- As Veterans age, they face unique challenges from healthcare needs to transitioning to civilian life to accessing benefits and finding community.

But no one knows the veterans' experience better than other veterans.

Today we are going to discuss the importance of the veteran to veteran connection.

I'm here with Yolonda Williams, Executive Director of Leadership Clarksville, Michael Reeves, songwriter and musician, and Karen Reynolds, former Clarksville City Council person.

Welcome, everyone.

- Thank you.

- So what has it been like?

Tell me what it's been like aging as a veteran.

- I wanna say it's been a very interesting process.

Excited at the fact that I get to be a veteran, and each day on this side is a beautiful day to be here.

But it has been challenges.

You know, when you go from wearing a green suit every day to life as a civilian, you gotta really figure that thing out.

And finding the right connections in the right places to make that happen is a stronghold.

It is an absolute necessity.

And for those that don't have it, much more challenging.

I felt for myself.

I was retiring, and I thought I had a whole plan together, and I struggled.

So, one of the reasons why I'm a huge advocate for veterans' rights and privileges is that very reason.

Anybody that came behind me that was not in my position, that got out ETSing or just it was their time, figuring that out and navigating that system on the other side, it is a wild animal to tame.

- Okay, Michael, what about yourself?

- Well, my experience, and just to tag off that on the mental side, and my biggest thing was, you know, actually programmed to be, you know, and we trained to be self-reliant in everything, and then to have to ask for help in certain aspects and like, wanted to navigate and do it your own.

But, you know, and reaching out when things are just, it's a little volatile out there when trying to get the proper help, when trying to get the right questions.

And sometimes you just don't wanna ask anyone.

And it just creates a huge stigma.

And it was a big problem for me on that end because I've always been the go-to person.

And then when you're the one that needs the help, it's very hard, you know, to change with that.

So, I went through a lot.

- Karen, you've got a little medical background yourself.

So, how's it been for you?

- So, I would say I probably, I would say I have healthcare privilege.

So, I literally grew up in medical, in the AMED, Army Medical, you know, so I knew the process all my life, raised my children.

And when I retired from the military, I still had children that were, they were in seventh grade and third grade.

So I stayed, rather than go to the VA side, I stayed at Blanchfield because I knew the system, and I basically knew how to work the system.

I did work for a short time as a veterans' service representative at the VA.

So, in the early 2000s, I saw how difficult it was for veterans to get help and to get the services they needed, especially women veterans.

And so then at that point, I made a decision not to transition any of my care to the VA because I saw, you know, women's health was not a priority.

They have done much better, and they have evolved.

We are still struggling, but staying within the military medicine has its own struggles.

Retirees are always the first ones to be cut when a panel, when there's not enough doctors to go around.

Military veteran retirees are the first group to say you have to go outside of the system.

I've never been outside the system.

I'm not going outside the system.

- [Yolonda] Right.

- [Keith] Scary.

- But I, then I went back and I worked as a, I actually retired from a DOD at Blanchfield.

So, I was always able to stay in the system and work the system.

But even being a person who knew the system and how to work it, I understood the complications.

For instance, as I aged, and I need physical therapy, I don't want to do physical therapy on post with the 20 something year olds.

Like that doesn't suit me any longer.

I need to have more hands-on.

I'm an older woman, you know, perimenopause and menopause, you know, you know, for instance, I was kind of ignored for a whole year.

I went through some excessive issues, and it wasn't until it was time for surgery that I got to the GYN clinic.

And if I'd gone a year earlier and someone had listened to me have these conversations, I may not have needed surgery.

So, it's not perfect on either side.

- Okay.

- In the military medicine, women veterans are not always centered or are believed in healthcare.

But I would say I stayed in a system that I knew how to work, and for anybody that does not know how to work that system, it took me, I needed a urologist.

I wanted a specific urologist in Nashville.

It took me three months knowing how to work the system to get to that urologist.

Nobody outside the system would've had those pieces.

But more and more, any specialty care I need is now off post.

- [Keith] External.

- External.

- [Keith] Okay.

- And as I'm looking for it then, I'm competing with all of you and the rest of the community to get care, and most of us know in Clarksville, we're driving to Nashville for care.

- So, you're retired.

