefully.
At least people asking to volunteer should be attended to promptly, and encouraged to find alternative ways to help if they appear unsuited to the needs of Walter Read itself.
There are many groups out there that will allow people to help out. Soldier's Angels is an excellent one. They vet their volunteers pretty carefully and a lot of them go into WRAMC to sit with the wounded until family can get there.
There is also Sew Much Comfort. They always need volunteers to sew adaptive clothing for the wounded. Sometimes, it's hard to get dressed with only one functioning hand and the velcro closing legs and arms on pants and t-shirts makes all the difference in facilitating independence.
And then there is the charity that I sit on the Board for. America's Wounded Heroes. We are just starting and could use all the donations we can get.
Volunteers don't necessarily have to interact with the wounded to make a difference.
All of the points you make are valid but EXTREMELY time consuming. I think we all would rather time and resources go to families and the wounded versus going to satisfying volunteers' needs to help. There are many, MANY organizations that volunteers can work for instead of AT Walter Reed.
I have been visiting with the soldiers at Walter Reed. I haven't had any problems, rather than asking, one should simply go there with snacks, cookies, etc. and claim to be visiting a friend (which is true). Ask the nurses on Ward 57 or 68 if any soldiers could use a visit, give the nurses some snacks, too. Individuals or couples of two would have more success than a large group. Spead the word. Also hundreds of soldiers at the Malone House (the hotel for injured vets at Walter Reed) need warm clothing for winter. Ask the guard how to get there and drop off the clothes with a note saying Donation. None of these men and women have clothes.
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