Emergency Treatment to VA through VA's Emergency Care Reporting (ECR) portal, https://EmergencyCareReporting.CommunityCare.va.gov or by calling 844-72HRVHA (844-724-7842) to coordinate follow-on care and transfer activities, if necessary.
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If you think your life or health is in danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. You don’t need to check with them first.

But if you go to a non-VA facility—even one that’s in the VA's community care network—you must follow certain rules so that they can cover the cost of your care. Read more here to learn what you need to know if you go to a non-VA facility for emergency care.

By René Locklear White 
May 28, Memorial Day 2018
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​Honeysuckles. Go green Spring!  Our daughter is home on military leave.

Only one day left, then she returns to her military unit.

She is upstairs rummaging through boxes left on purpose, before she shipped off to boot camp and then tech-school. Books. Old movies. A Native American dream catcher.
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I am downstairs. My old military storage-chest rests in the center of our living room, partially open. I look inside for something to distract me from her leaving again. Cards. Un-played games. Blocks with no boxes. 

How many boxes did I leave, pick up and move since I joined the Air Force in 1989? I cannot remember.  
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Then, I get present to an old aircraft F-16 model-kit in my military chest. When she was born in 1995, I did not decorate her baby room with fun colors and plush toys. I assembled aircraft models to hang over her crib and give her air superiority.  

​How did life get so busy that I never finished this F-16 Fighting Falcon 22 years ago? I was a young Air Force Captain then. My first model was a small Army Apache helicopter.

Now, while she searches for treasures upstairs, I begin working on my old model. I get glue, tweezers, nail clippers and begin assembling the little F-16 engine and engine-air-inlet.  

A little while later, my daughter comes downstairs, “So what’s this mom?”

In our pajamas, together we begin assembling, where time and life stopped. I cherish each assembly in a new way; I feel she does too.

I am watching and listening as she builds the same F-16 aircraft she is now learning to actually land. My daughter attends Air Traffic Control School at the Air Force’s largest combat F-16 wing in the world, Shaw AFB.

Who would have ever guessed we would be sitting here 22 years later. I am retired Air Force. She is active duty. What timing! What are the chances? Or maybe this is a spiritual happening?   

Here we are, mother and daughter. Two Native American, female veterans. Treasuring time. Building something new together. Not just an aircraft, but new possibilities.

Fragrant memories. Go Air Force blue! Our daughter was home on military leave.

Special thanks to Better Homes and Gardens Marty Ross writer and producer and Bob Stefko photographer for interviewing me for this "Breaking Ground" article highlighting where combat vets and first responders find healing in our Boulder Crest Retreat Virginia's Wallis Annenberg Heroes Garden.

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Expenses Eligible for payment:

• Household expenses – mortgage, rent, repairs, insurance.
  
• Vehicle expenses – payments, insurance, repairs (major repairs for vehicles over ten years old will not be considered).
  
• Utilities.
  
• Food and clothing.
  
• Children’s clothing, diapers, formula, school or childcare expenses.
  
• Medical bills, prescriptions & eyeglasses – the patient’s portion for necessary or emergency medical care only.

We Are The Mighty recently produced a new episode of an ongoing digital series entitled "Beyond Barracks" for Veterans First Mortgage.
featuring Sanctuary on the Trail CEO and President, Chris and Rene' White. 

Led by retired Lt. Col. and Producer Francisco "Paco" Hamm, the director of this particular series, Jim Fabio is an incredibly talented director and artist, visited Sanctuary on the Trail to produce this special feature. 

MANY NEEDED TO HELP MANY

"These and other traditional healing therapies are the treatment of choice for many Native American veterans according to a survey conducted at Washington State University." 

University. Military.com
     Native American veterans battling Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) find relief and healing through an alternative treatment called the Sweat Lodge ceremony offered at the Spokane Veterans Administration Hospital.
     In the Arizona desert, wounded warriors from the Hopi Nation can join in a ceremony called Wiping Away the Tears. The traditional cleansing ritual helps dispel a chronic "ghost sickness" that can haunt survivors of battle.
     These and other traditional healing therapies are the treatment of choice for many Native American veterans according to a recent survey being conducted at Washington State University.
     The findings will be presented at the American Psychological Association conference in Washington D.C. Here are the The Survey questions asked to Native American veterans.