Welcome to the podcast. We're doing our first remote episode. We're at the Wellness and Mental Health Fair from the West Palm Beach VA. We're at Palm Beach State College and I'm in a room full of wonderful people doing wonderful things for veterans and my first guest is I'm Catherine Doe.
Speaker 2:I'm the Mental Health Director at Compass Community Center. We are the LGBTQ plus community center for Palm Beach County and we focus on serving the LGBTQ plus community and people living with HIV.
Speaker 1:Okay, how long has this organization been around?
Speaker 2:We've been around for over 35 years.
Speaker 1:Wow, and today you're here to talk to some veterans.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely, tell us a little more in depth about what you do, sure, and today you're here to talk to some veterans.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. Tell us a little more in depth about what you do.
Speaker 2:Sure. So we have programming for youth all the way to elders. So LGBTQ plus youth come for social support as well as mental health support. We have HIV prevention and education, so folks can come in for free and confidential testing and if someone tests reactive, they can get linked up to treatment the same day. We have a clinic that we partner with, that's on-site K&N Community Health, so folks can come there also for HIV treatment, of course, like I said, and also free STI testing and low-cost treatment if someone doesn't have insurance. And where are you located? We're located in downtown Lake Worth Beach, right across the street from the Publix, okay, and you?
Speaker 2:have a website we do, it's wwwcompassldbtqcom. All right, and can I add a little bit more about? Our programming you can say all you want, my friend. We also have for adults. We have social support groups all throughout the week. So if someone is coming out, for example, and they need somewhere to go to talk to people.
Speaker 2:They can come to our coming out group. We have a gender support group for folks who are in the process of transition or exploring what gender means to them. We partner with NAMI, who's also here today, for an LGBTQ plus mental health support group and we offer mental health resources as well individual therapy and group counseling, as well as events throughout the year. We put on Palm Beach Pride in March, so come on out for Palm Beach Pride as well as Stonewall Ball in June, and all of our services are open and veterans are very welcome to participate. And one more that we have on Monday mornings twice a month is our Coffee Clutch program, so 10 to 12 on two Mondays a month. That's geared more for folks kind of 55-plus or who have time on Monday mornings, even if they're younger, and it's coffee and conversation and it's a really great place for folks who just want to socialize, you know, get to know other people.
Speaker 1:Excellent. Well, I hear an episode here. I hear you getting your own episode.
Speaker 2:I love it More than just five minutes.
Speaker 1:This is going to be great. Well, thank you for your time. Thank you for stopping by the table. Thank you so much for having me, absolutely it. Thank you for your time. Thank you for stopping by the table. Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely, it's my pleasure. We'll be talking a little while. Wonderful, all right. All right, welcome to the episode. So tell us who you are, who you're with and what you do.
Speaker 4:So my name is Jesse Lopez. I'm a two-time Afghanistan combat veteran. I serve with the most deployed decorated unit in the military. I'm here representing PGA HOPE, which is a golf program for veterans. I'm also in the program right now and I also have a nonprofit called Operation Clean Cut where I cut a soup kitchen and I cut Lake Worth and I cut a lot of veterans and homeless people's hair. So I'm here advocating for both programs but also helping the veterans and connecting the veterans with haircuts that are here and hanging out with you and seeing what all the other vendors have to offer and representing the military and also representing the 101st and the infantry.
Speaker 1:So how long have you been with that organization so?
Speaker 4:the PGA Hope. I've been with two years and my non-profit I started a year ago. I went to barber school and we cut homeless people's hair and I connected with the veterans and I got really good at cutting hair and I volunteered at the soup kitchen one time and I fell in love and now I can't stop going there. How old are you? I'm 30 years old, but I was in infantry for 10 years and I was like dog years, so really I'm like 45. And when older women ask, I always say how old do you want me to?
Speaker 1:be. That's the best. I'm not going to get a better answer today. I can tell you that I'm not getting a better answer than that. Well, that's awesome. How often do you go out cutting hair?
Speaker 4:So Fridays and Saturdays and then Thursdays I cut out a church in Lake Worth, so pretty much three times a week. But it's getting a little hot so I try to go a little earlier.
Speaker 1:How can people get in touch with you about getting the haircuts, Because you know what. That's a very interesting thing that you're doing, because not a lot of people are out there doing that.
