Hundreds of Northeast Tennessee military veterans — many accompanied by their spouses — attended the first Veterans Health and Education Fair at the Greene County Fairgrounds on Saturday.
Held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. inside the fairgrounds’ Expo Building, the event was sponsored by Laughlin Memorial Hospital and the Blanche Grady Community Service Award.
Noah Roark, director of human resources and marketing for Laughlin Memorial Hospital, said that organizers estimated total attendance at about 800 people, including veterans, spouses and surviving spouses of deceased veterans.
He noted that organizers distributed about 400 copies of the 2007 edition of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’s guide to Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependants to participating veterans.
In addition to 29 booths staffed by representatives of various healthcare, fraternal and military-related organizations, the Veterans Health and Education Fair featured rousing music by the Greeneville High School band and remarks by state and federal officials.
Officials Speak
During an 11 a.m. ceremony, the audience, which then numbered at least 200, heard from U.S. Rep. David Davis, R-1st, of Johnson City, and Tennessee Commissioner of Veterans Affairs John A. Keys.
The officials’ remarks were preceded by the playing of the national anthem by the GHS band; a welcome from Laughlin Memorial Hospital’s Roark; an invocation prayer by Rev. Bill Chapman, chaplain of District One of the Veterans of Foreign Wars; and comments from Sandra Ricker, winner of the Blanche W. Grady Community Service Award.
Ricker’s donation of the $5,000 prize that accompanies the Blanche W. Grady Community Service Award, had provided the funding that made the Veterans Health and Education Fair possible.
Ricker told the audience that in November 2006 she received the Blanche W. Grady Community Service Award.
She said she was honored that Sharon Niswonger, one of the benefactors of the Blanche W. Grady Community Service Award, was present for the Saturday ceremony.
Ricker called for a round of applause for Mrs. Niswonger, who is the mother of Greeneville business leader and phlanthropist Scott Niswonger.
“I want to thank you for the grant that you gave to me,” Ricker said to Sharon Niswonger. “It opened the door so that I could do something for the veterans, which I dearly wanted to do. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Ricker also said she wished to thank Greene County Veterans Service Officer Steve Alexander for nominating her for the award In addition, Ricker said she wanted to thank Betty Weemes, executive director of the Laughlin Healthcare Foundation for her assistance. “She took me by the hand and gave me her support and her love so that I could get through a lot of things.”
Ricker also thanked Laughlin Memorial Hospital Human Resources Director and his staff for their help in organizing the event. “They were so honored to have an opportunity to show their appreciation to you, our veterans,” Ricker said.
She explained how the idea for a veterans health fair was born.
“I went to veterans organizations and asked them what can I do to help the veterans,” she said. “Larry Henderson, commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1990, suggested a health fair. Now, here we are.”
Roark also lauded Henderson. “Without Larry’s help and direction in putting this health fair together, we could not have done it,” Roark said.
Rep. Davis Speaks
Rep. Davis began his remarks by telling the audience “it’s good to be back with you in Greene County.”
He also thanked Laughlin Memorial Hospital and Ricker for sponsoring the Veterans Health and Education Fair.
Davis reminded those in the audience that they often had heard that “freemdom isn’t free ... I’m here to tell you that freedom isn’t cheap, either,” he said. “It has to be earned. Doesn’t it?”
He noted that “men and women in uniform” and their families know that fact first hand. Davis said, “When I first I arrived in Washington, the story broke about [substandard conditions at the U.S. Army’s] Walter Reed Medical Center.
“I could sit in my office in Washington and read reports and watch television or I could go to Walter Reed,” Davis said. “So I went over and spent some time talking to the men and women in uniform ... Thank goodness Walter Reed is in much better shape because people like myself were willing to go over and make sure they got things in good shape.”
Davis also said that he regularly visits the James H. Quillen Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Johnson City.
“I can tell you that the people who make it into the VA are very pleased with their care,” he said. “We have one of the best VA hospital anywhere in the country.”
However, Davis said, he had heard complaints about a need for more parking for patients. “There are two new parking lots already on the drawing board for the [James H. Quillen] VA Medical Center this year,” he said. The remark drew some of the loudest applause that Davis received during his remarks.
Turning to U.S. military involvement in Iraq, Congressman Davis told the audience that he had gone to Iraq in July for a brief visit.
Davis declared, “We have a group of young men and women [in uniform] who are very professional. They are a group that we should be very proud of. We have the best trained, best equipped, best fighting force on earth and they’re fighting for the best country in the world.”
Again, his comment drew laud applause from the audience.
Congressman Davis then told the audience about conversations he had with soldiers serving in Iraq.
“One of them was a young Captain from Knox County,” he said. “He said, ‘please take this message back to America for me. He said, ‘I’m here because I want to be here. I’m in the Army because I volunteered. I don’t need someone to stand up and tell me on the news that they want me to come home. We want to come home, but we want to come home in success, not in failure.”
The Congressman also said he met with U.S. Commander in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus. “I can tell you that we need to stand up for our men and women in uniform,” Davis said. “It’s one thing when Democrats fight Republicans or Congress fights the President, but it is absolutely wrong and despicible when people come out after people who have spent over 30 years of their lives protecting our freedom.”
Commissioner Speaks
State Rep. Eddie Yokley, D-11th, of Greene County, introduced Tennessee Veterans Affairs Commissioner John A. Keys as a veteran of the Vietnam War who has been involved in serving veterans since he left the U.S. military in the early 1970s.
“He’s a person whom I have grown to respect,” state Rep. Yokley said of Commissioner Keys. “He’s a person who serves veterans, knows veterans and is a veteran.”
Commissioner Keys began his remarks to the audience lauding the Greeneville High School Band.
“I played in a high school band and a college band and am a professional jazz musician,” he said. “I appreciate good music when I hear it.”
On Saturday, the 138 members of the GHS band also played the themes of all U.S. military services and selections from their 2007 football halftime show.
Commissioner of Veterans Affairs Keys reminded the veterans of the important of “preventive medical care” and urged them to take the opportunity to learn about preventive care services during Veterans Health and Education Fair.
Keys also told the veteran and veterans’ survivors in the audience that if they had questions about veterans benefits, there were representatives of the Greene County Veterans Service Office, the Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs and the James H. Quillen Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Johnson City present to provide answers.
“They are all here to serve veterans and answer your questions concerning the services and assistance you need,” he said. Rep. Hawk Comments
Rep. David Hawk, R-5th of Greeneville, said. “This has been a tremendous event, I applaud the organizers and Sandra Ricker for getting the event together. We can never do enough to help our veterans in any way, shape or form.” Hawk said he hopes the Veterans Health and Education Fair will become an annual event. “It’s a great way to say ‘thank you’ to our veterans and make sure that they get all the services that they need and deserve to help them live their lives the best way they can.”
