The Bay Pines VA Healthcare System Chaplain’s Service hosted The Last Roll Call Ceremony of Remembrance (June 2026) honoring all our great Veterans who passed away between 1 Dec 2025 and 31 May 2026. We humbly offer our deepest sympathy and condolences to their families as they cope with the loss of their loved ones. #LastRollCall #BayPines #CeremonyofRemebrance.

Coping Coach is a free and publicly available mobile app for everyone, including Veterans and service members, to support self-care and overall mental health. It was created by the National Center for PTSD, Department of Veterans Affairs. This app provides users with education about stress and coping, tools for self-care and to improve emotional well-being, trackers to check your mood and measure your growth toward personal goals, and graphs to visualize progress over time. This app can be used by people who are in treatment as well as those who are not. Download Coping Coach (iOS/Android): mobile.va.gov/app/coping-coach

Pain left Army Veteran Thomas Sells aimless after his service in Vietnam ended.. For years, he battled arthritis and neck problems — conditions made worse by alcoholism. But that was before he discovered VA Whole Health. In Whole Health, Sells found a more holistic way to heal and manage his pain. Acupuncture, tai chi, yoga, and other complementary and integrative health therapies restored his faith in VA, and now he’s hoping more Veterans will give the Whole Health approach a chance. Whole Health supports your health and well-being. Whole Health centers around what matters to you, not what is the matter with you. This means your health team will get to know you as a person, before working with you to develop a personalized health plan based on your values, needs, and goals. Experience Whole Health today at: www.va.gov/wholehealth/experience or find a local Whole Health Point of Contact to get started: www.va.gov/WHOLEHEALTH/whole-health-facility-contacts.asp #WholeHealth #VA #Healthcare

Coping Coach is a free and publicly available mobile app for everyone, including Veterans and service members, to support self-care and overall mental health. It was created by the National Center for PTSD, Department of Veterans Affairs. This app provides users with education about stress and coping, tools for self-care and to improve emotional well-being, trackers to check your mood and measure your growth toward personal goals, and graphs to visualize progress over time. This app can be used by people who are in treatment as well as those who are not. Download Coping Coach (iOS/Android): mobile.va.gov/app/coping-coach

Born and raised in Bushwick, Brooklyn, within a Pentecostal household shaped by a strong and influential father, he chose the Marines over law school in 1984— a decision that defined his life’s trajectory. Boot camp forged him, but it also marked the quiet beginning of a decade-long battle with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, symptoms he concealed out of fear of judgment or discharge. After leaving the military, he joined the NYPD and worked undercover in organized crime, pushing through his illness even as it threatened to derail critical operations. It wasn’t until a humiliating public episode in 1994 forced his hand that he finally sought a diagnosis, learning his conditions may have been linked to contaminated water during his service. Now, he speaks openly about his journey—from the streets of Brooklyn to the Marine Corps to the NYPD—urging fellow Veterans to stop suffering in silence and find the courage to confront the battles raging within.

Coping Coach is a free and publicly available mobile app for everyone, including Veterans and service members, to support self-care and overall mental health. It was created by the National Center for PTSD, Department of Veterans Affairs. This app provides users with education about stress and coping, tools for self-care and to improve emotional well-being, trackers to check your mood and measure your growth toward personal goals, and graphs to visualize progress over time. This app can be used by people who are in treatment as well as those who are not. Download Coping Coach (iOS/Android): mobile.va.gov/app/coping-coach