Episode 4: Maryland Veteran Resources and Services

David Galloway of Maryland’s Commitment to Veterans is our guest on episode 4 of “What’s the 211?”. He’s a Veteran himself and knows what it’s like to navigate the system for help. He joins Quinton Askew, President & CEO of 211 Maryland.

Show Notes

1:14 What is Maryland’s Commitment to Veterans?

The program focuses on Veterans and their families. They can provide warm referrals inside the VA or out in the community. They have a no-wrong-door policy, so the organization can help with various needs from behavioral health to housing.

1:55 About David Galloway

David Galloway is a Veteran who had a turbulent road after he served our country. He now tells his story with other Veterans in his role with Maryland’s Commitment to Veterans. His goal is to help other Veterans before they reach rock bottom. He serves as a connection point to Veteran resources. Listen to his story, as many other Veterans may be able to relate.

3:58 Maryland Veteran Community

In Maryland, there are 365,000 Veterans. They have Resource Coordinators throughout the state of Maryland, ready to help. Maryland’s Commitment to Veterans can help a Veteran cut through the red tape and quickly find the programs that can help.

5:46 Veteran Stigmas

Galloway talks about the meaning of Veteran and how everyone defines it differently, including his dad. He talks about the stigma he felt as a Marine and how hard it was to admit he was having nightmares and couldn’t sleep.

7:34 Veteran Mental Health

Having to tell your story when getting mental health services can be overwhelming for a Veteran. That’s why a warm handoff helps a Veteran feel more at ease when they first look for services. Galloway shares how the warm handoff works and how Maryland’s Commitment to Veterans follows up, if the Veteran wants, to ensure the right connections to an empathetic person.

10:25 Training

There are a lot of acronyms when you talk about Veteran services, and staff continuously trained on these. Maryland’s Commitment to Veterans is hosting a virtual conference in November for service providers. Galloway says he always learns something from training seminars.

12:55 Who They Help

The organization helps every Veteran, no matter the circumstance. They know the best programs, based on criteria, to get a Veteran the help they need. Once they make that warm connection with a partner organization, Galloway and his team continue to stay in touch if the Veteran or his family wants that.

15:14 Operation Roll Call

Social distancing takes a toll. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Operation Roll Call launched as a way to reach out to Veterans weekly or biweekly.

17:10 Gaps In Health

Housing is a big gap for the organization, and it’s gotten worse with COVID-19. Galloway talks about the stress of the pandemic and the increased requests for help.

19:15 Partner Organizations

Galloway talks about working with caseworkers, other government agencies, and partner organizations to get resources to Veterans in their time of need. These connection points cut through the government red tape and the frustration that goes along with that.

23:52 Telehealth

Telehealth is a great way for a Veteran to get mental health and other services without leaving their home. It’s been helpful with COVID-19 and for rural Veterans who don’t want to drive an hour to an appointment, and then sit in a waiting room.

24:03 It’s All About Connections

Galloway says he “won’t preach behavioral health” as he also feels strongly about building and making connections. There are groups for almost any interest whether you like to run, fish, or hunt. Often these peer groups offer valuable support. Galloway talks about the tip he got from another Vet in a peer support group, and how it helped him cope. It wasn’t a therapist or the VA who helped him most. It was another Veteran.

Transcript

Quinton Askew (00:43)

Good morning, everyone. And welcome to What’s The 211? We bring the information about resources and services in your community. Today we have a special guest, Mr. David Galloway, who is Outreach and Education Lead with Maryland Commitment to Veterans, the Maryland Department of Health, Behavioral Health Administration. Good morning, David, how are you?

David Galloway (1:00)

Good morning. I’m doing well. How about yourself?

Quinton Askew (1:02)

Good. And thanks for joining us. We appreciate you coming on board and talk about a very important topic and a very important population. So could you tell us a little bit about the Maryland Commitment to Veterans and your role?

What Is Maryland’s Commitment To Veterans?

