Greetings everyone,

Spring brings a refreshing and new environment!  We have several significant updates in our spring newsletter that we are happy to share.

John Rohrer, facility director, and Dr. Alan Bridges, chief of staff, both retired recently after many years of service to our hospital and clinics. We wish them all the best.  We also extend a warm welcome to our acting director, Alicia Miller. 

We proudly celebrate Women Veterans Day June 12, 2023, at the main hospital, and at our clinics throughout June. Check out the article and join us for this celebration. 

A new program called heaRT focuses on servicewomen who have never enrolled in VA health care. We also have articles on LGBTQ+ Veterans resources and the “She Wears the Boots” podcast. 

Finally, our next Women Veteran's Teletown Hall is June, 5, 2023, at 5 p.m. During COVID protocols, we pivoted to having these town halls over the telephone instead of in person and have noticed a huge increase in participation. These calls provide the latest updates at the VA and an opportunity for you to ask questions to leadership and staff. You will receive a reminder call 24 hours in advance and another call around 5 p.m. on the day of the event. All you have to do is stay on the line to join the call.  

Stay safe and be well!

Tami Towne

Madison VA Facility Director & Chief of Staff Retire

It is with mixed emotion that we announce the retirement of Dr. Alan Bridges, chief of staff, and John Rohrer, facility director. 

Dr. Bridges' career with the VA spans 36 years providing care to our Veterans and leadership to our clinical staff. John Rohrer served with the VA for 37 years and has advocated for Veterans and staff to make our Madison VA one of the best in the nation. 

Both have been integral in growing our Women’s Health program to provide the many services now available in preventive care, primary care, gynecology, specialty care, peer support, mental health and wellness.

Both will be missed tremendously! 

Miller to Serve as Acting Director

The Madison VA Hospital and Clinics welcome Alicia Miller as our acting director. 

She is currently the associate director at the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas, and will be detailed to Madison for up to 120 days while the search for a permanent replacement continues. Prior to her role at Wichita, Ms. Miller served as the Associate Director for Outpatient Operations with the Gulf Coast VA Health Care System, a position she assumed in January 2020. 

She has been with the VA system since 2004 and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience and we look forward to her leadership.

June 12, 2023, is Women Veterans Day. In 2000, women made up around 4% of the Veteran population. VA estimates women will make up 18% of the Veteran population by 2040.  Women are the fastest growing group in Veteran population. Here is the story of one...

I was born in Springfield, Oregon, but spent most of my school years in Texas and Virginia as a military child before moving to Wisconsin.  

My best friend and I decided to join the National Guard when we were 17, mostly to pay for college. My friend ended up backing out, but I went to basic training after graduation in Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. I understood the concept of breaking us down as individuals and then building us back up. It was a mental thing and once I caught on, I enjoyed it. I was proud of myself and more confident than ever.

I started college in 2001 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and remember being in my dorm on September 11, 2001, watching the twin towers fall. I didn’t fully understand how it would impact my life.

My unit, the 147th Aviation Battalion, was activated in January 2003 in one of the first waves after infantry entered the Iraq War. Our mission was supply movement and VIP transport.

We were stationed at Camp Udairi (now Camp Buehring), Kuwait, which had no paved roads and few buildings. Udairi was the last stop before going into Iraq and it was empty when we arrived. It looked like a ghost town. 

It was hot and dry. And the sandstorms were insane. Sometimes there’d be a haze that made it seem like another planet. We slept about 50 to a tent. 

Our unit was a novelty because of the number of women. We had female pilots, helicopter and vehicle mechanics, and refuelers, in addition to the female flight ops, supply, HR and intel staff. I am beyond proud to have served with these women.

As a 96B, I was in the Intel Section which consisted of four people. My job was to read through recon reports, map things out along our flight paths and brief flight crews. Since our unit was flying into Baghdad a lot, we eventually sent a detachment of personnel to Baghdad International Airport. My total deployment was ten months. 

Returning home and reintegrating had its challenges. Life during deployment was simple. We lived in a bubble and our families at home were taking care of our bills, homes, cars and kids. The hardest part was not being with my battle buddies 24/7. 

Our homecoming was markedly different than soldiers before us. We were greeted by volunteers at the airport. We were generally treated like heroes, which was uncomfortable, but better than being shunned.

I planned on staying in for 20 years and picked my major (international studies) to complement my service. However, I developed blood clots in my lungs in 2007 forcing a medical discharge after 10 years in the National Guard.

My high school boyfriend, who supported me through basic training, AIT and a deployment, proposed marriage shortly after returning from Kuwait and we’ve been married for 19 years.  

The greatest gift my service has given me is the family I gained - not just the soldiers I deployed with, but those I drilled with. Besides giving me some of my best friends, I have family around the country and it's that connection that led me to a career with the VA.