BSA Troop 647 donates computer resource center for visiting Veterans and families
Boy Scouts of America Troop 647 (Mercer Island) were onsite at VA Puget Sound Health Care System’s Seattle Campus July 29, creating a computer resource center for Veterans and their families to use while they are visiting the facility.
The goal of the resource center was to make it easier for Veterans to browse the internet, check email and access online resources. The project team included 17-year-old Eagle Scout candidate Gareth Tatum, the project lead, Boy Scouts of America Troop 647(Mercer Island), and Scoutmaster Andy Zaborski, and Scouts Davin Aaoyama, Cameron Selby, Christopher Lein, Sameer Arora and Alex Yin.
"I saw that, as the world has become more and more digitalized, there is a need for free public access to computers in order to view and interact with health information, make appointments, and research job opportunities, among other things,” said Gareth, a rising senior at Mercer Island High School and the son of VA Puget Sound Chief of Surgery Dr. Roger Tatum. “Creating a computer workstation at VA Puget Sound allows me to provide this access to the people who may need it most, while supporting our veterans who have given us so much."
The computer resource center project took about nine months from start to finish. It is comprised of three laptops (one is a back-up), a desk and chairs. The laptops were part of a larger donation by Costco, Army Veteran Cyril Miller and Disabled American Veterans, Chapter 23 (West Seattle). Everything else (table, two chairs, computer locking cables, power strip, materials for mounting cables and more) was purchased using funds donated specifically for the project by private donors to BSA Troop 647, with the scouts onsite to put things together and set up the laptops specifically with veteran-oriented content.
His dad couldn’t be prouder.
"As a physician in the VA for the last 18 years, I am delighted to see these young people focusing on both the needs and the value of our nation's heroes,” said Dr. Tatum. “This project establishes an important link between Troop 647 and VA Puget Sound. It is designed with expansion to the other sites of our health care system in mind and can further serve as a model for such projects at VA sites elsewhere across the VA's Northwest Region and beyond."
For those who don’t have access to video capable devices, this new computer resource center provides an option while visiting VA Puget Sound’s Seattle Campus. VA Puget Sound can also loan tablets, and in some cases provide internet connectivity, to eligible Veterans across all its care sites so they can connect with their providers with VA Video Connect from a location convenient to them. Those interested should talk to their primary care team.
And to better connect Veterans to their family members while they are inpatients, being treated at the emergency room or at one of its Community Living Centers or residential programs, tablets are available to use during their stay.
The VA Puget Sound also offers White Coat Services which provides a premier setup experience for Veterans receiving VA loaned devices. Following the receipt of their device, Veterans get a call from VA Puget Sound team within a few business days to help them with setup and ensure they feel comfortable and confident using it.
Veterans who don’t have access to video capable devices, programs offering subsidies for technology products and broadband such as the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline Program Affordable Connectivity Program, as well as EveryoneOn that offers computer and broadband.
About VA Puget Sound
VA Puget Sound provides comprehensive care to more than 155,000 enrolled Veterans across Western Washington with a primary care team at one of its care sites: two main campuses (American Lake and Seattle), seven outpatient clinics (Edmonds, Everett, Mount Vernon, Olympia, Port Angeles, Puyallup and Silverdale) and Community Resource & Referral Center (Georgetown neighborhood in Seattle) and a Homeless Primary Care Team in Renton. As the VA’s 4th largest research program, VA Puget Sound has research in virtually every major clinical department, including: TBI and multiple blast exposures; memory improvement and Alzheimer's Disease; PTSD and deployment health; Parkinson’s Disease; diabetes; cancer; substance abuse; lower limb prosthetics; genomics; and Health Services. Additionally, it has seven nationally recognized Centers of Excellence (in areas from limb-loss prevention and prosthetic engineering to primary care education and substance abuse treatment). For more information visit www.va.gov/puget-sound-health-care or call 800-329-8387. For Veterans in Crisis, please use the Veterans Crisis line at 988 (press 1).