Speaker 4:So we're in the process of getting the website. But my phone number or at the soup kitchen at the Karate Center in Boyan Beach jog, in Boyan Beach Boulevard, at the soup kitchen, but my phone number is 561-808-5139. If you need a haircut, I come to you or you can meet me somewhere and we can have the conversation about life. You know, suicide is one big thing 22 veterans commit suicide a day and basically it's not just a haircut, it's a therapy session to talk about life and to see and to help people. You know, because a haircut is more than just giving someone money. I could give somebody $10 and they can spend it at McDonald's in one day. But this haircut and the 45-minute talk is more important. Not only that, it gives you an opportunity to maybe for a job interview or to find a beautiful woman who usually sees you with this nice haircut. You might not be in the streets anymore. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:And it gives somebody a good self-esteem, right, yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and so not only is it haircut, we're doing beards. I'm cleaning the hair off your ears, I'm hooking your eyebrows up. A lot of these guys they don't know about the eyebrows and the ears, so I do like the little things and stuff like that and you do this for free and I do it for free and I love it, God bless you man.
Speaker 4:And the money that I put back into it. It goes to better people and I can get paid for it. But helping these people and seeing the transition of these people that haven't had a haircut in 10 years and then see how young and happy they look, and when I hand them the mirror, you can't put a price down on that. Man and veterans, a lot of them are lost, you know, and no one helps them. And me giving them that talk. We talk about God, we talk about everything, whatever religion they like and where they went through, and just letting them know that there's help out there. Man, because veterans, we need to reconnect with other veterans, because suicide is the main thing that's really affecting a lot of people. Twenty-two veterans a day is crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're a good man, jesse. Hey, I'm trying to get like you. No, no, you're doing good work, man. That's very, it's a very interesting angle. I don't mean to call it an angle in a bad way, but, again, not many people think of that. They don't think of it. They think of the suit and they think of the resume making, and then there's nothing wrong with any of that either. But the haircut. The haircut Since we were little children, the haircut.
Speaker 4:I make you look 10 pounds skinnier. Make, since we were little children, the haircut. I make you look 10 pounds skinnier. Make you look like a. You know, well, I'm bald, it didn't help me. Hey, hey, I'm getting there. You know the helmet in the infantry. That's why I got the comb over. It's like a comb over to one side.
Speaker 1:There you go, well, jesse. Thank you very much, my friend. I appreciate your time, I appreciate you, I appreciate what you're doing, man.
Speaker 4:Yes, and God bless you, man, I'm going to give you one of my, put one of my cards in here. Yeah, absolutely, man, put a couple so whoever wants to take it, there you go. So, yeah, so Operation Clean Cut. That's me on my second appointment in Afghanistan. Yeah, and yeah, I hope people are listening and hope people can get inspired to help these veterans, man, because I get inspired to help these veterans man because they served our country and they deserve the best.
Speaker 1:That's it. Yeah, jesse Lopez. If you want to get in touch with him, his number is 561-808-5139. He's doing good stuff, man. Thank you, jesse. Thank you All right. Welcome to the podcast. Tell us who you are, who you're with and what you guys do for veterans.
Speaker 6:Hi Scott, Hi Carly, my name's Carly Lohr. I provide equine therapy for veterans. I am with Ben Sorimos Equine Therapy Center. We're in Loxahatchee. I also work with Scott at her foundation. We're buddies.
Speaker 1:One of my favorite people.
Speaker 6:Yeah, so you know, we just horse around.
Speaker 1:You horse around.
Speaker 6:Throughout South Florida.
Speaker 1:How long has Vince Ramos been around?
Speaker 6:I think 43 years.
Speaker 1:How long have you been with him?
Speaker 6:16. 16? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow, but you're you been with them 16. 16? Yeah, wow, but you're only like 27.
Speaker 6:I know Strange.
Speaker 1:You started when you were young, right yeah? So how do your sessions work? Do they come in for four weeks, six weeks? How does that work?
Speaker 6:Yeah, good question. So we have three levels. So it started. We started with an eight week program, this one level, and everyone who went through it was like that was too short and we want to come back. We're like did a level two and we have a level two. And then they were like we want to continue coming. So we're like, okay, here's the level three. So at this time we have three levels. They're each 10 weeks and then once people go through those three levels, they can continue to come because the doors are always open.
