Paralyzed Veterans of America Releases Statement Following the Confirmation of Doug Collins as Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs
WASHINGTON, Feb. 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Paralyzed Veterans of America Chief Executive Officer Carl Blake released the following statement following the Senate confirmation of Doug Collins as the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
'PVA has maintained a collaborative partnership with the VA for decades and looks to continue that tradition under Secretary Collins. As advocates for veterans with spinal cord injuries and diseases, like MS and ALS, we understand the significant challenges of leading such a vast and complex healthcare and benefits system. Secretary Collins has a unique opportunity to protect VA's specialty care system and address its staffing and infrastructure challenges head on while also ensuring access to community care when needed and appropriate. PVA stands ready as a resource to help ensure the VA remains a leader in specialized health care for our nation's paralyzed veterans and delivers timely benefits for their ongoing financial security. By fostering a transparent relationship, we can continue to deliver the best outcomes for all veterans, especially those with catastrophic disabilities.'
About Paralyzed Veterans of America
Paralyzed Veterans of America is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and the only congressionally chartered veterans service organization dedicated solely for the benefit and representation of veterans with spinal cord injury or diseases. The organization ensures veterans receive the benefits earned through service to our nation; monitors their care in VA spinal cord injury units; and funds research and education in the search for a cure and improved care for individuals with paralysis.
As a life-long partner and advocate for veterans and all people with disabilities, PVA also develops training and career services, works to ensure accessibility in public buildings and spaces, and provides health and rehabilitation opportunities through sports and recreation. With more than 70 offices and 33 chapters, Paralyzed Veterans of America serves veterans, their families, and their caregivers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Learn more at PVA.org.
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CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Nine veterans with PTSD went to Mexico for a psychedelic retreat. This is how they felt nearly a year later.
This is an updated version of a story first published on Feb. 2, 2025. The original video can be viewed here. Last year, for the first time, the Veterans Administration announced it would begin funding its own clinical trials to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and addiction, using two psychedelic drugs psilocybin and MDMA. Even if these trials are successful, it would be years before the VA could prescribe either drug for its patients. Thousands of veterans who are suffering aren't waiting, desperate for help, they're attending psychedelic retreats in countries where the drugs are legal to use, mostly in indigenous ceremonies. In March 2024, we were invited to join nine veterans who traveled to the west coast of Mexico for a psychedelic journey they hoped would finally help ease their pain. They came to Mexico from all over the United States, a group of nine veterans — with invisible wounds that are hard to heal. Their destination: a remote village near Puerto Vallarta for a week-long psychedelic retreat. It was a voyage into the unknown, but a risk worth taking for TJ Duff, a former Navy sailor. Anderson Cooper: Are you optimistic? TJ Duff: Being optimistic is hard for me. Because I've been through a lot of therapy, a lot of different treatments. And not a lotta success. Duff was 18 when he joined the Navy. Months into his first deployment aboard the USS Cole, he says he narrowly escaped death, when two suicide bombers attacked the ship in Yemen, killing 17 sailors. TJ Duff 60 Minutes TJ Duff: Everyone around me was killed. There's bodies, alive and dead, being piled up in the midships. And-- I think that's really where I just started holding everything in. Randy Weaver: Don't have it where I'm-- I'm jumping in ditches when I hear loud noises. My PTSD's-- is kind of a self-destructive form. Randy Weaver is a police officer in New York. A former staff sergeant in the Army, he was diagnosed with PTSD in 2007, after returning home from tours in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Randy Weaver: It's the constant, you know, what if I had done this? What if we did that, you know? Anderson Cooper: Are those things you want to revisit while you're taking the psilocybin? Randy Weaver: Yeah. If I could revisit them-- and see them maybe from a different perspective like, not where I failed somebody. Anderson Cooper: Is there a