Early Tuesday morning we packed up the car in Richmond. The CD case was full of bluegrass, ready for the six and a half hour drive out west to the Cumberland Gap. And, of course, Senator Kaine had his harmonica in hand.
On our way, we stopped in Charlottesville where Senator Kaine presentedMildred Hopkins Pretzer with five awards and commendations for her service during World War II. Mrs. Pretzer (who celebrated her 100th birthday this year!) served as a member of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps for more than three years, reaching the rank of Second Lieutenant. As a result of our office’s help in determining her eligibility for these awards, the U.S. Army’s Awards and Decorations Branch made arrangements for a proper ceremony in her honor. There were few dry eyes in the room as she told her story to us, her friends and neighbors.
After leaving Charlottesville, we got back on I-64 and headed to Scott County where we visited the Scott County Telephone Cooperative (SCTC). The SCTC aims to increase economic development in the region through greater access to its high-capacity fiber optic network. In 2010, the SCTC received almost $25 million in stimulus funds to help this effort. After speaking to employees and touring the facility, they showed Senator Kaine how to splice fiber optic cables and even let him splice a few!
As we drove the last hour and a half that evening to the Cumberland Gap, we were lucky to make it in time to catch the sun setting beautifully behind the Appalachians.
On Wednesday morning, we woke up early for a drive up Skyland Road to the Pinnacle Overlook at Cumberland Gap Historic National Park. On a clear day, you can see for miles into Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. Sadly for us, we were there too early and the fog hadn’t lifted. Perfect excuse to go back again soon!
Next stop was Ewing, Virginia to visit Lincoln Memorial University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, the newest in the world and one of only 30 veterinary schools in the United States. The inaugural class started only a few days before we visited. Next, we headed to Mountain Empire Community College in Big Stone Gap to discuss workforce development, career and technical education and college affordability with administrators and staff.
Later we visited the construction site for the new Ridgeview High School in Dickinson County. After decades of flooding problems, Dickenson County officials decided to consolidate the county school system and move its buildings to higher ground with the support from the Army Corps of Engineers, a federal agency charged with flood control efforts across the country. The new school grounds, built on a hill, will house around 1,300 students from elementary through high school. I wish I could’ve gone to a school with such beautiful views! We finished the day with a visit to Range Resources to learn more about drilling for natural gas in southwest Virginia. With the work day finished, we drove out to Breaks Interstate Park, one of the most beautiful parks I have ever hiked. The 4600 acre park has great trails, a large lake, a beautiful river and a 1650 foot gorge, known as the “Grand Canyon of the South.”
The next morning we woke up and drove out to Grundy for the third of Senator Kaine’s Citizen Days. We spent the morning weatherizing a mobile home with a team from People Incorporated. Senator Kaine helped install new windows that had been cracked or damaged. My colleagues and I helped pump insulation into the home and seal off cracks where outside air streamed into the house. In just a few hours we made a big difference!
After getting cleaned up we headed to Lebanon to take part in a Project REVIVE! training. Project REVIVE! is a pilot program aimed to train people to temporarily resuscitate someone who has overdosed on opioids. Heroin and prescription opioid drug abuse is a significant economic and public health challenge for communities across the Commonwealth, especially in the Richmond metropolitan area and southwest Virginia. Laura Blevins, Senator Kaine’s Regional Outreach Director for southwest Virginia wrote a great piece on her participation in a training.
With some time to spare after an interview with WCYB in Bristol (home of the Bristol Motor Speedway),we took a walk down State Street to check out all the pre-race festivities at Food City Race Night. State Street was packed with people listening to live music, taking pictures with the NASCAR drivers and enjoying a beautiful evening before race day. We ended the evening with a stop at Wolf Hills Brewery in Abingdon before dropping by the Thursday Jams Concert Series.
In just a few days, we traveled more than 1,300 miles of some of the most scenic roads the country has to offer. I’m already looking forward to going back.
Communities in Southwest Virginia have some of the highest rates of death per capita due to opioid drug overdoses in the Commonwealth. As a result of the educational work of a number of organizations, including One Care of Southwest Virginia, in 2013 the Virginia General Assembly appropriated $10,000 to the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) to begin a pilot program titled Project REVIVE! The pilot project covers the City of Richmond and parts of Southwest Virginia, including Lee, Wise, Scott, Dickenson, Buchanan, Tazewell, Russell and Washington counties, as well as the cities of Norton and Bristol.
The purpose of Project REVIVE! is to put naloxone - an antidote that stops the effects of an opioid overdose for a short period of time - in the hands of opioid users and those of their family and friends so that in the event of an overdose, the overdose victim can be revived and obtain proper medical treatment. Communities in other states where similar projects have been undertaken have experienced dramatic changes in rates of death due to drug overdoses and a reduction in the number of drug-dependent citizens.
Because One Care of Southwest Virginia has been a leader in providing education and advocacy with respect to drug abuse issues, DBHDS partnered with One Care to provide train-the-trainer courses in the intranasal administration of naloxone. So far, trainings for the public, patients and family members have taken place in Clintwood, Big Stone Gap, Cedar Bluff and Abingdon. I had the opportunity to participate in a training session in Abingdon this month, and it was a powerful educational experience.
In the training we learned the signs of a drug overdose, how to contact emergency services, how to provide rescue breaths, and how to administer intranasal naloxone. We also learned that the effects of naloxone last a short period of time so getting medical attention to the overdose victim is absolutely necessary.
We never know when a loved one may become addicted to prescription pain killers or heroin, or may forget that they have already taken their prescribed dosage of pain medicine and overdose. What we do know is that saving someone’s life following an overdose gives them the opportunity to seek long-term drug abuse treatment. I hope folks and organizations across the Commonwealth continue to raise awareness and lead prevention efforts to combat the deadly epidemic of drug abuse.