Speaker 6:So there is volunteering. We do veteran group volunteering. On Sunday mornings they come and just do like a spa day with the horses, take care of them, bubble baths, get together with each other. They can also go into a riding program. So we've had a lot of fun in the past doing like drill teams and going to different horse shows and riding in the drill team. So there's all different ways that people can come, do therapy for the 30 weeks and then continue to come and that's all free. It's all free, right, yeah, see that veterans, that's all free.
Speaker 6:It's all free, right yeah?
Speaker 1:See that, veterans, it's all free. You know what? One thing I love about equine programs I this is you're the second one I've talked to and you will have your own episode, Everybody that comes on. I'm like I just want to talk more, but today we're kind of limited. But I love the fact that they always say our aftercare is endless, the door is always open. Come in, like you guys have the volunteer thing right. Come in and, however it works, Herd Foundation has Falling Friday. I love that. You don't get that from a lot of organizations.
Speaker 6:Yeah, it becomes like that second home.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely, or like what the founder calls it as a second home.
Speaker 6:Yes, absolutely. Or, like what the founder, calls it as a stable home. Someone, yeah.
Speaker 1:Pardon the pun. Right With your horse around.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 1:There's some rare silence behind us.
Speaker 6:My horse is around.
Speaker 1:I'm going to keep this in too. This is a real live event. Well, carly, thank you very much for your time. You guys have a wonderful program, but even more wonderful than the program is you Carly People. I cannot stress what a good vibe Carly always gives off. I don't think I've ever seen you not smiling. Needs to be more people like Carly in this world.
Speaker 6:Sky. You're flattering and fun.
Speaker 1:But I tell the truth, I like that I'll roll with that All right, all right. Well, okay, carly, thank you very much. I appreciate your time.
Speaker 7:Thank you.
Speaker 1:All right, Well, welcome to the table. Tell us who you are, what you do and what you guys do for veterans.
Speaker 3:Okay, so my name is Taisha Wisdom. I am a social worker in the caregiver support program at the VA and what we do is we provide support to the caregiver that provides personal care to the veterans.
Speaker 1:Wow, how long have you been doing that for?
Speaker 3:I've been doing it for a few years, but I've been at the VA since 2005. Ah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you kind of move through the ranks of the VA, you kind of move in and out of the what did you do before this particular part of the VA?
Speaker 3:Well, I was in school to go for social work.
Speaker 1:Okay, and I'm also a veteran. Who did you serve with Army? Ah, the Army. Veteran. Who did you serve with Army? Ah, the Army, okay.
Speaker 3:How long were you in the Army for?
Speaker 1:A couple years and I got injured and medical boarded out, so you're a veteran that went to work for the VA to help veterans. Yes, god bless you. Yes, thank you. No, thank you, I'm a veteran and I thank you.
Speaker 3:Okay, how's that? Thank you for your service.
Speaker 1:So give us a typical day of what you would do with what you do, with how you help the veterans.
Speaker 3:Okay. So if they qualify for, because we have two programs the general caregiver program that provides education and support to the caregiver, or the comprehensive assistance program where the caregiver, if they are prepped, can receive a monthly stipend paid directly to them, a social worker that will do home visit quarterly, and also mental counseling for the caregiver, chant VA for health care if they don't already have it, and extended respite. So it's a short-term break for the caregiver, but I know the ANC comes in and provides supervision on a short-term basis.
Speaker 3:So we provide a lot of support and education to the caregiver.
Speaker 1:And they are really an intricate part of how this all works, and I love that, because caregivers kind of get overlooked. Oh yeah, they get overlooked and the person needing the care deserves every second they get, but so do the caregivers. I know that firsthand through an experience that I had, and it's not easy, it's hard, and thank you for what you do for people that kind of I don't know if they feel underappreciated or overlooked or they just get so lost in it oh yeah, all of it that they don't feel what's going on and it's all consuming. It is all consuming. Sometimes it is yeah, and people like you go in and make their life just a little bit easier. And how can people get in touch with you? How do they get into this program?
Speaker 3:Well, they can call me. My number is 561-275-9511 and I can direct them On the two programs Education and how they can enroll or apply for the program.
Speaker 1:Okay, alright, and give them your name again.
Speaker 3:Taisha Wisdom, and I'm a social worker In the Caregiver Support Program.