David Galloway (1:14)

We’re a program that’s under the Maryland Department of Health and specifically the Behavioral Health Administration. And our main focus is connecting Veterans and their family members to behavioral health resources, either inside the VA or out in the community, whichever the Veteran prefers. Aside from that, we’re a big information referral hub.

David Galloway (1:33)

So we have a no wrong door policy. If a Veteran is not sure who they should call if they’re being evicted, if they’re homeless, if they want counseling, need benefits, whatever their need is, they can give us a call, and we’ll connect them to the right programs. And make sure they get all the benefits that are afforded to them.

About David Galloway

Quinton Askew

Good. Can you tell us a little bit about your role within the department, how you support Veterans?

David Galloway (1:55)

Absolutely. So I was very lucky when I got out of the service and went to school. I wasn’t real sure what I wanted to do. And I started working with Veterans and doing peer support groups and thing. I really kind of found my niche, connecting Veterans with the resources, cause I didn’t necessarily go that route myself when I got out. I had a more turbulent road because of it.

David Galloway (2:20)

So I really found a niche connecting Veterans. And so now with the program, I kind of tell my story to anybody that will hear it and to hopefully get a couple of Veterans out there to reach out and get the resources before they reach rock bottom. Get help before it’s absolutely needed. So as with my role in outreach and education, I just get to go out and talk to the Vets and try to get them connected to the resources that they might not know about yet.

Quinton Askew

And so just, just being a Veteran yourself. And definitely thank you for your service. How has your transition been in your ability to be able to connect the services? How does that sort of help you to help other Veterans out there in the community?

David Galloway (3:05)

So it helped me primarily because I was the stubborn Vet that didn’t want resources.

I used to believe that if I went to get services from the VA, I’d be taking away other services from a Veteran that might need them more. But once I started working with Veterans, I’ve seen that the more Veterans that come forward and get the help for what they need, then the more money is going to be thrown into those programs. And the more Veterans that those programs are going to be able to help.

So I now know why Veterans don’t want to get help. I know the stigma associated with it. I know some of the horror stories we’ve heard about the VA, growing up in the military. But I thoroughly believe that the VA and my counseling and everything I did turned my life around for the better. So I’m hoping that I can convince Veterans that it’s not their grandfather’s VA. And there are a lot of people, especially here in Maryland. We have a really big Veteran community that’s reaching out to help all the Veterans here.

Maryland Veteran Community

Quinton Askew (3:58)

Great. But how many Veterans do are there in Maryland? How many do you serve?

David Galloway (4:04)

So across the state of Maryland, we have about 365,000 Vets, I think, is the projected number for 2020. And they’re mostly spread as you would believe, along the Baltimore Washington Parkway. There’s a lot of security clearance jobs, that area that attracts a lot of former military. So that’s where we see the majority of our Veterans, but they are spread out. So we have to make sure we don’t forget about our rural Veterans. I grew up in Ocean City and when I got out, went back there, and I didn’t really look for services. But, the services were not around for me to find either. So we really want to make sure we support our rural Veterans throughout the state too.

Quinton Askew  (4:43)

Because your office is statewide, correct? That helps folks throughout the state.

David Galloway (4:47)

Absolutely. So, we have a small team – five, including our Director. But, we’ve always been a statewide organization. Each of our regional resource coordinators like myself, is responsible for a certain area. So on top of the education outreach, I do Western Maryland.

We have Richard Reed, who’s another Veteran Amry Vet himself who does Central Maryland.

And then on the Eastern Shore, we have Dina Karpf, and Southern Maryland is Angel Powell, who both have family members who served in the military and just have a strong connection to wanting to help military members.

Quinton Askew  (5:19)

Great. So Veterans that are out there can feel confident that, you know, folks who are providing support are folks with the experience and family members who have served and have an understanding of what some of the needs might be.