Yolonda, you're retired.

Michael, are you retired as well?

- [Michael] No, I'm not.

- Okay, so you're not retired.

So, primarily your care, was it through the VA as you age?

- It wasn't at first.

There was a moment like once I got out, I went to aerospace school and just tried to just get back into normal life as much as I could until I started seeing the, you know, just feel like I didn't belong there.

So, of course, you know, going through, you know, normal insurances and things, and once things that got bad for me, you know, the migraines and things that just start just completely taking over the life, you know, losing jobs and things.

So I'd go, you know, really got into the VA space then.

- [Keith] Okay.

- And really just seeing how complex then, just so much of you're yelling, but no one's hearing.

- [Keith] Right.

- Honestly, you know, it's a strain because, you know, it's just such a load that the VA's had for so long, you know, and just trying to, you know, communicate those things.

Grateful for 'em.

But there's always room for improvement.

- And also I would say, they get us.

At the hospital, I will tell you I got the best care.

I had the same doctor for like 18 years and now I've had the next doctor for 10.

They get me, they know my issues.

They talk to me.

When I need something specific, they hear me, and I'm very fortunate.

But at 65, I'm out.

- [Keith] Yeah.

- I'm out.

- So I'm 65, so I could talk to that transition, and there's no, but there's no flashing light.

There's no letter in the mail.

There's nothing to tell you about, you're getting ready to go into TRICARE for Life, which is a part of Medicaid care, and then you gotta do all these things to make this transition, right?

And it's difficult.

It was like, I was blindsided basically.

Primarily when I got out, I retired in 2019.

I got a lot of my care from the VA initially because I was at Walter Reed.

- [Karen] Okay.

- And Walter Reed, like you were saying earlier, it's one of those systems where if you hit it at the right time you could stay, but if you hit it the wrong time, which I did, you out.

So I had to immediately get out.

And so I couldn't use Walter Reed anymore, but I knew me there.

I was, you know, a regular there.

I'd been there for like three or four years, and I felt like I was just being discarded.

So, I went to the VA, started with them and got exceptional care.

But I moved back to Tennessee, and now I'm starting over again, and I'm closer to York.

So I use York and got transitioned there.

And I actually was very disappointed initially because I didn't have a doctor.

I had a nurse practitioner, - That's the system.

- And I had a nurse practitioner that didn't really engage me.

I wouldn't mind a nurse practitioner, but this particular nurse practitioner just was not engaged.

So, finally I got split off from her.

I didn't even request it, but it was the greatest thing because the doctor I got, I went to a doctor, a female doctor after that, and she was great.

When I sat down with her, she knew my history.

She had read my file.

- [Yolonda] Yes.

- I mean she talked to me like she knew me for a while, and I'm like, okay, don't you ever leave the VA. (all laughing) What happens a year later, she gets promoted.

- [Karen] Right.

- And she moves up, right?

But the transition from the VA to, when you don't get the care you want or need, feel like you need, particularly a second opinion.

- [Yolonda] Yes.

- You have to go to the outside, right?

Or you wanna go to the outside.

Well, now with the Medicare piece being a part of it, after I learned how to navigate those waters, I'm grateful that it's there.

Because now I do have another source that I can rely on when I can't access the VA healthcare that I would love to have.

But they just can't meet the need like you was saying earlier, Yolonda, they just don't have it.

And so, you know, we have different avenues of approach as veterans, which is great.

I guess no system is perfect, right?

But I'm grateful that we do at least have alternatives.

- We have alternatives, but he does not.

- Yeah, and those that did not retire, and I think one of the things we were talking about.

- Correct.

- Veteran service organizations and people that help veterans, Women Veterans of America was like my tribe, my sisterhood is where I found my happy place because there were women veterans that had been through certain things, some several years sooner.

And we could talk about like those same challenges as you face 'cause there is no book on what this looks like, and every person's case is independently different from the next.

So you have to walk your own walk.

But being able to talk through that walk with people that have been there is an exception, but what I found, like I shared, I did retire, right?

I did have both.

But there were ladies that ETSed out after their second term.

- Right.

- Had no true understanding.

I met some very senior women veterans that had gotten out as WACs, and very early on, and this whole computer thing and understanding how to navigate My Healthy Vet or they don't have smartphones.

