Pestworld Magazine Focusing on the Business of Pest Management
NPMA PestVets Committee members play bingo with disabled Veterans at the Orlando VA Medical Center.
Fairfax, VA, — On Monday, October 22, 2018, the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) PestVets Committee participated in their annual PestWorld Day of Service at the Orlando VA Medical Center in Lake Nona, FL. Organized by Dave Ramsey, Marie Horner, and Arnold Ramsey – members of the NPMA PestVets Committee assisted and played bingo with disabled Veterans. For NPMA PestVets Committee members it was a fun and satisfying experience.
According to PestVets sponsor FMC’s Arnold Ramsey on the event at the VA, “I have a stronger feeling of joy and appreciation after spending time with our senior Veterans. Getting to know them was a high point of PestWorld. It was equally gratifying to let them know that they are remembered and honored for their national service.”
The Orlando VA Medical Center, serving more than 110,000 Veterans in Central Florida, is one of seven medical centers that make up the VA Sunshine Healthcare Network (VISN 8). The 65-acre medical campus has 134-inpatient beds and provides acute care, complex specialty care, advanced diagnostic services, a large multispecialty outpatient clinic, and administrative and support services.
The Orlando VA Medical Center was state-of-the-art, and the staff were incredibly dedicated to caring for our Veterans, despite recent negative news coverage surrounding the quality of care for Veterans throughout the United States. According to event organizer Dave Ramsey: “With the recent negative news that we have seen, it was nice to see that the staff at the facility didn’t let that get in the way. They respect the Veterans and the Veterans respect them.”
It was a fun experience for all and many of the disabled Veterans that the PestVets Committee members helped play bingo were victorious. “The WWII Veteran from Puerto Rico that I assisted won three times. After I helped him gather his winnings, he insisted that I give him the bingo card too. Apparently, it was his lucky card, so he took it back to his room for next time. We had a blast together,” said Jake Plevelich, NPMA PestVets Staff Liaison.
The NPMA PestVets Committee Members that participated included: Tom Drapeau (Freedom Pest Control), Galvin Murphy, Jr. (Yankee Pest Control), Dave Ramsey (Copesan Services), Marie Horner (Arrow Exterminators), Phil Howard (Corteva Agriscience), Arnold Ramsey (FMC), and David Cooksey (McCall Service).
Next, the NPMA PestVets Committee looks forward to giving back and engaging with America’s Veterans at NPMA Legislative Day in Washington, DC on February 24-26, 2019.
NPMA is committed to engaging veterans in their successful transition to a productive and rewarding career in the pest management industry. To that end, PestVets actively promotes the recruitment of veterans to member companies and supports those recruitment efforts through various education and training opportunities. To learn more about NPMA PestVets please visit www.pestvets.org and https://www.facebook.com/pestvets. To get involved with PestVets please contact [email protected].