Speaker 1:Wisdom, yeah, wisdom. I know you've heard it. All I have, and I'm sure you're full of wisdom yourself. You seem to be, that's right. You're a wealth of information. Well, thank you so much for sitting down with me and people. If you're a caregiver and you're listening to this, or if you're a veteran who has a caregiver and you're listening to this, please reach out and get them the break that they might need or the help that they deserve. All right, thank you very much. You're welcome, all right, so tell us who you are, who you're with and what you guys do.
Speaker 5:My name is Mike Galvin. I'm a retired police captain from Palm Beach 25 years and my wife and I started basically a sanctuary for veterans and first responders. We have a two-and-a-half-acre property and in that property we have residential for both male and female. We're FAR certified level three, which means we have 24-hour supervision, and we're there primarily to support veterans and first responders in trauma issues, drug rehab issues. We're not doing the detox part of it, but we are taking them after they leave detox and kind of like I tell them I screw your head on straight so the light goes off in the attic.
Speaker 5:I'm not a therapist. What's the name of the organization? The name of the organization is Cypress Wellness Retreat. We're located on the Lane Road by Southern and Jog. That's the easiest location and we're two and a half acres. It's a sanctuary at serenity. People like veterans and first responders don't need adventure therapy. Their adventure was their job, so what they need is a place to calm down, screw their head right down straight, a lot of mindfulness, take a very holistic approach to taking care of them and we don't have a set program. I've had people come to Cypress Wellness Retreat, say four weeks, and they were good. I've had people there for over a year and I have people just now checking out that have been there for like a year or two months, but it's taken them that long to regain their feet, to reenter into society and be a valuable person, which they are normally. It's just these traumas near their ugly heads. You're a veteran? No, I'm not a veteran, okay, but a veteran of the police.
Speaker 1:A veteran of the police. But, as I say to people that do these things and I'll use Ashley Williams from the 22 Project she'll say I'm not a veteran. And my response to that is you might not be a veteran, you might not have served, but you're serving those who have served Right, which to me, as a veteran, is just as important. Very much so, and we appreciate what you're doing for us.
Speaker 5:Everybody in my family. My grandfather was a Marine, nicaragua. My uncle was a Marine Iwo Jima. My brother was a Marine in Vietnam. My dad was a naval officer in World War II, I mean. So these are the. I've always had that in the background. Sure, it's just that I ended up being a cop.
Speaker 1:Well, so that's how I. I was security police in the Air Force, and so I'm a first responder, which is a very small percentage of military members Right Are first responders. The fire department, I think, is even less than security police or military police. However, whatever branch you're in, that's where my stuff happened. Military bases are just like a city or a town, and you know as well as I do. You dealt with the dregs, I dealt with the dregs. You dealt with the bad calls, I dealt with some bad calls, and when I went into the Air Force as a security police, I had no idea that that was the case.
Speaker 5:Yeah, is it not unbelievable?
Speaker 1:And so my last day of basic training, when our training instructor said who's going to be security police? And I raised my hand. He said you are going to see the dregs of the military society and I saw some bad incidents and there's murders, there's death and I happened to get that. So as a first responder, I thank you for what you guys do also.
Speaker 5:Well, that's what I tell people, you know, I tell my vets whenever they come here. I say most veterans are probably in the service for four years. I mean, we're not talking the lifers, so we're not talking the guys who, 10, 12 years, get to a certain level and they get some kind of a pension. We're talking most guys are in for the enlistment, the active duty enlistment, and if they're in combat they see the horrors of combat. It's like Mike Tyson on his best day throwing a right cross at you. Boom. It's just horrible. First responders like you are, like I am, we died the death of a thousand cuts. It's all the little stuff, over and over and over and over again. And then you go home to your wife and she says how was your day? And you give him a big grin and say, oh, it was fine.
Speaker 1:And it's always you could leave the most horrible scene that you've seen. Yes, and you go back to work. Yes, and you go back to work. Yes, like go back to work. Yes, there's no, at least back when I was in. Yes, there was no respite. No respite, there was no. Hey, you know, let's go talk to somebody. You go back to work, yeah, so that's so, I'm with you on that. So this is why we developed the sanctuary.
Speaker 5:I knew from my brother and I don't know whether you have time for me to talk about my brother, I love my brother to death but he died. He spent two tours in Vietnam, never got a scratch. He was a Da Nang staff sergeant in logistics Pretty safe job, you know, handing out underwear and ammunition I mean, that's what a logistics guy does, right? But he was a tiny little guy and there weren't a lot of tunnels in the I-Corps in the north central area, but there were some and every now and then they'd drag his little ass out and he could go into the tunnel and come back out.
