February 4, 2015 -- Retired service members from every branch of the armed forces gathered, before the crack of dawn, Feb. 4, for the installation's monthly Retiree Breakfast, which was held at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany's Town and Country Restaurant.
Lt. Col. Nathaniel Robinson, executive officer, MCLB Albany, welcomed the veterans and some spouses, who attended the event to fellowship with comrades as well as to gain knowledge and information relative to updates and changes to benefits and privileges, which may impact the retiree community.
Guest speakers for the breakfast were the Honorable Anthony Jones, commissioner, District 6, Dougherty County, Albany, Georgia, and Gerald DeWorth, associate director, Carl Vinson Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Dublin, Georgia.
Jones thanked the retirees in attendance for their service to the country and base officials for inviting him to speak at the monthly breakfast.
"(Lt.) Col. Robinson, I appreciate the opportunity," Jones said. "I think out of all of the commissioners in town, I am the only one that can boast and say that Marine Corps Logistics Base (Albany) sits right smack dab in the middle of my district."
Jones engaged the group with discussions on implementing his vision for the county's residents by highlighting some of the details of it for the community.
"I was asked to come in and talk with you about what my vision is," he added. "I don't have a vision by myself. What I'd like to (talk about) is a vision that we have for the 97,000 (plus) people of Albany. I ran on a slogan: 'I am a servant of the people.' That's what I want to be — a servant of the people. I want to listen to your complaints. I want to listen to your problems. I want to come out and learn what (your problems) are, then I want to lead you through them."
After thanking attendees for their service to the country, DeWorth shared relevant information about benefits, offerings and some of the current issues veterans' are encountering at the VA clinic aboard the base.
"We all make mistakes and we all have good intentions," DeWorth said. "Talk to us. We will listen and we have listened. We have heard from you all and from our staff at the clinic some of the complaints and we've gone back and reanalyzed the data that we used to plan.
"In our haste to implement (our) agreement with the Marines to establish a clinic on the base, we have made some mistakes in the planning implementation of our clinic,” he continued. “We have taken and listened to your complaints and we have realized that we did not provide for enough primary care providers and we did not provide for enough space for those primary care providers."
DeWorth listed a number of improvements, which have been implemented and/or proposed in order to correct some of the concerns expressed by the veteran community in Albany, including two new physicians, a nurse practitioner and an agreement to modify the current facility to house additional medical teams.