David Galloway (5:29)

Absolutely. And we made sure to connect them to the same type of programs. The programs that know Veterans, the ones that are going to talk to us. And we, the ones we now are going to answer the phone. We cut out a lot of that red tape and take out a lot of the those 1-800 numbers and have the warm handoffs with some of our partner agencies.

Veteran Stigmas

Quinton (5:46)

That’s definitely great. Which is so important. I know you mentioned a little earlier about the stigmas with our Veterans. Can you just talk a little bit more about that? Sort of what some of the stigmas are and some of what Veterans may perceive to sort out the stigmas with accessing services?

David Galloway (5:58)

Absolutely. So even just the term Veterans. There’s a lot of stigma that goes along with that, because now we try to tell everybody to ask, have you served in the military? Because when you talk about Veterans, it means different things to different folks. My dad was an Army Ranger for 16 years, but he served during peace time. So when they asked, like who’s a Veteran in the room, he doesn’t necessarily stand next to me because I’m a combat vet, even though I only did four years. Okay. And then if you’re talking with like National Guard, sometimes if they weren’t activated, they don’t receive VA services. So they might not say they’re a Veteran. And with 20 years of war going on, a lot of times, if you say the word Veteran, people assume you were in combat, and people don’t want to make that assumption.

David Galloway (6:47)

So, once you get past, even just that Veteran stigma, then you start talking about behavioral health, and, for me, I was a Marine Infantry Veteran. Grew up in Ocean City.

So I was very proud when I came home, um, of being this badass Marine. So, it was really hard for me to admit that like, yeah, I was having nightmares. I couldn’t sleep. I was drinking too much. Uh, it was hard to admit those kinds of weaknesses when everybody kind of held me up on this pedestal. Um, but it just took me a long time to realize that I was just making excuses for myself. And once I did reach out and get the help, I saw how much support was out there from my friends, the community, um, and from the VA. And it really turned things around for me.

Mental Health

Quinton (7:34)

That’s a very important, important topic. The role that mental health plays with our Veterans, especially for the extremely great work that you all do. Does that…do you see that as playing a huge part with, with maybe Veterans not being able to connect with services or just mental health in general? When our Veterans come home, as you said. You know, being the brave warriors that you all are, does that sort of deter someone, maybe trying to access services they’re looking for?

David Galloway (7:57)

Absolutely. And it can go a couple of different ways. And when you’re talking Baltimore, Washington Parkway, there’s so many different programs and resources in the area. But every program has their little niche and what they can and can’t do—so Veterans kind of get lost in the shuffle. Sometimes you call one or two places. I can’t help you. You’re like, well, I tried, I guess that was enough.

David Galloway (8:18)

And that was what I did in my case back in the day. Or if you’re in rural areas, then you’re stuck, really struggling, searching for those resources. Veteran’s specific resources might not be available in each County and that kind of thing.

So when you get into behavioral health and mental health, it’s really the stigma that goes along with trying to find the resources, the struggle, and having to tell everybody your story. That was also one of the hard parts was when you first get into the system, everybody wants to know, but you haven’t necessarily voiced that story to anybody in years, or especially if we’re talking Vietnam era Veterans 50 plus years later, and they’re just now getting help that they should have gotten 50 years ago. So it’s often hard to tell that story to strangers and feel that connection, which is why we really try to make that warm handoff.

David Galloway (9:05)

We’re going to be sending you to Tammy. She knows what she’s doing. This is what she’s going to ask you. If you don’t hear back from her, here’s our cell phone number, call us back anytime, because we want to try to make it as smooth as possible and not make the Veteran jump through hurdles but make the programs jump through hurdles to get the Veterans.

Quinton

So, yeah. And I guess it’s important that you mentioned, I guess that’s why it’s so important that you know, for your staff to have that experience and understanding, which makes it an easier transition for Veterans looking for help because they have folks who understand. You know, someone such as yourself and be able to empathize and just be able to connect with them and trying to access services within the community.

David Galloway (9:49)

Absolutely across, not just my program, but most of the Veteran programs we work with here in Maryland. It’s just like being in the military. We don’t do it for the pay. None of them are getting paid a lot for what they’re doing, but we do it because we all have a passion for the community we serve. And we all want to make sure that those Veterans get exactly what they deserve for what they did for us.

Editor’s Note: If you are a Veteran and need immediate mental health support, call 988 and Press 1 for Veteran support.

Training

Quinton Askew

And so you mentioned something earlier that I wasn’t even aware of, just the description of a Veteran and how someone who is in the human service field can understand the difference between a Veteran and someone who served. And just as someone who’s a service provider, then being able to understand the right questions to ask. Do you see that as being a big barrier? Do you see the Veterans differently?

David Galloway (10:35)

And that’s one of the hardest things for Veterans sometimes, especially like a Vietnam Veteran and now 50 plus years. Then he goes to talk to a 20-year-old social worker, fresh out of college, and he’s having to explain every acronym and everything.

So that’s why there are a lot of courses, and we encourage all providers out there to go. If you go on our website or the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs website, there’s a lot of links to good training. And that’s part of my program during education is we usually hold conferences throughout the state throughout the year to educate there’s clinicians and providers. With COVID this year, we’re going to be taking it to a virtual platform. And that’s exactly what we’re going to be doing is military culture. One-on-one, here’s how to work with Veterans coming through the process because now, even more so with the virtual behavioral health, having that connection is a little bit tougher. So we want to make sure they’re able to speak the Veteran lingo and build that connection as quickly as possible.

Quinton Askew (11:30)

Is there a date for the conference yet?

David Galloway

That’s coming up. Our first conference is going to be on November 12th. It is still in the planning stages, but we’re working with the Center for Deployment Psychology. Who’s going to be presenting at that conference, and we’re just waiting on approval and everything, and it should be coming out shortly.

Quinton Askew

And who would you advise to attend that conference? Is it the folks in the Community Service Providers?

David Galloway

Mostly service providers, but really anybody that has a connection with Veterans in their workplace or in their personal lives. If they volunteer, if they just work with Veterans in any aspect and want to know how to better connect with them. Every time I go, even though I’ve been through these kinds of trainings and been through it myself, I still take away bits and pieces and see myself doing some of the things they should say, Veterans, to look for Veterans. It’s really for anybody, and especially with the virtual platform, it really allows us to open the door to anybody who just has that interest in learning more about the Veteran culture.

Quinton Askew, 211 Maryland (12:30)

Yeah. And it’s virtual, there’s no excuse. Right?

David Galloway (12:35)

Absolutely. We’re also going to be doing a speaker series where we interviewed Veterans similar to this kind of platform and just have them tell their stories of when they were Veterans and some of the hardships they went through and some of the strengths and some of the positives that came out of their time in service and how they were able to get back on their feet. That kind of thing.

Who They Help

Quinton (12:55)

That’s great. I’m sure that would be impactful. Especially hearing from the experts. You mentioned some of the Veterans who are eligible for services. What about family members? Are family members also eligible for some services with Veterans?

David Galloway (13:08)

Yes. So, and that’s another thing. For our program, Veteran has a lot of terms. And so there’s a lot of Veterans out there with bad conduct discharges or dishonorable discharges who might not think they rate services because they get turned down from a lot of programs. For our program, for Maryland’s Commitment to Veterans – we help any Veteran, regardless of discharge, regardless of when they served and all of their family members. We have a no wrong door policy. So because we’re just referring you to different agencies, we’ll help anybody that calls us as best we can. We’ll connect them. If we can’t help them, we’ll find somebody that can and make sure we make that handoff regardless. And the same as for family members. And we do have resources for family members specifically for canceling, that kind of thing. It just depends on. So we allow everybody in, but it depends on what kind of services we can connect them to because not all family members can get all services, and not all Veterans rate all services. So that’s why we help come in, and we’re like, well, you won’t qualify for that, but you will qualify for this program. And so that’s trying to get you into that.