particular incident that you feel that you failed somebody? Randy Weaver: Yeah. So-- March 18th, 20 years ago. In 2004, Weaver's platoon was caught in a firefight in an Afghan village. Two soldiers were killed, one of them his friend, Staff Sergeant Anthony Lagman. Weaver's worn this bracelet with Lagman's name on it since coming home. Anderson Cooper: You've been wearing that for 20 years. Randy Weaver: Yeah. Every day. Weaver says he's tried nearly every treatment for PTSD the VA offers including talk therapy, exposure therapy, meditation, and antidepressants. Randy Weaver: You get to a point where you're-- you're so mentally exhausted and you've created so much destruction that you-- your demons tell yourself that these-- your family would be better off without you and when those demons tell you those things every day, it's somethin' hard to ignore. Anderson Cooper: Will this help with that? Randy Weaver: I hope so. Randy Weaver speaks with Anderson Cooper 60 Minutes The retreat was organized and paid for by the Heroic Hearts Project, a nonprofit that's helped more than 1,000 U.S. veterans with combat-related PTSD access psychedelics. Ed Glover: I came home-- super angry, super anxious, hyper-vigilant. You know, that led to-- a pretty nasty divorce. Ed Glover was in Afghanistan with the Marines. He's been a firefighter for 22 years. Ed Glover: I feel like one or two traumatic events you may be able to recover from, but-- kind of seeing it day in, day out-- really takes its toll. As the vets talked it became clear, some of their struggles began long before they joined the military. Michael Giardina: My family life was just always this constant conflict. Navy vet Michael Giardina had an emotionally abusive father who killed himself 16 years ago. His sister died by suicide five months before he came here. Michael Giardina: My daughter asked my ex-wife if I was going to kill myself and I'm not. I just want to get better. To qualify for this retreat, they had to work with their doctors to wean off any antidepressant or anxiety medication they might be taking because of how it could interact with the psychedelics. They also had to have a medical screening, and no family history of psychosis or schizophrenia. When we were there, a local doctor was on site but no mental health professionals. Jesse Gould: I appreciate you guys for putting the-- the faith in me, the faith in us coming here. Jesse Gould, a former Army ranger, founded the Heroic Hearts Project in 2017 after he tried another psychedelic, ayahuasca, at a retreat in Peru. Gould says psychedelics can help veterans revisit traumatic moments in ways they may be unable to with other therapies. Jesse Gould: The value of what we're finding with psychedelics is it's a very individualistic journey. You know it comes at you. It brings up the emotions. It heightens your senses. And so you're having to face it. And-- so that's why you see such big revelations because it's giving you the tools to actually get there. Anderson Cooper: Do you worry that some who see this as sort of a last hope may end up disappointed? Jesse Gould: I worry that we're at the situation where people are having to go to other countries for their last hope that indicates a major flaw in the system. Jesse Gould, a former Army ranger, founded the Heroic Hearts Project. 60 Minutes TJ Duff: The orange one? Ok Heroic Hearts hired traditional healers to conduct three psychedelic ceremonies. The first two with psilocybin, a psychoactive compound found in some mushrooms. Its been used as medicine by indigenous communities in Mexico and elsewhere for centuries. Healer: You don't need to be strong. All we need for this experience and to receive the healing is humbleness. The healers stirred ground up mushrooms into a tea. The vets drank it, put on blindfolds to shut out distractions, and lay down. At first it seemed like the group might have traveled thousands of miles for a midday nap. But then about an hour in, we saw Michael Giardina raise his hand for help. His foot soon started to shake, followed by his whole body. By hour three, it was clear the psilocybin had kicked in. Randy Weaver and TJ Duff barely seemed to move. While firefighter Ed Glover appeared caught between rapture, and deep sorrow. Five hours later, when the psilocybin began to wear off, the vets removed their eye masks and found the heat of the afternoon sun. The next day the group gathered to discuss what they'd gone through. Michael Giardina: It literally felt like an exorcism. My foot was goin' crazy, and I could kinda feel like my body was convulsing. Michael Giardina 60 Minutes Ed Glover: I felt like I was taking-- every last breath of any victim, patient, or friend that I had lost. So I really struggled to breathe yesterday Randy Weaver: I've never done anything like that before. …Randy Weaver appeared to find some of what he traveled all this way for. Randy Weaver: One thing that I remember