Speaker 5:When he got back from Vietnam I was a teacher. I didn't recognize the things that I recognize today in him and one month after he came back from Vietnam he was involved with a solo car accident with a half-drunk bottle of Jack Daniels. Tell me what's going on with that. I knew I had to do something to give back to the people that are experiencing this trauma. So after I did my stint 25 years I said we're going to do something here, and my wife and I made Cypress Wellness Retreat.
Speaker 1:That's a beautiful thing, my friend. Yes, it is. I'm with Herd Foundation, so we do equine-assisted services for veterans. That's how I got into all of this. I went to them as a veteran, so anybody that helps, like I said, you might not have served in the service, but you're serving those that served and I truly, as a veteran, I appreciate that. Thank you, my friend. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. All right, thank you. So tell us who you are, okay, who you're with and what you guys do for veterans.
Speaker 9:Okay, so my name is Brittany Rice, I am a licensed clinical social worker and I'm with the organization called Horses or Horse Assistant Learning and Therapies, and we call it HALT for short, halt, halt, yep. And so we work with horses and veterans and we are there to help the well-being and mental health of all the veterans in our community, and we get to work with horses all day long so you do equine assisted services right, yes, and where are you guys located?
Speaker 9:we are in jupiter farms jupiter farms okay so we are pretty new in the sense of working with veterans. Um, I've worked with veterans for about five years now doing equine therapy, but this specific program and location is new and we're getting it off the ground. Our first session will begin in after summer, so like the beginning of September, I believe, so once it's not as hot outside we'll get everybody back at the farm and outside with the horses.
Speaker 1:So what is the program going to entail for veterans?
Speaker 9:So it's 10 weeks for an hour and a half once a week and they come on Wednesdays that's when we do Wednesday mornings and they get to come out, meet other veterans in the community and get to know each other and make connections. But you're also making a really hands-on connection with some horses and just getting to know them and bonding with them. It's a pretty cool feeling, like they have their own personalities every horse and you kind of get drawn to one and it's interesting how the relationship forms with no words, right, because we can't speak horse yes, how many horses are in your herd?
Speaker 9:so right now we have three and we also have um. So ashley colwell she started halt and she's a speech therapist so she works with a lot of children on different speech and motor skills, things like that they get to ride the horses. So she started out with primarily that population Right and so we're adding veterans.
Speaker 1:Ah, and so you said that 10-week programs yes, and it's Wednesdays.
Speaker 9:Wednesday mornings for an hour and a half once a week for 10 weeks, and we call those 10-week periods, we call them sessions. So one session is 10 weeks long.
Speaker 1:And how would a veteran if they wanted to and they're up in that area, right, because now that is kind of up there and a little out right.
Speaker 9:It's actually really close to the highway, both 95 and the turnpike.
Speaker 1:Good, good good.
Speaker 9:Exit 116 on the turnpike right there and you're like two miles, I don't even know. I guess it's west but it's not too far from the highway, but it is north Palm Beach County, okay, and I was with Vince Ramos for a couple of years and they're like central west. Palm Beach County yeah, and I just saw the need for that area. I love Carly.
Speaker 9:Yeah, I love Carly she's amazing, she's amazing yeah, she's actually um somebody who got me really um in my foot my feet wet, I guess when I started in the industry with equine therapy, so I've known her for a lot of years.
Speaker 1:Yeah oh, that's excellent, that's excellent. And again, uh, you're located jupiter farms jupiter farms? Is that the name of the farm, or no, jupiter farms?
Speaker 9:is is a suburb in palm beach county, more specifically in jupiter, so it's um a little bit south of martin county, okay, of stewart, essentially um, and then a little bit south of us you have, like Palm Beach, west Palm downtown, you know that area. So it's about 15 minutes north of there.
Speaker 1:Okay, do you do groundwork or riding, or what is it? What does it entail?
Speaker 9:Yeah, it's all groundwork.
Speaker 3:We're on the ground the whole entire time.
Speaker 9:It's all groundwork. We're on the ground the whole entire time, but you are hands-on next to a horse, physically in proximity with the horses, the whole time.
Speaker 1:Excellent. I'm a big fan of equine therapy, equine-assisted services.