Quinton (14:17)

Okay. Right. But, and the most important part is just really connecting, just making sure that okay.

David Galloway (14:22)

Yeah. We want to be that connection. When we are done with you, we have our phone numbers. If anything else comes up, you can call the Regional Resource Coordinator back directly.

So we just really want to build that connection because, like you said, that connection and that isolation is really one of the biggest struggles for Veterans. In behavioral health is we just sometimes feel like we don’t fit in with the regular population anymore. So we tend to isolate.

Then with COVID happening, it kind of forced isolation. We’ve really seen that coming up a lot more where people are not having those out. They can’t even go to their peer support groups and talk with other Vets face to face. They can’t go out and see their friends and vent a little to service members, anything like that. So that isolation is really key. So that’s why we want to try to build that connection with the Veterans that come through our program.

Informational text describing the MCV Operation Roll Call program

Operation Roll Call

Quinton (15:14)

You know, in mentioning, COVID affected everyone. How has that affected the work that your office is doing with trying to reach out and connect with Veterans?

David Galloway (15:22)

It’s really been a struggle, especially for me. Like I said, I love getting out there, and meeting Veterans face to face and talking them through any of their worries and connecting them with resources, and going to events. But with COVID, we’re really trying new things, which is why we were so happy to find out about this podcast.

We’re really just trying to get the word out there. And we’re like most programs moving into a virtual atmosphere where we’re moving to virtual conferences. And along with that connection that I talked about, we started a new program after the beginning of COVID called Operation Roll Call, where if you have a Veteran or if you, as a Veteran or a family member, wants our program to call and check on a Veteran once a week or biweekly, we just give that Veteran a call and say, how’s it going? Has anything changed? Do you need any help? Do you need to connect to any resources? And we just check in with that Veteran either weekly or biweekly, depending on how that Veteran is, what that Veteran prefers. And then that’s just another way of us building that connection and hopefully making that Veteran not feel as a loner during these kind of lonely times,

Quinton Askew (16:28)

It’s Operation Roll Call. That sounds like a great initiative. How would a Veteran get connected? Is there a number that they would call?

David Galloway (16:36)

The services I mentioned, instead of trying to reach out to any one of us directly, we have a toll free number. It’s +1 877-770-4801. And that’s available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And that will connect you with the Regional Resource Coordinator in your area. And if you want to get involved with Operation Roll Call, if you have a son who’s a Veteran getting out and just want to know what’s available, anything like that, please give us a call. Like I said, we have no wrong door. So if you call us, we will do our best to get you whatever you need.

Gaps In Health

Quinton (17:10)

Great. That’s an excellent program. So working with the office, do you see that there are any specific gaps in services for our Veterans? Have you seen that there may be requests for services that may go unfilled or where there just may be some areas that, you know, others in the community could help build support around?

David Galloway (17:29)

There are always gaps, and it seems like it kinda rides the same lines, but I feel like the biggest gap is always going to be housing for us, especially with COVID going on and a lot of Veterans losing their jobs, schools not going in session. Cause a lot of Veterans rely on the GI bill or the education benefit to go to school. Without that money coming in, we’re seeing a lot more of a financial need. Help for rent, help for basic needs, food, things like that, cars, gas. So we’re experiencing a lot of that financial need, but we’ve also seen an uptick in behavioral health. And I think that’s a lot to do with that loneliness and just all the added stress from losing jobs. Or in my case, being stuck at home with five kids and the homeschool stressors. There’s just a lot more of that going on. So we are seeing an uptick in behavioral health, but that housing gap always seems to be there. And a lot of times we have the resources, but it’s about making sure the Veterans know about it and connecting the Veterans to those resources.

Quinton Askew (18:36)

It’s really just really dialing +1 877-770-4801 24 hours a day.

David Galloway (18:47)

Yep. And you can call that any time. And we started to call back within 24 hours. I do want to reiterate, though, that we’re not a crisis line. So, I mean, if there is a Veteran in crisis or anything, you should always still go through your local crisis provider, but we are information referral, and we do call back within 24 hours.

