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NEW SHELTER WILL BRING BADLY NEEDED SERVICES
FOR
FEMALE VETERANS -- "Brockton says they have
women's
services, but every time I look for them, there
aren't any."
Navy veteran Debbie Nickerson takes
a look around the new full-time female veterans transition
facility on Arnold Street in New Bedford. She has been living in
temporary housing with fellow veteran Janice, who was turned away
from the veterans’ drug abuse program in Brockton (PETER PEREIRA /
The Standard-Times) |
Story here...
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/
apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2007
0510/NEWS/705100416
Story below:
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New shelter will bring badly needed services for female veterans
By Jack Spillane
Janice is an Air Force veteran from New Bedford who has struggled with
sobriety for most of her adult life.
As with many substance abusers, her road to recovery has been marked by
starts and stops, periods of success and periods of relapse.
But when she completed detox in Brockton last February, there were no
follow-up programs for her at the Brockton veterans hospital.
Janice (not her real name) said she was told she was ineligible because
she had relapsed seven years ago while attending a post-detox program in
Brockton.
Janice thinks that's a lame explanation and that the real reason is that
the Veterans Administration doesn't really go out of its way to serve
women vets.
"Brockton says they have women's services, but every time I look for
them, there aren't any," she said.
Phone calls to the Brockton V.A. about Janice's complaint over three
days went unreturned.
But Dennis Allen, the head of the New Bedford Veterans Transition House,
said that after The Standard-Times inquired about Janice's case, a
women's veterans coordinator called and apologized profusely for not
admitting Janice to its programs.
Bonnie McIntosh of the Providence veterans center said the
"misunderstanding" should never have happened and "it would never happen
again."
When Brockton wouldn't place Janice in a program to help her get back on
her feet, Dennis Allen revamped a floor of a men's house at his Purchase
Street center. It's now serving as a temporary women's shelter.
Janice and Debbie Nickerson, another woman veteran left destitute after
a divorce, have been living in the temporary transition house for the
last month. Before that, Mr. Allen had the two holed up at the Day's
Inn, just to get by.
In the near future, however, the Veterans Transition House is planning
to open a full-time women's transition facility on Arnold Street in the
West End.
It's a handsome, spacious and tasteful building in a good neighborhood.
Janice and Debbie say they are looking forward to being like sorority
sisters there as they continue their work toward recovery.
Janice explains that male and female veterans have different issues and
the men's house is simply not a place where many female veterans would
make progress.
"I'm not mixed up with men's issues. Men are men and women are women,"
she said.
Dennis Allen said he has been aware for some time about the need of a
transition house for women veterans.
When Janice completed her detox program, he tried to get her into the
Substance Abuse Rehabilitative Treatment Program in Brockton, after
which she would have been eligible for two other follow-up programs. But
it was a no go.
He didn't understand the Brockton V.A.'s attitude toward Janice,
disqualifying her because she had once drifted back into substance
abuse.
"Relapse is part of the whole recovery process," he said.
Mr. Allen had been working for the past year with New Bedford state Sen.
Mark Montigny to find funding for a women veterans' halfway house in New
Bedford.
With the number of women serving in the armed services growing, and with
many returning from Iraq with serious physical and psychological issues,
he expects the need for a women's veterans center will continue to grow
in the future. And he's not impressed with what the federal government
is currently delivering.
"I tell you, we can do better by these veterans than what the VA is
doing," he said.
Sen. Montigny said he pleaded with Senate leadership last year to double
the size of the Veterans Transition House's budget, from roughly
$300,000 to just over $600,000.
Mr. Allen had told him of the need for a transition center for women, an
operation that could serve as a prototype for the halfway houses women
veterans will probably need in the wake of Iraq.
Sen. Montigny, whose late father William was a World War II Navy veteran
of the Saipan campaign, said he thinks the problems of women veterans
are going to grow as a result of the Iraq war.
"I truly believe we're going to see more mental and physical devastation
of the men and women coming home from this war," he said.
And he believes we must pay back the people who put their lives on the
line for the country, he said.
"If there ever were an oxymoron in the English language, it should be
homeless veteran," he said.
Jack Spillane's column appears on Mondays and Thursdays. Contact Jack at
jspillane@s-t.com
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Larry Scott --
