The heavy screening was installed to stop American military veterans from jumping to their deaths. The darkness on the walls is smoke damage from arson. The photo is of the five-story stairwell of the former VA hospital at Ft. Howard, Md.. Suicidal vets had dropped down right there past anyone who was on those stairs. In memorial to the numerous vets who committed suicide anywhere, this is a demand that the Department of Veterans Affairs immediately begins to restart the failed - but promised for two decades - property development project to create something positive on Ft Howard for veterans.
All of the old Fort Howard Veterans Affairs Medical Center buildings have been rotting in the moist air from the Chesapeake Bay, been vandalized, stripped of saleable metals, used as a party zone, employed as set locations for movies and TV shows, plus damaged by police and fire training exercises. It has been explored + photographed + videoed by people who believe the place to be abandoned. More than 50 young people have been arrested for trespassing there. It is bad for the civilian community. It is all tragic for veterans whose 21st Century suicides may have been - or can be - prevented by them having good homes in a veterans' community. In the spirit of suicide prevention alone, the development project must be renewed.
If you are with me on this, tell everyone you can to support the restart of a veterans' community on the former VA hospital grounds at Ft. Howard, Maryland. If any of the other 70-100 similar proposed projects at VAMC properties across America are failing, the VA needs to get them going good too!
Any knowledge that the projects are being completed is enough to help prevent suicidal thoughts.
My posted photography of the Ft. Howard VAMC is at:
Collection: Fort Howard, Maryland Veterans Affairs Medical Center Property (flickr.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment