FROM THE EXPERIENCE OFFICE
HELPING CIVILIANS UNDERSTAND What Veterans Go Through Graham Velasco Seeks to Understand – and Share – the Reintegration Process for Veterans
I t all started as a project for Graham Velasco’s master’s program in health care administration. Graham, who is a civilian, is the anatomic pathology supervisor at VA Long Beach Healthcare System. The project involved using population health strategies to create an academic poster that highlights a specific group in need. Titled “Triggered,” Graham’s poster demonstrates transition stress. One side of the poster shows a civilian standing in a war zone. The other side shows the same person as a soldier at a family barbecue—the trauma that is often the return to civilian life. “I was inspired by my brother and a good friend, both Veterans,” he says. “I watched them struggle to reintegrate into civilian life after a life of active duty. I saw the potential to create awareness and strengthen the connection between Veterans and non-Veterans.” Transition stress is feelings of stress or anxiety triggered by a significant period of change or adjustment. When applied to Veterans, it refers to the difficulty of adapting to life after discharge from their service. Graham believes there’s a real need to bring attention to it. “I wanted to understand the enormous expectations we place on the individuals who join the military,” he says. “First, the immense pressure to become a soldier, and then asking them to return to normalcy.” He said he knew his project was going to be something important when his professor cried as he presented it.
Graham completed an internship with the VA as part of his master’s program. After completing his project, his internship coordinator suggested he show it to VA Long Beach’s Chief Experience Officer, Dustin Thompson. Dustin, in turn, showed it to those working with the VA’s new employee orientation (NEO) program. This program highlights the Veteran experience, from recruitment to returning to civilian life. “Triggered” is now featured in NEO. “This (graphic) is the center point for the new employee orientation slide series, for civilians who don’t understand the traumas faced and how profound this journey is—what a Veteran goes through,” Graham says. “Once you see something like that, there’s no going back. Once that’s in your head and you see what they go through, it helps you empathize more and become a more compassionate person as you work with Veterans.” As a civilian working with Veterans, Graham wants to do everything in his power to be of service to them, “whether that involves performing my technical job well, raising awareness for an issue that’s important, or just being a friendly person in the hallways,” he says. “As our medical center director says, ‘There is no better mission than to serve those who have served.’”
or TEXT 838255
SPRING 2023 21
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