very vividly was flying back with the guys that-- that we lost like bein' on that medevac, even though I wasn't there in the real world. I was there s-- spiritually with them. TJ Duff however, found it unsettling and at times scary. TJ Duff: I've heard a lot of you guys stories and I did not get as immersive as you guys did. I'm kinda glad I didn't, honestly, 'cause I was kinda afraid of that. That night Duff took part in another psilocybin ceremony, but the next day he left. He later told us the whole experience caused a dangerous decline in his mental health. He's now back on antidepressant medication. The last ceremony of the retreat was with 5-MeO-DMT, a powerful and fast acting psychedelic secreted from a toad. After returning home, the vets had several virtual meetings with a heroic hearts project counselor. Ed Glover: I think my biggest takeaway was making sure I make the time to take care of myself. The Veterans Administration warns against "self-medicating" with psychedelics or using them as "part of a self-treatment program." But in December, when we spoke to its top doctor Shereef Elnahal, he was enthusiastic about their potential. Anderson Cooper: Do these retreats concern you? Dr. Shereef Elnahal: They can concern me because there's no way to monitor, certify-- make sure that they're actually safe environments. They're seeking these therapies because they do not see our current options for them to be effective enough, and they're in a state of desperation. And that, in and of itself, them seeking this type of unauthorized therapy, is just another indication on why we need to study this further, and get it to a safe and effective medical environment Last August, the FDA rejected a pharmaceutical company's application to use the psychedelic MDMA in combination with therapy as a treatment for PTSD, after an FDA advisory panel said there wasn't enough evidence it was safe or effective. The VA is now conducting 11 clinical trials using MDMA and psilocybin to treat PTSD, depression and addiction. Dr. Elnahal told us, a small phase two trial by the VA using MDMA and therapy to treat PTSD, completed last year, showed real promise. Dr. Shereef Elnahal 60 Minutes Dr. Shereef Elnahal: 45% have gone into complete remission, which is essentially a "normal emotional state." That is unheard-of with prolonged exposure, cognitive processing, and certainly SSRIs, the current standard-of-care options. Anderson Cooper: Almost half of the people who came in with PTSD and did MDMA therapy at the VA were cured? Dr. Shereef Elnahal: Yes. Anderson Cooper: So you have no doubt that this works? Dr. Shereef Elnahal: We need to do larger Phase III clinical trials. That's the best way, scientifically, to understand what the true-- adverse events are and whether we can reproduce these results in larger populations of veterans. I'm very optimistic we will be able to demonstrate that. Anderson Cooper: How long do you think it'll be before veterans can go to the VA and get this therapy Dr. Shereef Elnahal: It could be another couple of years. The incoming administration is gonna take, you know, a pretty bold stance on this Anderson Cooper: What makes you optimistic that the new administration is gonna be a believer in this? Dr. Shereef Elnahal: We've heard the nominee for HHS-- Robert F. Kennedy, Junior, talk about what he thinks the potential breakthrough therapy is. We'll see what that stance is of other health officials, but that's really promising. Nearly a year after that retreat in Mexico, we checked in with the nine veterans who attended. Eight of them told us their symptoms had improved and called their experience with psychedelics "life-changing." Ed Glover said he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Anderson Cooper: How are you doin'? Ed Glover: Very well. Ed Glover in Mexico 60 Minutes Shortly after coming home from the retreat, he decided to retire as a firefighter. Ed Glover: Prior to the retreat, I thought about takin' my life just about every day. I had a very close call. You know, the note, the gun. That is no longer the case. Anderson Cooper: You haven't had thoughts of killing yourself since then? Ed Glover: Not one. And Randy Weaver says his suicidal ideations have stopped as well. Randy Weaver: I don't have any of those thoughts since-- since goin' through-- through this journey. Anderson Cooper: That's remarkable. Randy Weaver: I would say yeah. Anderson Cooper: You had told the-- the group afterward that you had visualized people on a medevac helicopter that you had served with. Randy Weaver: Yeah. Anderson Cooper: What-- what was the impact of that? Randy Weaver: In combat things happen quickly. One minute you're talkin' to your friend and the next minute, you know, he's-- you're-- you're puttin' him in a body bag. That causes a gap in your psyche so to be able to revisit those incidences -- you know, seein' those helicopters come back with friends it brings a little-- peace to you, yeah. Since our report aired in February, former firefighter Ed Glover suffered a setback in his decades-long battle with PTSD and has since sought conventional mental health care. The new head of the Veterans Administration, Secretary Doug Collins, says he supports more research for psychedelic therapies. Produced by Katie Brennan. Associate producer, Eliza Costas. Broadcast associate, Grace Conley. Edited by Matthew Danowski.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
