Results

To permanently honor aging military veterans, it is critical to tell their life stories. The life story of PN1 Eva Binns was the first pilot study to gauge the success of identifying such vital knowledge to future doctors, nurses, social workers, and caregivers to solve this health care crisis. The results of the PN1 Eva Binns Life Story study, and additional pilot studies, proved impressive. The identification of significant knowledge gaps in the education of healthcare workers and recognizing documenting the life stories of veterans affects all areas of the education system. Below is the list of accomplishment thus far:

First Song for Veterans Forgotten and Remains Unclaimed

Thank you, Kari Smith, and SweetSong Nashville, for creating the song “Forgotten”. In 2017, there is no excuse for an Elderly WWII, Korea, Vietnam, or any Veteran to be forgotten and die alone. Furthermore, the remains of tens of thousands of veterans, and civilians, are going unclaimed in morgues, funeral homes, and cemeteries throughout the United States. Along with elderly veterans dying alone, these problems have become a national crisis. I believe Kari Smith’s new song “Forgotten” will help ensure problems in the Veteran Community are known and solved. “Forgotten” is most likely the first song to build awareness of these issues. The song “Forgotten” written and recorded by Kari Smith brings attention to the issues of elderly veterans dying alone and their remains going unclaimed.

First Solution Model Backed by Scholarly Research

The Bridge Model™ is an open source solution model for ending this crisis of elderly veterans dying alone and his or her remains going unclaimed in morgues and funeral homes throughout the country. Due to these early successes, the Flowers for Eva™ Initiative is already 35% complete before launch. Critically, the Bridge Model™ has the support of many individuals: several doctors, numerous professors, staff, students, hundreds of volunteers; and has the support of doctoral level scholarly research.

First Donor

Pam Vanhoutte Sloger

The Flowers for Eva Initiative was very successful in its pilot run at Bucks, involving: students of the Arts department led by professor Deborah Riccardi (students painted oil portraits of veterans); and, Continuing Education’s Floral Design Department, led by instructor Darcie Garcia (creating 17 red, white and blue floral arrangements) to honor the 17 unclaimed veterans interred at Washington Crossing. The involvement extended to our local community Giant Food Store who generously contributed flowers, and Rich Mar Florist in Allentown who generously contributed supplies. This project uniquely involved a child artist who contributed to the Initiative. Her portrait of Eva is included among the other paintings, standing not only a proud tribute to the veteran; but also, represents diverse and inclusive dimensions of the Initiative.

Results

First Song for Veterans Forgotten and Remains Unclaimed

First Oil Painting of Unclaimed Veteran

First Front Page News Story of Unclaimed Veteran

First Solution Model Backed by Scholarly Research

First Marine Veteran Supporter

First Donor