VA Maryland Health Care System to Hold 8th Annual Welcome Home for Returning Veterans
Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) March 26, 2014 -- For Aliyah Hunter, 32, an Army Veteran who had been deployed to Iraq, returning home proved to be less smooth than she had anticipated. In fact, she was home for two years before she opted to try VA health care to address the residual impacts of the war. She’s glad she did. “The VA was the first to help me understand that something was a little different—that a change had occurred and that I was suffering from some post-traumatic symptoms from the war,” Hunter says. After separating from the military and with help from the VA Maryland Health Care System, she began to embrace the transition of being home more openly.
Hunter is joining an estimated 200 other newly returning Veterans for the VA Maryland Health Care System’s 2014 Welcome Home Information and Job Fair, which is being held on Saturday, April 5, 2014, on the Essex Campus of the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) in the Community Center Building, 7201 Rossville Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21237.
“The purpose of the event is to express our country’s gratitude to returning Veterans for their service, and to introduce these Veterans to the VA benefits that they have earned. We also want to empower returning Veterans to take charge of their health and well-being and help facilitate a smooth transition by linking them with employers looking to hire Veterans and local colleges and universities that accept the Post 9/11GI Bill,” said Christopher Buser, LCSW-C, BCD, lead social worker of the Managed Care Clinical Center and the clinical director of the Post-Deployment Health Reintegration Program for the VA Maryland Health Care System.
Representatives from local employers and career assistance organizations such as Northrup Grumman, Johns Hopkins, Staples, TD Bank, Barnes & Noble, Home Depot and others will be available to assist Veterans with employment opportunities. Additionally, four-year colleges accepting the Post 9/11 GI Bill, such as Towson University and Stevenson University, will be on hand to provide information about educational opportunities for returning Veterans. The VA Maryland Health Care System, the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs, the Veterans Benefits Administration, and many community organizations will also be available to provide information on health care services and benefits for Veterans from Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. Veterans should come prepared with their DD-214 (discharge paperwork) to apply for VA health care services, and with their resumes to leave with potential employers.
“We especially hope to reach returning Veterans who are not yet enrolled for VA health care during our 8th Annual Welcome Home celebration,” says Dennis H. Smith, director of the VA Maryland Health Care System. “The VA is looking forward to serving the needs of returning Veterans and to assist them with the transition to civilian life. There will be a wealth of information available about employment, education, benefit and health care resources during the Information & Job Fair to assist returning Veterans with their transition process.”
The event is free and open to all Veterans. For more information, please call (410) 605-7259.
Rosalia Scalia, Veterans Health Administration, http://www.maryland.va.gov, +1 (410) 605-7464, [email protected]
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