CHIPS Articles: NAVIFOR Volunteers Time with Richmond Wounded Warriors

“Our last visit to the Richmond VA hospital was back in mid-2014 with the regional Wounded Warrior Safe Harbor staff, based in Norfolk,” said Pavelka. “They have the insights to the patients and hospital staff, so it is through them that I coordinate a visit like this. Otherwise, I wouldn't have the permission needed to go where I wanted to. I recently was able to revisit this idea with the regional Wounded Warrior Safe Harbor Officer In Charge, Lt. Short, to coordinate a joint visit with his staff members. Moving forward, we hope to have more of these visits to the VA hospital in the future.”

Since February 2014, Pavelka has led NAVIFOR's Wounded Warrior-Safe Harbor program with monthly visits to Portsmouth Naval Hospital. The program has allowed the NAVIFOR team to interact with patients and support staff as well as family members. The visits to the VA hospital in Richmond and the local visits to the Portsmouth Naval Hospital give the volunteers a chance to see not only injured shipmates but also men and women from other services with a variety of medical challenges.

“During my tenure here, in addition to Navy Sailors, we have also visited Soldiers, Marines, Airman and Coastguardsmen,” Pavelka described. “Often times, the patients have few visitors if any because their families are out of state, or sadly, a common theme for many of our service men and women who are recovering from injuries is a lack of contact or visits from their last command. When we visit the patients, it seems as if we fill that void and thus we are well received. This also gives us as volunteers a stark reminder that perhaps our daily obstacles that seem like mountains are really just anthills in comparison to the real struggles some of our shipmates are going through.”

Wednesday’s visit included interactive time with two critically ill Sailors, an Air Force Airman and a Marine all going through various stages of rehabilitation and therapy. These are normally people making the transition to get back to active duty or in other cases, making their transitions to civilian life.

Pavelka and the NAVIFOR team also had the fortunate chance of meeting four Vietnam-era Army war veterans who just happened to be in the hospital for various reasons. Pavelka described the experience as an excellent opportunity to talk about NAVIFOR and to listen to their life stories and memories during their time on active duty.

“Lt. Pavelka’s continued achievements to successfully organize and lead this effort within NAVIFOR and connect with the Regional Wounded Warrior Safe Harbor network is a true testament of the limitless opportunities out there in giving back to those who, while serving, were injured,” said NAVIFOR’s Chief of Staff Capt. Kelly Aeschbach, a devoted advocate of supporting Pavelka’s persistent support for Wounded Warriors.

With Aeschbach’s solid and steadfast support, NAVIFOR’s volunteer team was able to conduct nine Wounded Warrior visits with more than 30 command volunteers, interacted with more than 50 patients and more than 20 staff/family members, provided Thanksgiving and Christmas meals as well as delivered numerous lunches and dessert trays. The NAVIFOR volunteers also delivered numerous Christmas cards and gift bags, which also included holding a book drive where many magazines, books and games were delivered to Wounded Warriors.

“As volunteers, it makes us feel good to give someone who is suffering some much needed cheer, a few laughs, a bending ear, and a surprise gift, or a home-made meal or baked goods they otherwise would not get,” Pavelka concluded. “What my volunteers and I do could not have happened without unwavering support from NAVIFOR leadership. I truly thank them for this opportunity.”

NAVIFOR' s mission is to support operational commanders ashore and afloat by providing combat-ready Information Warfare forces, which are forward deployable, fully trained, properly manned and capably equipped.

For more information on NAVIFOR, visit the command's web site at www.navifor.navy.mil, our Navy News Web page at http://www.navy.mil/local/navidfor/ or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/USNavyInformationDominanceForces/.