Coast Chronicles: Thanksgiving, and Ed Crawford delivers vet services

Published 8:05 am Monday, November 21, 2022

“We carry on our back this awful cross of death, for the essence of war is death. Those who know us best, know that there is something unspeakable and evil many of us harbor within us. This evil is intimate, it is personal. It is the evil of war.”

—Chris Hedges

I ain’t gonna study war no more…

War veterans

Dear friends, this is the week of Thanksgiving and, as in every year, I am filled with gratitude for the bounty of riches I have in my life: my friends, my health, the roof over my head, and the variety of nourishment — food and drink and beauty and love — that most all of us on the Peninsula possess.

Yet, this week of gratefulness follows on the heels of Veterans Day which passed quietly — too quietly perhaps. Again we stopped for a moment to honor the ranks of military men and women who’ve served in countries around the globe. We say they serve to keep our freedom intact, to assist in nurturing the democracy of other countries, to fight for human rights and dignity. This year, at the same time we honored our vets, every day we’re watching Ukrainian war scenes and Iranian violence piped to us through our TV or computer screens, or news feeds on our phones.

We’re experiencing first hand the evil of war that Chris Hedges, award-winning journalist and war correspondent, spoke about in his Alternative Radio broadcast last week on KMUN. (More info here for Hedges, called by Cornel West, “The greatest radical writer and journalist of our generation” www.alternativeradio.org/speaker/chris-hedges. And at KMUN: kmun.org/archives, type in Alternative Radio for Hedges’ recent lecture.)

Last week the Moose Lodge was filled with vets from all walks of life who spoke to each other about their wars: World War II in the Pacific and Europe, the wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. These vets made it through with their bodies, hearts and souls seemingly intact. But many were not as lucky. Many lost their lives, their limbs, their peace of mind.

Many Peninsula vets struggle

Wars have never solved the world’s problems. Ever. Yet we’ve found no alternative to killing each other in massive numbers when we humans disagree. And we need only look to the circumstances of many of our Peninsula vets to be reminded of the debilitating long-term effects of war, even for those who have survived.

Surfside resident Ed Crawford is a veteran himself. As he says, “We have three generations of honorably discharged Crawfords in Pacific County: my father, myself and my two sons.” Ed attended three veteran events last week; and, because of those gatherings, he and I managed to find each other for a conversation. He established some baseline numbers at the very beginning of our talk. “Seven percent of the population of the U.S. are veterans, but in Pacific County we have 14% — double the national average. Add to that our county population: 35% are 65 or older — and you can see why my job has turned out to be very complicated.”

Pull Quote

‘I’ve worked for 30 years to get here, from the time I first visited my dad in Naselle. Now I’ve got the job I always wanted and I’m not going anywhere.’

Ed Crawford

Pacific County community reentry liaison, Justice Mental Health Collaboration Program and Pacific County Veterans Service officer

It’s even more challenging than that. Here’s a few more data points: the percentage of vets on the north end of the Peninsula is actually 29%! And while the average income in Washington state is $62,800, the average income on the north end is $38,400. (And remember this is an average — the income of folks in ocean and bayside million-dollar homes is averaged with those who live in broken down trailers.) These overlapping numbers only hint at some of the on-the-ground stories: many Peninsula vets are struggling.

Story of an angry vet

This may be why Ed has such a mouthful of a job title; he is Pacific County community reentry liaison, Justice Mental Health Collaboration Program and Pacific County Veterans Service officer #50834! He matches up vets to county, state and federal services for food, housing, job retraining, and mental health services; and he also assists individuals leaving jail (some of them vets), many with mental health issues and most with few-to-no life resources. Here’s just one story — of the many — that Ed shared with me.

Ed has a fellow listed in his phone as “Angry Vet.” This vet — let’s call him Joe — has no real friends. He’s on oxygen all the time; he has a car with expired tabs and no driver’s license; he hates the VA; he has several kinds of cancer. (Burn pits? Agent orange?) Ed dragged him to the Moose Lodge Vet Lunch and they happened to sit at a table with another vet who was struck by Joe’s situation. Let’s call this vet Bob. Bob called Ed after the lunch and said, “My wife and I want to help Joe. How ‘bout if we bring him meals?” But when asked, Joe said, “No way. What if the meals are horrible. What if I hate them. What if his wife is a bad cook.”

On another of Ed’s visits, Joe said something about pellets. “Pellets?” Ed asked. He discovered that Joe was trying to make it out to a Quonset hut in his backyard, dragging his oxygen tank, and bringing pellets in to feed his stove. He could only manage to carry a small jar of pellets on each trip. Ed was amazed. “Why didn’t you ask me before? I can find someone to bring in a big bunch of pellets for you every week.” It turns out Joe also needs a ride once a week for chemo treatments in Astoria; he needs a couple grocery trips a week. Maybe he even needs a friend.

Thankful for our health department

Some angry vets are forgotten vets, and many don’t or can’t or won’t ask for help. War does that to some people. But Ed’s job is to help. He’s an expert at getting funds from a myriad of programs or organizations with a dizzying array of acronym names: SSVF, HCHV, VIP, HMIS, DOC. He’s worked in this field for decades in other states, and he brings his experience about how to access funds and weave together services from those interrelated, though separate, agencies. Ed’s been on the job in our county for three years and said, “I’ve worked for 30 years to get here, from the time I first visited my dad in Naselle. Now I’ve got the job I always wanted and I’m not going anywhere.”

But he can’t do it alone. He wants people to call him if they know of a vet who needs help. And, as he and I discussed, another idea might be to form a group of community members willing to assist with the adjunct errands that folks like Angry-Vet-Joe needs: rides, meals, groceries, a friend to talk to. (This kind of group would need an organizer, some procedures, a list of volunteers, etc.)

Ed is not only grateful to be able to help, but he cites the many other people in our health department assisting him. “I’m busy like almost everyone in our department. My direct supervisor Jessica Verboomen and my criminal justice/mental health team has had to step up and fill in for me on the reentry side because I’ve been so busy on the veteran side. We’ve had every staff member running in different directions checking with people in the DOC [Department of Corrections] and making connections with housing providers for my veterans all at the same time. We have an amazing team and I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without them. Katie Lindstrom [director of Pacific County Health Department] is phenomenal. We have some amazing VSO [veteran service officers]. Ed and Ray at the VFW; Terry at the American Legion. This is just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Every one of these people does phenomenal work and continues to serve Pacific County.”

Big thanks to Ed and every one in our greater health department team.

How you can help

If you know a veteran who needs help, call Ed at the office 360-642-9300 or on his cell 360-214-6011. And, in the meantime, maybe some of you will raise your voices with mine… “I’m gonna lay down my sword and shield… I ain’t gonna study war no more.”