35 cents
VOL. 5/ISSUE 12
THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017
All encouraged to attend Four Chaplains Award to honor local physician
Trump nominates David Shulkin to lead VA
Cathy La Valle
Patrick McCallister
Selfless service -
UNITED VETERANS OF ST. LUCIE COUNTY
At 12:55 a.m. on Feb. 3, 1943, the USAT Dorchester was tragically sunk by a torpedo from a German submarine. Of the 902 young men on board, only 227 survived. Many of those survivors owe their lives to the courage and leadership exhibited by the heroic Four Chaplains, who, in sacrificing their lives, created a unique legacy of brotherhood. These Four Chaplains gave their life jackets to save four soldiers and, in so doing, gave up their only means of survival. They were last seen on the deck of the ship with their arms linked together and their heads bowed in prayer as they went to their watery graves in the North Atlantic off the coast of Greenland. Each Chaplain received the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously. An award, created by the Four Chaplains Memorial Foundation, is given each year to an outstanding member of the community who serves without regard to religion or creed. This annual service, held at a church or synagogue in Port St. Lucie, is a tribute to the Chaplains — Chaplain George L. Fox, Methodist, Chaplain Alexander D. Goode, Rabbi, Jewish Faith, Chaplain Clark V. Poling, Dutch Reformed Church and Father John P. Washington , a Catholic Priest. It is sanctioned by The Chapel of Four Chaplains, Philadelphia. and it is devoted to the “Eternal Chaplains” and “Interfaith In Action.” The service will be held on Feb. 5 at 2 p.m., Temple Beth El Israel, 551 SW Bethany
See CHAPLAINS page 9
FOR VETERAN VOICE
pmccallister@veteranvoiceweekly.com
President elect Donald Trump reached inside the Department of Veteran Affairs to find his man to lead the agency as the next Secretary of Veteran Affairs. Trump is nominating Dr. David Shulkin, the current undersecretary of health at the VA. Carl Blake, associate executive director of government relations at the Paralyzed Veterans of America, told Veteran Voice that the announcement is surprising to many national veteran leaders. Shulkin isn’t a veteran, unlike all of the secretaries since the Veterans Administration was transformed to a cabinet-level agency by the Department of Veterans Affairs Act of 1988. Blake said Shulkin, if confirmed by the Senate, won’t get much of a honeymoon. “There are questions that remain carrying forward from the pre-vision admiration he’ll have to address,” Blake said. Following weeks of controversy over veterans getting inadequate medical care at some facilities — which many maintained caused premature deaths — Eric Shinseki stepped down from his post as Secretary of the VA in 2014. The scandal climaxed with passage of the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, which expanded opportunities for veterans enrolled in the Veterans Health Administration, VHA, to get care outside VA facilities. President Barack Obama nominated the current secretary, Robert McDonald, in 2014. Many veterans complain that the issues that led to Shinseki’s resignation in 2014 remain to varying degrees. Many note that the issues that exploded in the press in 2014 existed back to the early 2000s, if not earlier. Obama nominated Shulkin to be the undersecretary of health in 2015. According to the VA’s biography, Shulkin was president of the Morristown Medical Center, Goyeb Children’s Hospital and Atlantic Rehabilitation Institute. He’d also been president and CEO of Beth Israel Medical Center, which he led out of financial collapse. Shulkin completed his medical internship at the Yale University School of Medicine. As the undersecretary for health, Shulkin
President elect Donald Trump has nominated David Shulkin to be the next Secretary of Veteran Affairs. Shulkin is the current undersecretary of health at the Department of Veteran Affairs. If confirmed by the Senate, Shulkin will be the first secretary who hasn’t served in the military. Despite that, veterans organizations are warm to his nomination. oversaw the health care of almost 9 million veterans enrolled in the VHA, the nation’s largest health-care provider with more than 350,000 employees at 1,700 care sites. In a press release the Paralyzed Veterans’ executive director, Sherman Williams, said Shulkin “made great strides” in reforming healthcare delivery after the 2014 scandal. “(Shulkin’s) experience as undersecretary for health should ensure continuity in improving health care for veterans as the scope of his responsibility broadens.” AMVETS was more flamboyant in its praise of Shulkin. It ran as a headline to its press release about Shulkin, “American Veterans (AMVETS) is pleasantly surprised with President-elect Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Veteran Affairs.” In the release, AMVETS’ executive director,
See SHULKIN page 9