I recently had the pleasure and honor of meeting one of the Wounded Warrior Projects' greatest heroes, Mr. Jim Mayer. Jim provided training at one of our recovery care coordination training seminars for new
Recovery Care Coordinators. A former career civil servant at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and wounded warrior himself, Jim retired from the VA to work at the
Wounded Warrior Project.
[caption id="attachment_1300" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="DASD John R. Campbell, Office of Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy; Mr. Jim Mayer, Wounded Warrior Project; Mrs. Sarah Wade, Caregiver and Advocate at the Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride - White House"]
Jim was teaching our
recovery care coordinators about peer mentoring. Jim stated that one of the greatest benefits to any wounded warrior is gaining confidence from and working with each other. He also said that real peer mentoring occured outside of the classroom. Today, I got a first hand lesson on what he was talking about.
Today, we met again at the White House with the
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy, Mr. John R. Campbell as President Obama, Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs Tammy Duckworth, and General James Cartwright highlighted one of the greatest examples of wounded warriors helping one another through inspiration and camaraderie at
the annual Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride from the White House.
The President reiterated this point -- that we do better together, when we recover together. He spoke about Sarah Wade, and her Husband, Ted Wade:
“Now, Sarah once said of Ted, “Just like he needed a team in the military to accomplish the mission, he needs a team at home for the longer war.” And so I say to all of you today, we’re going to keep building that team that you need for recovery. We’re determined to take care of you as well as you’ve taken care of us.”
And then the President announced that caregivers like Sarah Wade could apply for a
new caregiver benefit, as VA announced it would begin accepting appplications for this new benefit on May 9th. Potential caregivers can vist the new VA site, and
download the new VA Caregiver application form at www.caregiver.va.gov.
So today was about teamwork and out-of-the-classroom wounded warrior peer mentoring. But it was also about seeing the power of public and private organizations working together to help wounded warriors, veterans, and their families connect to each other and to the resources they need to continue to win races ... together.
You can learn more about programs like the Wounded Warrior Project, and 14,000 other resources for wounded warriors, Veterans, and their families, by visiting www.nrd.gov.
The National Resource Directory is a directory of resources for wounded warriors, veterans, their families and caregivers. The site is sponsored by the Office of Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy at the Department of Defense, as well as the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Labor.