[Editor’s Note: In Maryland, Veterans can call or text 988 for crisis support. Press 1 to speak to a Veteran specialist.]

Quinton Askew  (19:07)

Great. And so are there other organizations that you partner with or organizations or in the community that are looking to help continue to support our Veterans? How would they connect?

Partner Organizations

David Galloway (19:15)

Absolutely. So we have a ton of partners that we work with throughout Maryland. And that’s why – I worked in other States before, but I really like Maryland because it’s a close, close-knit network of Veteran programs. So every program doesn’t just say, call this program. They’ll contact us directly and say, I have a Veteran for you. I’ll contact their caseworkers directly and say, I have a good Veteran for you. Can you contact them directly? So our partners, we work very strongly with the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and a lot of local nonprofits. And we get a lot of support through the Department of Health. Being a government agency gets us a little bit of extra pool. And so if a Veteran’s having trouble with benefits or anything like that, we always have that ability to work on that Veteran’s behalf to cut out some of that red tape.

Quinton Askew  (20:08)

And so if there are organizations that may just want to contribute to the cost, will they also call directly to the one eight, seven, seven number?

David Galloway (20:17)

Absolutely. Like I said, we’re a small team, so we don’t pretend to know every resource that’s available out there. So if you know about a great resource for Veterans, if you provide services for Veterans, please call our 1-800 number, and we’ll put you in our resource directory. And we can also put you in touch with some other Veteran nonprofits or anything in your area that might do the same type of work. So you can work hand in hand. We also do throughout the state. We have a lot of Veteran collaboratives. So on the Eastern shore, we have the lower shore Veteran’s Network and a mid-shore Veterans network. We have a Baltimore area group, Frederick County. They’re all throughout the state. And it’s just monthly meetings where we get together, all the Veterans service organizations in the County. And just kind of say, here’s a Veteran we’ve had struggles with, can anybody help with this one? Or here’s what’s new with our program. Here are some new things we’ve learned about. So you all know as well. So that’s what I mean about that close-knit group. Even if you don’t call my program first, if there’s something we can help you with, you’ll get to us or another program.

Quinton Askew  (21:20)

Great. Do you see that there may be a higher number, or maybe when it’s Central Maryland or the Eastern Shore, where you may receive most of your requests for services from? Is there a particular community that Veterans reach out more?

David Galloway (21:34)

We get most of our calls from the BW Parkway or Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, and County. But that’s also because they’re proportionately more Veterans in those areas too. So it’s really different depending on which area you worked in. Because you get more when you work in Central Maryland. There’s a lot more housing. Because there’s so many resources in the area that Veterans just don’t know who to go to who covers their area, their zip code, and they get lost in the process. In Western Maryland, it’s a few key players so it’s easier for them to find their way to the organizations quicker. But, then it’s more of a struggle because if they want Veteran specific counseling and live, um, in Deep Creek Lake, they might have to drive all the way to Martinsburg, West Virginia or in some cases giant from Frederick to Baltimore or from Ocean City up to Baltimore for their care. And that’s where we come in and trying to connect them to more local resources. If that’s easier on the Veteran, the VA is just one of our tools. It’s not our only tool.

Telehealth

Quinton Askew  (22:36)

And I know telehealth has been very active with supporting folks with mental health services. Has that been something that has seen an increase with our Veterans using?

David Galloway (22:45)

Absolutely. And even before COVID, we saw an uptick in Veterans wanting to take advantage of the virtual counseling because it gives them more of that freedom. Instead of having to drive an hour to Martinsburg, West Virginia, or drive an hour to Baltimore for their 45-minute counseling session, they’re able to just take it from the comfort of their home, where they can feel comfortable and safe without having to go necessarily into situations where they don’t feel safe. Or if they don’t like traveling long distances or going across the Bay Bridge. My mom still won’t drive across the Bay Bridge on this side. So making a Veteran have to do that if they’re uncomfortable, just so they can get counseling has always been a burden. With COVID coming, we’ve really seen all programs, take them on the virtual. So you can get virtual behavioral health counseling, virtual peer support groups, clinics. And I think that’s attracting a lot of Veterans because now they don’t have to wait in waiting rooms. They don’t have to fill out this paperwork and see what happens next because they have that more of an ability to take control of their situation.