During National Park Week, I encourage all Virginians to visit the Commonwealth's great national parks and enjoy free entry. I am traveling throughout the state and while I probably won't get outdoors this week, I am bringing five friends from around the country to Virginia to join me in exploring Shenandoah National Park in mid-May.
I hope you're able to get outdoors this week to enjoy Virginia's natural beauty, either in our scenic National Parks or on one of Virginia's countless other trails. In honor of National Park Week and this gorgeous spring weather, here are a few of my favorite Virginia hikes:
-Little Devil's Stairs in Shenandoah National Park
-Appalachian trail from the James River to the Tye River
-The loop trail at National Seashore in Chincoteague
-And a special tip for those in Southwest Virginia, the "Little Wilson Creek Wilderness" in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area is a well-kept secret and a beautiful hike
This post was originally published in the Richmond Free Press and the Richmond VOICE.
I recently returned from the annual Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage with Rep. John Lewis to Mississippi and Alabama. Every year, the Faith and Politics Institute sponsors the bipartisan pilgrimage to learn about our history and the sacrifices made so that we can truly be one nation indivisible.
This year, the main focus was on the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Freedom Summer in Mississippi. Nearly 20 members of Congress (including VA Rep. Eric Cantor) learned about the passionate work done by local activists and college students to help people register to vote despite enormous barriers in their way. We talked directly to the widow of Mississippi NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers at the home where he was assassinated in the summer of 1963. We were joined by many of the Freedom Summer volunteers, including the brother of Andy Goodman who was kidnapped and killed with 2 other volunteers within days of their arrival in the state. And we visited the hometown of Fannie Lou Hamer and talked to her friends and family about her passionate advocacy for voting rights at the 1964 Democratic Convention.
On Sunday, we traveled to Selma, Alabama for a service at Brown Chapel AME Church. A commemorative panel on the wall remembered VMI graduate Jonathan Daniels, who was killed in Alabama as a civil rights worker in 1965. The weekend concluded as we joined a huge crowd in marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, arm in arm with John Lewis as he narrated what happened in March 1965 as his group of marchers on the bridge was attacked and beaten by state and local law enforcement as they peacefully advocated for voting rights.
The weekend was deeply spiritual--thinking of sacrifice and the deep faith of people who faced violence peacefully to help our nation be true to its principles. But it was also joyous, as we heard again and again of the power of ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. And I even got to play blues harmonica at the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, MS!
We can never take the right to vote for granted. I learned this living in Honduras when it was a military dictatorship. And I'm learning it again as many states are acting to reduce voting access today. The weekend taught us all that the work continues.
by Karen Courington, Military Legislative Assistant
Earlier this week, Senator Kaine and his colleagues took a historic vote on the Victims Protection Act – bipartisan legislation that will further strengthen reforms included in the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act to protect and empower survivors of military sexual assault, increase reporting and put perpetrators behind bars. Passage of this legislation is a huge step forward in the struggle to give survivors a voice.
Throughout the debate over how to combat sexual assault in the military, there have been moments, when, sitting on the dais behind Senator Kaine during an Armed Services hearing and listening to testimony from survivors of military sexual assault, I’ve begun to cry. It’s a debate tinged with emotion – anger and frustration. And in my case, it made me think about the reasons why I joined the military, and, looking back 13 years later, what a different perspective I have today. Every survivor’s story reminded me about how military sexual assault and harassment in the ranks – something I witnessed firsthand – not only breaks trust in the system, it shatters the dreams that young men and women have about serving their country.
At a recent Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee hearing on the relationships between military sexual assault, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide, we heard personal stories that took us beyond the politics. Senator Kaine noted that sexual assault is “not only a crime of violence, it’s also a betrayal of a relationship.” He expressed his concern about how sexual assault in the military “breaks a relationship based on trust.” He understands the human element and the foundations of trust that lie at the core of this issue, something he has centered his vision for reform around.
Serving in the military is like serving with a family. When I was an active duty Air Force Officer, I remember the feeling of inherent trust of those in my squadron – that we were all performing with integrity towards a bigger mission. When you join the military, you make compromises, but no servicemember should ever feel that they must compromise their own physical and emotional safety. Sexual assault in the ranks breaks that trust. It’s a crime that creates fear and scars that can endure for a lifetime. And it’s behavior that is wrong on so many levels – between crewmembers and squadron mates, between officer and enlisted, between human beings.
During the Personnel Subcommittee hearing, the room was silent as the survivors described, in compelling detail, their experience with military sexual assault, their dark struggles with PTSD and thoughts of suicide as a result of this trauma. Through their stories, we learned how we might create change for the future. We learned how we might improve the system going forward to handle health care following a trauma. As a former volunteer advocate with the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program, I was most interested in the survivor testimony about how we can improve a program that supports survivors in the delicate moments following an assault. At the hearing, Senator Kaine raised important concerns about the risks of overmedicating survivors of military sexual trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, and pointed to the larger issue about how we as a society approach mental health issues. The survivors expressed their concern that medication might have taken the place of counseling or other forms of care.
These survivors echoed the voices of many other courageous men and women who have come forward over the past year as Congress has grappled with how best to address a challenging and multifaceted issue. We should be proud of those survivors, and proud of the lawmakers, notably Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Claire McCaskill, who have championed the issue into the nation’s consciousness. We should be proud of the Victims Protection Act and the 36 historic reforms included in the Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act. But, we must remain vigilant going forward, and we cannot forget the human element in the midst of the policy debate.