Speaker 9:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:That's the term now equine-assisted services.
Speaker 9:Yes.
Speaker 1:I'm a big fan.
Speaker 8:Well, thank you so much for sitting down with us. Yeah, thank you for listening. That wasn't so hard, was it? No, it wasn't hard at all.
Speaker 1:And again, thank you for what you're doing for veterans. I think that it's going to be a wonderful program and I hope it flourishes. Thank you and your herd flourishes and your program flourishes.
Speaker 9:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Because I personally worked with Herd Foundation and they changed my life as a veteran. I'm really happy to hear that I know what's waiting for the veterans in your area.
Speaker 9:Yeah, and it's the magic stories that each individual experiences that really shares about this intervention and how beautiful and healing it really can be.
Speaker 1:And it is.
Speaker 9:So thank you for sharing your story too, and being open Absolutely and thank you very much.
Speaker 1:Your story too, and being open Absolutely, and thank you very much for coming on. Thank you All right, so tell us who you are, who you're with and what you guys do for veterans.
Speaker 8:My name is Jackie Kapanowski and I am with Shifting Gears United. I am the founder and president. We were founded in 9-11 and we provide adaptive sports for veterans and first responders. So we offer kayaking, paddle boarding, swimming, triathlon multi-sports. What I try to focus on in our mission is health and wellness and wholeness for these veterans, because the experience of when they're on the water or in the water during the water aerobics class it is a game changer. I truly feel like how water heals and all I ever hear is Coach, what's my combat? So our kayak program is booked for the summer. I just started the water aerobics program. That's booked until September. The paddle boarding is brand new. That's sold out for the summer. But what I try to do is take each individual one-on-one and work with them and learn their needs and their goals and then incorporate them into the team little by little and then, next thing you know, on the weekends they're cycling or 50 miles or doing a triathlon or an Ironman or whatever. It might be just recreational, it's whatever they want.
Speaker 1:I work with them one-on-one in any facet that they need, so it's tailor-made to the individual. Yes, it is Wow, and how long have you been doing this?
Speaker 8:I started this. I retired in 2016 from the Paralympics. I was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame two years ago.
Speaker 1:Oh, wait, a minute now, wait a minute, now See everybody has a story.
Speaker 8:I say that again, say it louder I am a winter and summer Paralympian, and I did nine world championships in winter and summer Olympian and was inducted two years ago into the Sports Hall of Fame. And I didn't know what to do with myself after 2016 in Rio, because all I've done was sports my whole life. I was supposed to be a runner. I've done 90 marathons, so I did 19 as a runner and 71 in my racing wheelchair and I bronzed in Germany. And then from there is where my career took off, to being on the US Curling Team, to breaking the USA triathlon record, to competing in London and only coming home with a bronze. But I had cancer and came home and Chocolate Milk sponsored me to do an Ironman to get me through my cancer. My ride home from Ironman 11 hours and 39 minutes.
Speaker 8:I get a phone call from Team USA wanting me to come back in row because I was rowing in between all this too, and I told them I was sick and I just did an Ironman. They said I know we saw it on social media so I declined it. My husband has two Olympic rings. When he accepted that, he called the USA coach and told me if I didn't go to this camp would be the biggest mistake. So I went to the camp for the week.
Speaker 8:but I'm in my 50s, I'm a collegiate, I'm going against collegiate rowers, kids and um I did a lot of crying and I'm the only one that went home with a boat sponsor, or as I went to France, I qualified the boat and then I came home and the Olympians and the Paralympians had to go to Sarasota for the Olympic trials.
Speaker 8:Those young girls got me off the line, but I have the mentality and won by five boat lengths and went to Rio and and that's when I retired and that's when the depression kind of sunk in, because I didn't know that next path and I had to do a lot of you know, praying and see where God's going to take me and how I came up with it is. It's amazing, I do all my own artwork. I did all my trademarks, because I don't have the money for a lawyer, so I did this all on my own. Um, I came up with the name or actually, harry came up with the name shifting gears, because we all shift gears, because I was a runner and then became one of the top wheelchair racers and then united is because we're united as one. Yes, so like I trademark this the Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans and First Responders.
Speaker 1:And where are you located?
Speaker 8:I live in Jupiter, but most of our programs are in North Palm Beach at the Rowing Center. We do the aquatics at the North Palm Beach Country Club.
