The cornerstone for a new home for 70 homeless veterans was ceremonially laid Monday in Bedford, Massachusetts during a ceremonial ground-breaking. The new building under construction on the campus of the VA in Bedford, Massachusetts will provide apartments to homeless veterans.
Will Hatley says his PTSD came not from his service in the Navy during the final months of Vietnam and the following years, but from a tornado that killed his mother and sister when he was a young child. He says it ultimately led to years of homelessness and addiction, and he became suicidal.
“I wanted to jump off a bridge,” he says, “because of the drugs, because of the PTSD, because of people speaking down to me.”
But Hatley found help at the Bedford VA and now works to help other vets there. He says the new apartment building on the VA campus will provide a new start for 70 homeless Vietnam-era vets.
“This is the age of the veteran that you’re looking at.” Hatley says, “The 55 and over veteran. The one who was ignored. The one who was put down. And now we’re basically offering him a place where he can come and lay his head, and get treatment and be right here on the grounds of the VA.”
The 55 and over veteran: The one who was ignored. The one who was put down. And now we're basically offering him a place where he can come and lay his head, and get treatment and be right here on the grounds of the VA.
The facility is part of a larger VA effort to end veteran homelessness. According to a count in January of 2014, there were 1400 homeless veterans in Massachusetts. And the VA says about half of those are 55 years old or older. Some of them will find a home on the leafy campus of the veterans hospital in Bedford. Christine Croteau is the hospital’s director.
“It’s a lovely community,” she says. “We have wonderful services, some of the most comprehensive mental health services offered at any VA in the country. And the other unique thing is it specifically targets veterans that are 55 and older.”
The VA will screen candidates for apartments there, and 70 homeless veterans are expected to move in next spring.