ALS Walk raises over $100k
(WHTM) — Dozens came out to Hershey for the 2025 ALS Walk on Saturday. It was held at the Hershey Middle School on Homestead Road. The walk raises money to help fight the disease. Download the abc27 News+ app on your Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Apple TV devices Over $100,000 was collected. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Chicago Tribune
a day ago
- Chicago Tribune
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is back in the US, charged with human smuggling as attorneys vow ongoing fight
To hear the Trump administration tell it, Kilmar Abrego Garcia smuggled thousands of people across the country who were living in the U.S. illegally, including members of the violent MS-13 gang, long before his mistaken deportation to El Salvador. In allegations made public nearly three months after his removal, U.S. officials say Abrego Garcia abused the women he transported, while a co-conspirator alleged he participated in a gang-related killing in his native El Salvador. Abrego Garcia's wife and lawyers offer a much different story. They say the now 29-year-old had as a teenager fled local gangs that terrorized his family in El Salvador for a life in Maryland. He found work in construction, got married and was raising three children with disabilities before he was mistakenly deported in March. The fight became a political flashpoint in the administration's stepped-up immigration enforcement. Now it returns to the U.S. court system, where Abrego Garcia appeared Friday after being returned from El Salvador. He faces new charges related to a large human smuggling operation and is in federal custody in Tennessee. Speaking to NBC's Kristen Welken in a phone interview Saturday President Donald Trump said it was not his decision to bring Abrego Garcia back. 'The Department of Justice decided to do it that way, and that's fine,' he said. 'There are two ways you could have done it, and they decided to do it that way.' Trump said it should 'be a very easy case.' In announcing Abrego Garcia's return Attorney General Pam Bondi called him 'a smuggler of humans and children and women' in announcing the unsealing of a grand jury indictment. His lawyers say a jury won't believe the 'preposterous' allegations. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who visited Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, said his return to the U.S. was long overdue. 'As I have repeatedly said, this is not about the man, it's about his constitutional rights – and the rights of all,' the Maryland Democrat said in a statement. 'The Administration will now have to make its case in the court of law, as it should have all along.' Abrego Garcia grew up in El Salvador's capital city, San Salvador, according to court documents filed in U.S. immigration court in 2019. His father was a former police officer. His mother, Cecilia, sold pupusas, flat tortilla pouches that hold steaming blends of cheese, beans or pork. The entire family, including his two sisters and brother, ran the business from home, court records state. 'Everyone in the town knew to get their pupusas from 'Pupuseria Cecilia,'' his lawyers wrote. A local gang, Barrio 18, began extorting the family for 'rent money' and threatened to kill his brother Cesar — or force him into their gang — if they weren't paid, court documents state. The family complied but eventually sent Cesar to the U.S. Barrio 18 similarly targeted Abrego Garcia, court records state. When he was 12, the gang threatened to take him away until his father paid them. The family moved but the gang threatened to rape and kill Abrego Garcia's sisters, court records state. The family closed the business, moved again, and eventually sent Abrego Garcia to the U.S. The family never went to the authorities because of rampant police corruption, according to court filings. The gang continued to harass the family in Guatemala, which borders El Salvador. Abrego Garcia fled to the U.S. illegally around 2011, the year he turned 16, according to documents in his immigration case. He joined Cesar, now a U.S. citizen, in Maryland and found construction work. About five years later, Abrego Garcia met Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a U.S. citizen, the records say. In 2018, after she learned she was pregnant, he moved in with her and her two children. They lived in Prince George's County, just