35 cents
VOL. 3/ISSUE 1
Inside the VA: educating health care pros
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2014
Learning to fly
Patrick McCallister FOR VETERAN VOICE
patrick.mccallister@yahoo.com
This is the fourth in a series, Inside the VA, a closer look at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ three functions, the Veterans Health Administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration and the National Cemetery Administration. This week Veteran Voice looks into one of the lesser known components of the VHA —its role in medical education. If you get any medical care in the United States, chances are your doctors got training at the Department of Veterans Affairs. “Over 65 percent of physicians trained in the U.S. have done some training at the VA,” Francine “Frannie” Giglio said. She’s the health systems specialist for education and research at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center. She said that the VA is the largest provider of graduate medical education in the nation. One reason is that the VA’s healthcare system is America’s largest. It has more than 1,700 sites, serving about 8.8 million veterans annually. Another reason is Gen. Omar Bradley. A couple years after World War II, President Harry Truman appointed him to head up the then Veterans Administration. Shortly after, Bradley led the creation of the Department of Medicine and Surgery. Then he pushed for what became the VA’s Policy Memorandum No. 2. That 1946 public policy threw open the VA’s doors to educating
See PROS page 5
Mitch Kloorfain/chief photographer Retired U.S. Navy pilot Mick Thorstenson complies wtih the photographer’s request and does a 180 in his T-28 ‘Trojan’ on the Stuart Air Show’s Media Day, Oct. 30.
Veteran Voice chief photographer Mitch Kloorfain takes a turn in the pilot’s seat Outside our Florida community, autumn is acknowledged by apple picking, changing leaves and rotating the summer clothes for winter wear. Our version of autumn is signified by local fall festivals, slightly cooler temperatures and the engine sounds overhead from several days of practice and performances of the Mitch ‘Crash’ Kloorfain annual Stuart Air Show. Since 2003, I have been lucky enough to be included in the flights made by the participating pilots during Media Day on the Thursday leading up to the weekend. The concept is simple. Print media, tele-
vision media and Internet media are invited to send their strongest-stomached on-air personalities, writers and photographers to capture some epic images to invite some hype to the show. In other words, this is like a Christmas present to me. My life experiences of flight are minimal at best. I have flown commercially several times and a small aircraft but once, back when I was a teenager. My first time up, I was selected for a helicopter that flew the perimeter of the event area. I saw a few recognizable spots such as bridges, beaches I spent time at and some golf courses. No big rush for me. Over the next few years I have had the opportunity to fly with the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team, Geico SkyTypers, Patty Wagstaff, National Avi-
See FLY page 2