It’s All About Connections

Quinton Askew (23:52)

And so for Veterans out there who may be listening, you know, is there something that you would be able to, just to, you know, help them to understand about. You know, the importance of just contacting and coming out and just, you know, that it’s okay.

David Galloway (24:03)

Absolutely. So for Veterans, I think I won’t preach behavioral health going in for talk counseling. I think the biggest and best thing for Veterans is just building a connection, having a connection with somebody. If it’s a loved one that you can be completely honest with. Clergy, another Veteran. So that’s why if you call us, it won’t always be connected to talk therapy. But if you like to hunt, we have groups that take Veterans hunting for free. Also, fishing and biking. If you like to run for some reason, there are groups of Veterans that run for fun. I don’t get it, but they do it. But if you can build that connection. The greatest thing for me was doing the peer support groups, learning from the Vietnam Vets. The best thing I took away. I had a lot of problems with driving when I got back and after roadside bombs and things, and a Vietnam Vet told me to listen to books on tape to take my mind off it.

David Galloway (25:00)

And I’ve been doing that ever since. And that’s not something a therapist told me or something. The VA, I was just another old-timer Vet who learned a way to deal with it because he didn’t have the resources afforded to him. So I just encourage all Vets out there. If it’s not the VA, doesn’t have to be the VA. But try to build that connection, especially with your peers, feel that connection with another Vet, that’s been in a similar situation and can talk the talk. You don’t have to explain your circumstances to somebody that just understands where you’re coming from.

Quinton Askew  (25:32)

That’s great. Are there any other social media handles or other places to follow?

David Galloway (25:37)

Angel Powell, our Southern Maryland coordinator, she is also our social media guru. So look us up on Facebook. I encourage you to like us all our primary programs, Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs. Just get all the information you can. Cause there’s always a lot of great resources. And especially with COVID coming out, they’re making a lot more virtual things. So benefit fairs, job fairs, they’re all virtual. So if you’re not getting on the programs like ours, Facebook page, you might not find out about them. We don’t have that availability to do that face to face communication. So we’re relying more than ever, like most programs on social media. And when we do the perspectives on service, that will be through Facebook where you can hear Veterans specific stories. You can reach out to us through social media. If you don’t want to call our 1-800 number, you can reach out through us through Facebook, through Twitter, Instagram, any of those, and we’ll get back to you at the same.

David Galloway (26:31)

So it’s just a lot of good information on there. So like us. The more likes we get, the more Veterans will know about us. And then the more Veterans that know, hopefully, there are connections we’ll build. And like I said, the best information I got was from other Veterans. So the more Veterans I can tell about our program and about resources, I feel like I’ll spread the word to other Veterans.

Quinton Askew

Thank you so much. And Dave, I really do appreciate you coming on board. And again, David Galloway, outreach and Education Lead, Maryland’s Commitment to Veterans, Maryland Department of Health, Behavioral Health Administration. So we do appreciate you coming on and thank you for your service.

David Galloway

Thank you. And I appreciate you having me on and giving me the opportunity. Thank you. Have a great thank you. You too.

Voiceover (27:13)

Thank you for listening and subscribing to What’s the 211? podcast. We are here for you 24/7/365 simply by calling 2-1-1. Also, connect with us on Facebook and Twitter or dragondigitalradiodotpodbean.com. Connect with us. We are Dragon Digital Radio.

Learn more about Maryland’s Commitment to Veterans or call 877-770-4801

You can also learn more about Veteran programs and support.

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