outside Washington. In March 2019, Abrego Garcia went to a Home Depot seeking work as a laborer when he and three other men were detained by local police, court records say. They were suspected of being in MS-13 based on tattoos and clothing. A criminal informant told police that Abrego Garcia was in MS-13, court records state but Prince George's County Police did not charge the men. The department said this year it had no further interactions with Abrego Garcia or 'any new intelligence' on him. Abrego Garcia has denied being in MS-13. Although they did not charge him, local police turned Abrego Garcia over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He told a U.S. immigration judge that he would seek asylum and asked to be released because Vasquez Sura was pregnant, according to his immigration case. The Department of Homeland Security alleged Abrego Garcia was a gang member based on the county police's information, according to the case. The immigration judge kept Abrego Garcia in jail as his case continued, the records show. Abrego Garcia later married Vasquez Sura in a Maryland detention center, according to court filings. She gave birth while he was still in jail. In October 2019, an immigration judge denied Abrego Garcia's asylum request but granted him protection from being deported back to El Salvador because of a 'well-founded fear' of gang persecution, according to his case. He was released; ICE did not appeal. Abrego Garcia checked in with ICE yearly while Homeland Security issued him a work permit, his attorneys said in court filings. He joined a union and was employed full time as a sheet metal apprentice. In 2021, Vasquez Sura filed a temporary protection order against Abrego Garcia, stating he punched, scratched and ripped off her shirt during an argument. The case was dismissed weeks later, according to court records. Vasquez Sura said in a statement, after the document's release by the Trump administration, that the couple had worked things out 'privately as a family, including by going to counseling.' 'After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar,' she stated. She added that 'Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him.' In 2022, according to a report released by the Trump administration, Abrego Garcia was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol for speeding. The vehicle had eight other people and no luggage, prompting an officer to suspect him of human trafficking, the report stated. Abrego Garcia said he was driving them from Texas to Maryland for construction work, the report stated. No citations were issued. Abrego Garcia's wife said in a statement in April that he sometimes transported groups of workers between job sites, 'so it's entirely plausible he would have been pulled over while driving with others in the vehicle. He was not charged with any crime or cited for any wrongdoing.' The Tennessee Highway Patrol released video body camera footage this May of the 2022 traffic stop. It shows a calm and friendly exchange between officers and Abrego Garcia as well as the officers discussing among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking before sending him on his way. One of the officers said: 'He's hauling these people for money.' Another said he had $1,400 in an envelope. An attorney for Abrego Garcia, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said in a statement after the release that he saw no evidence of a crime in the footage. Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in March despite the U.S. immigration judge's order. For nearly three months, his attorneys have fought for his return in a federal court in Maryland. The Trump administration described the mistaken removal as 'an administrative error' but insisted he was in MS-13. His abrupt release from El Salvador closes one chapter and opens another in the months-long standoff. The charges he faces stem from the 2022 vehicle stop in Tennessee but the human smuggling indictment lays out a string of allegations that date back to 2016 but are only being disclosed now. A co-conspirator also alleged that Abrego Garcia participated in the killing of a gang member's mother in El Salvador, prosecutors wrote in papers urging the judge to keep him behind bars while he awaits trial. The indictment does not charge him in connection with that allegation. 'This is what American justice looks like,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said in announcing Abrego Garcia's return and the unsealing of a grand jury indictment. Speaking to NBC's Kristen Welker in a telephone interview President Donald Trump said it was not his decision to bring Abrego Garcia back. Abrego Garcia's attorney disagreed. 'There's no way a jury is going to see the evidence and agree that this sheet metal worker is the leader of an international MS-13 smuggling conspiracy,' attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said.