I think we were talking about that during the break, right?

- Right.

- Like iPhones or Samsungs.

While that's a conversation that we readily happen at, you know, in our 50s and 60s-ish, I'm not aging anybody, (all laughing) but, you know, talk about someone who's 70 plus, right?

- [Keith] Yeah.

- And now I'm just now trying to figure out my claim or I didn't even know that MST was a thing or I didn't know.

And for those that don't know, that's Military Sexual Trauma for a woman.

- Right.

- I don't know what that is.

- Or a man.

- Or a man, and I just had a class and so now how do I get in to see somebody for that?

The system is so complex, so convoluted.

And now we're turning it into a place where it's all on computers or digitalized 'cause there's not enough people to help.

One of my happy places is being able to just help walk some of those people through that process.

Helping our sisters in that veteran to veteran connection.

- Yeah, yeah.

- To bring it back to what we're talking about is being able to give back.

Like each one teach one.

I mean, you may not be able to help everybody, but if I just lend a helping hand to my sister or my brother who does not know what that looks like, it brings me a level of peace or joy just that I was able to help someone because it was hard for me, and I thought I knew what I was doing right?

I thought I was ready to transition.

- Yeah.

- And realized very quickly I wasn't.

And now someone who did not even have that pathway.

- And that's a great point because why is it important to stay connected?

And Michael you mentioned it earlier, you mentioned Operation Stand Down.

- Operation Stand Down was a place that I'd kind of, I came to actually for assistance, and I walked in a place where everybody was like me, you know?

And veterans, and veterans helping veterans.

I mean, it blew my mind.

I actually told them, hey, I'm coming back and working here.

And literally within months I was back to there, and it just opened up that door for me.

- Tell us a little bit more about Operation Stand Down.

What is that to people that don't know?

- So Operation Stand Down, it's a veteran service organization that, you know, has wraparound services from transitional housing, suicide prevention, social services.

It's just a wraparound of services that can meet a veteran wherever they at, you know?

Services like that, and NPGA Hope, those things helped me into a recovery therapy space that, you know, that not only have I been equipped now, I'm ready and engaging with other veterans.

- Karen, you've been in city government, I mean, another resource right, for veterans.

Talk about that and how you were able to help veterans from that perspective, stay connected.

- My job is really connecting.

Like as a city council person, it was making those connections, and it does make a difference.

And I encourage people to realize that.

Like picking up the phone and calling your city council person or your county commissioner because they know the resources as well.

They're not gonna have the answers, but they're gonna have the connections.

I never pretended or tried to have the answers.

But it's like, lemme call you back.

Where does this person go?

And making sure that, and then when the city council person calls and says, hey, I have this veteran who needs an appointment, can you get in, oh yeah, we can get them in right away.

And that was.

- [Yolanda] It changes the conversation.

- It changes the conversation, and that was really.

- Absolutely.

- And it probably took me, I would say a year and a half on the council to realize I was changing conversations.

- [Keith] Yeah.

- [Yolanda] Yes.

- And I wanna talk more about Creative Vets.

- Yes, Creative Vets.

It's a recovery therapy.

- [Keith] Okay.

- So, and I was blessed to, I think they're starting a sewing class and using sewing as well as a recovery therapy tool.

- [Keith] Awesome.

- There I was blessed to connect some things with Singer sewing brands, and they're starting a class there, but recovery therapy is so important in the different art forms, whether it's art, painting or it's sculpturing.

They have so many different avenues over there.

- And music too, right?

- And music, absolutely.

- That's awesome.

- I mean it brought back music into my life that, you know, I'm able to not only just write it, but also write it in a recovery mode and allow it and also would teach with others, you know, how to release, you know, through recovery therapies.

- That's awesome.

- Actually, I was able to do a song, it's called "One Team, One Fight" that I met Lars Thorson from the Kane Brown Band, and we did a song together in that space there.

So the connections, the engagement that you're absolutely able to have, and the holistic approach of it.

That's what's really important, that holistic side of how, you know, just recovery therapy will open the doors to even some of the other issues that you have or that you're even trying to navigate through because of the connection.

Because one person there is like, hey, or hey, how about this?

I'll send you here.

