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Minneapolis VA Health Care System top stories.

Congratulations to Scott Plaisance, our latest Volunteer of the Month. Plaisance, an Army Veteran, was stationed in South Carolina, Georgia, Germany and finished his service at Fort Hood, Texas in 1984. The VA was always in the back of his mind, so after retirement, he started volunteering in 2022.

Man in a gray sweatshirt sits at a blue table with his fingers intertwined

“My name is Jose Garcia, a 24-year U.S. Air Force disabled veteran, VA employee and a multiple sclerosis patient. When I was diagnosed with MS in April 2000, I was still able to walk and still on active duty. In the beginning, I was in denial. Twenty-five years later, I am in a wheelchair.”

A U.S. Airforce Veteran sits in his wheelchair in a hallway. He's wearing a dark jacket and gray pants. On both sides of him stand VA nurses.

Raoul Schander, age 78, clutched a letter in his hands as he laid on the hospital bed preparing for transport to prep for coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. As the surgeon greeted him, Schander handed him the letter and asked that he share it with the whole team.

Raoul Schander and his bypass surgery team pose for two photos

The Minneapolis VA Health Care System has 13 Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. In 2023, these clinics added more services so Veterans can get specialized care right at their local VA. One of these new services is cardiology.

Marine Veteran Robert Cosmero and the cardiologist nurses at the Twin Ports CBOC

Imagine, if you will, being in a large convention center where Veterans are playing basketball in one corner, softball and pickleball in another, shooting air pistols and throwing cornhole bags all at the same time.

Veterans from the Minnesota wheelchair team taking aim with their bows.

He kissed her in a way she didn’t think would be possible again; he kissed her standing up.

Charlie Kriesel standing and kissing his wife with the assistance of the mobile manual wheelchair.

The Minneapolis VA Health Care System (MVAHCS) offers a comprehensive Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Residency program.

The nurse practitioner team stands with three Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Residency program graduates.

While stashing his carryon bag under the seat, Dan Lovnaria, a certified registered nurse anesthetist, accidentally brushed the leg of a man in his 70’s who had just taken the middle seat next to him on a flight to Minneapolis. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry.”

Certified registered nurse anesthetist Dan Lovnaria poses with John McPhillips after a successful hip surgery

For Mark Stulz, a Marine, it was his recreational therapist Janelle Gustafson who convinced him to get on a plane and go to the National Veteran Wheelchair Games in New Orleans.

Picture on the left shows Veteran in a wheelchair holding a pistol at the firing range; picture on the right shows the team from the wheelchair games

The Minneapolis VA is committed to ensuring a safe environment. Last month, missing patient simulation drills occurred at various times to reach each shift of duty at the medical center.

Simulation learning team poses with a practice dummy