Speaker 1:Well, excuse me, club, well excuse me.
Speaker 8:So then, what I usually do is like um, depending on the veterans in the group, we'll sit afterwards. I'll go pick up a couple pizzas and we'll sit outside and we'll evaluate and talk about the class and how they feel and what I can do to help improve anything in their lives and get the feedback. It's just a relationship and a bond that is unbreakable with each individual that I have come across in the last six years. Everybody's touched my life so much. I'm the blessed one.
Speaker 1:You are a very inspirational person also. Thank you, and I love your passion and I love what you do and thank you. Thank you as a veteran, thank you. So now you're going to make me cry.
Speaker 8:It's just, isn't it so great what we get to do? Yes, you know what I love our community and you know what. Yeah, you deserve, you deserve Right.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Yeah, thank you. So if somebody wanted to get in touch with Shifting Gears United, united, how would they do that?
Speaker 8:Well, you can go to our website, ShiftingGearsUnitedorg. You can reach out to me personally, Jackie Kapanowski, and that's J-A-C-Q-U-I. My last name, Kapanowski, K-A-P-I-N-O-W-S-K-I. My phone number is 732-236-3576. And it's ShiftingGearsUnitedorg.
Speaker 1:Well, you're doing a beautiful thing.
Speaker 8:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:And, as a veteran, I've said to these other people thank you for what you do for us.
Speaker 8:And thank you for your service and what you did and for our freedom.
Speaker 1:And don't forget you're serving those who served, which is just as important.
Speaker 8:Thank you.
Speaker 1:All right, so tell us who you are, who you're with and what you guys do for veterans.
Speaker 7:My name is Jose Lopez Rodriguez. I'm a transitional patient advocate for the Pulse 9-11 program, military 2BA. One of the things I do, I'm a patient advocate for the program. We also offer case management for veterans that serve after 9-11. In the past we used to do combat veterans only, but a couple years ago we updated the program and now we do any veteran that serves after 9-11. We offer case management, we set a goal for them, we help them with their medical needs that they might have and we connect them with the care that they deserve.
Speaker 1:How long have you been doing this?
Speaker 7:I've been doing this since 2020. Before this, I used to be a peer specialist and in that peer specialist I used to be with the Hoplite program, homeless programs. My job was to get veterans out of the street and in the apartment and after that continue case management with them while they were coming out of homelessness.
Speaker 1:Now you have a pretty interesting story that led you up to that right.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I actually came. I served in the military for 22 years. I'm a reserve National Guard. With that I have three combat deployments. I went to Iraq in 2005. I was in Guantanamo Bay, cuba, in the jails, doing security. And then in 2009, I went to Djibouti, africa. I was in search and rescue in the whole of Africa. So after my last deployment I came back home. Ptsd hit hard. I lost my house. I was leaving the streets for almost a year and the VA saved my life. I went to the HOPBASH program. I actually got a degree after I was in that program and when I finished my degree I ended up getting hired at the VA. I became a student, I was an intern and from the internship then I got that position for peer support and peer support then I became the transition patient advocate. I've been in the VA for about 13 years Because I wasn't very certain why I was in the VA at the same time. But the VA has taught me a lot, they have helped me a lot and now you're helping them back.
Speaker 7:I'm helping them back and giving back, but they are ones like that Excellent.
Speaker 1:We can. We can back them, and you used everything that was available to you.
Speaker 7:I did because I have a purpose.
Speaker 3:I have a family I have kids.
Speaker 1:I need to get better.
Speaker 7:I have a purpose of me to get better and where I come from, the military kind of you know got me better. But at the same time you go through things in life and I thought you were a bottom for me and I have. You know, the kids. Every time I see the face of the kids, I see you suffering. Right now they're adults. They're not adults.
Speaker 1:They're teenagers but they don't remember, but I didn't want them to remember, you know, yeah, well, we're definitely just going to be a good sit down, buddy, you and me and I I want people to hear your story, man, because you're you're, you're inspiring and I think you can inspire other veterans and if I can get this out, I'm here, I I'm local, yeah, and this is going to go out. This is all over the you know, in the podcast world, you can go to California and do another, and somebody there might hear it and say, hey, you know what I can do that. Yeah, you know what I mean. That's exactly what I want to do. I can do that. That's why I can do this. Alright, thank you for sitting down with me.
Speaker 8:We'll definitely be talking soon.