Or do you know such and such?

I mean that word of mouth.

- [Keith] That network.

- In our space is still very valuable.

- Absolutely, that's awesome.

I know we have, Operation Song meets in our building at Tri-Star, and we had just added last year Freedom Sings USA.

- [Michael] Oh wow.

- And so that music, you know, sitting down with them, and I got introduced to Operation Song at MTSU through the Veterans Center over there on campus, which is another great resource.

- [Yolonda] Yes, another one.

- Student Veterans of America and the Veterans' Centers on different university campuses, colleges and things.

But they told, I told them my story.

I sat down with a professional songwriter, told him my military story, my life story really.

And then he put it to music, and now I have a published song.

- Awesome.

- Yeah, so Operation Song's a great one.

What are some of the VSOs you all are connected with?

(Yolonda laughing) All of them?

- Actually in Montgomery County, we have what was deemed as like the Veterans' Coalition, right?

- [Keith] Okay.

- It's similar to what you mentioned about Tri-Star.

It was, we have like a monthly meeting where every organization that touches or supports or helps veterans comes together once a month and just kinda shares what they have going on.

You know, like if it's an event or if it's a giveaway, if it's a donation, Operation Stand Down is a part of it.

Like I said, I'm a member of Women Veterans of America, but we work closely with the VFW.

We have our annual pancake breakfast at their location.

But I think the Veteran Service Organization that's ran governmentally, that is with the hired professionals, the Struggle Bus is kind of real for us.

Even with all of the great volunteer nonprofits.

That space, while I think it is a great opportunity to be our lifeline, evaluations to who works there and how they service the community needs a really hard look.

Because if you go in with a claim, you go in with a question.

- [Keith] Oh yes, you struck a nerve on that one.

- Yeah, it is a bane of my existence.

And there's some folks that sit there.

- And I think that's across the whole state.

- Yes, it is, it is.

- And across the country - We, that definitely.

- Yeah.

- VA, governmental, whoever is the oversight for that, just really take a hard look at the evaluation of who works there and what they're doing.

I think their role is exceptional.

I think what they're designed to do is on point.

How they do it, how it is monitored, I guess is the right word.

- It's like a double-edged sword.

- Yes.

- And I'll tell you from my perspective, I've seen it.

Just, I would just use Rutherford County as an example.

You get veterans, so many veterans, they don't pay very well at those positions, right?

- Okay.

- So that's why I say it's a double-edged sword.

You have such a high visibility, high level of exposure.

And also you really, it's a position of trust.

- [Yolonda] It is.

- [Karen] Yes.

- And confidence.

- It is.

- And responsibility.

You can't get in there and just play around with it or overstep your bounds.

I see that across the state, across the country even.

But they don't honor those positions very much.

So city governments, county governments really need to take a look at who they put there as well.

I agree with you 100%.

But then monitor that too.

- [Yolonda] Yes.

- Because you know, if you're not getting the feedback, people just coexist or they exist in a space where they just are on autopilot.

And veterans unfortunately get slighted for that.

- Yes.

- And so I get a lot of feedback from, you know, different people, and they say, what about this person?

What about that person?

Or this person treated me that way.

You know, and all I can do is say, you know, try somebody else.

Try this other person.

You know, or do it yourself.

You know, one thing I like to tell veterans, especially veterans who have not filed a claim, or even if you want to file, reopen a claim for example, guess what?

You could do it today.

Go to va.gov and file it online.

And that does two things.

That eliminates the middleman or person, and it protects your date of claim.

Because your date of claim is where it starts that pay if you get awarded that particular injury, right, or illness.

But then if you're not, you know, technically - Savvy.

- Savvy.

- [Keith] Thank you.

- Yes.

- Then you gotta, you know, you gotta lean on somebody that you can trust.

- [Yolonda] Yes.

- And that's a position of trust right there.

- That's where the community comes, helping, helping into each other.

- Yeah, that's right, and so great segue because I was thinking VSOs, and you mentioned them, Yolonda, DAV, you mentioned Operation Stand Down, American Legion.

And we can go on and on, you know.

It's so many of us out here.

I belong to it seems like 10 at least.

I could probably sit here and rattle off, MOAA, Military Officers Association of America and.

- AUSA.

- AUSA.

And they're great, all of them do wonderful things.

But one thing I would like to really hone in on is what you mentioned earlier, is coalition.

We're all sometimes get, we get in our own way.

- Yes.

- We're in so many, you know, everybody's got their niche, right, wanna be known for things.

But if we can come together and work as a unit, and one of the things VVA is doing, I noticed they're collapsing now.

I don't know if you all heard, but VVA, Vietnam Veterans of America has made an official decision to inactivate, and it's gonna be in 2027 if I may remember correctly.

And they're evolving into another organization.

Well, similar thing is happening with a lot of other groups.

People are aging out, right?

- [Yolonda] Aging, I was just going to say it's aging.

- Or dying.

- [Yolonda] Yes.

- And to be blunt, right?

And so we're gonna have to think about coalitions or merging or coming together if we're gonna maintain our block of solidarity and requesting and demanding things from Congress that we know are valuable and important to us and our families, right?

- Correct.

- Absolutely.

- So those are the things that I would really like to emphasize as far as tools and resources.

We need to not so much be so divided, you know, - [Yolonda] Coming together.

- But we gotta come together, work together as a team.

- [Yolonda] And building trust.

- Right.

- We have a very large group of veterans behind us.

- Yes.

- Right?

We've had a 20 year war, and many of them are in the VA, and we need to continue to advocate for, you know, women, we need urology.

- [Keith] Absolutely.

- We need specialty care for women, and we need to continue to advocate out loud what we need as a coalition because that, voices matter in a group because we have a whole group coming behind us.

And if we just kind of feel our way out and walk away and find other things, me.

Then we're not taking care of the ones behind us.

- [Keith] Right.

- And that's a concern I have personally.

- So listen, I appreciate y'all coming in and sharing all of this wonderful information.

It's very important.

It's critical really.

I'd like to give each of you a chance just to kind of share your final thoughts before we close out.

Let's start with you, Karen.

- We are facing not only, you know, a critical shortage of healthcare as we age as veterans, we're also out in the nation facing that same shortfall.

So bringing, having the opportunity to bring to light some of our concerns and talking about and sharing other organizations is so important.

We know as veterans, one team, right?

So I'm grateful for that, and thank you.

And I'm gonna look you up.

- Okay.

(all laughing) Michael?

- Yes, just opportunity to even be on a platform and to speak on the issues that we at the coffee house or at the house, we're always talking about because we're always engaging, and we're always a little heightened and alert and do wanna know.

So I really appreciate these opportunities, and as I continue to grow on the music side, and connect and wanna connect with all of them.

My music is, I wanna give donations and connections to any veteran service or anything there.

So, I'm just very thankful to be here and look forward to other ventures.

- And Yolonda?

- I think my motto is always how can I help?

And I think opportunities like this to be in a space to speak to the things that are the concerns of all veterans and those that we are connected to.

The one plug that I wanna continue to say, we are living longer, right?

So, we gonna be around a long time and even for those coming behind us, and so we gotta talk about how to get this right.

We gotta talk about ways to make this better so that the older we are, we still are getting the care that we know we deserve for what we gave to our country.

For those, whether it was one year, 25, 30.

You're all considered a veteran.

Woman, man, we want you to be recognized and feel that there is a space for you, and veteran to veterans, being connected and sharing that is just something that's near and dear to my heart, and I wanna help them in any capacity that I can.

So I just, thanks for having the opportunity to do that.

- That's great.

Thankfully they allow us to tell our story and 'cause no one can tell it better like we said in the beginning.

Thank you all for coming and taking out times outta your busy schedules and days.

Everything you said was valuable.

It was impactful and necessary.

One of my mottos from MOA is never stop serving.

And it's obvious that neither of you have never stopped.

And that's great, so I encourage you to continue.

Look forward to collaborating with you in the future, and thank you for joining us.

If you'd like more information, please visit our website wnpt.org/agingMatters.

(gentle music) - [Kathy Mattea] Major funding for Aging Matters is provided by the West End Home Foundation, enriching the lives of older adults through grant making, advocacy and community collaboration.

The Jeanette Travis Foundation, dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of the Middle Tennessee community.

The HCA Healthcare Foundation on behalf of TriStar Health.