Tillis Helps Announce New PGA & VA Partnership To Assist Disabled Veterans

Press Release

Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), a member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, today spoke at the National Press Club to help announce the Department of Veterans Affairs' new partnership with the PGA of America to support PGA HOPE, golf programming designed to assist with the physical, social and mental rehabilitation of military veterans with disabilities.

Tillis was joined at the event with fellow Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Dr. David J. Shulkin, the Under Secretary of Health for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and Suzy Whaley, the Secretary of PGA of America.

PGA HOPE assists veterans who are assimilating back into their communities through the social interaction the game of golf provides. Led by PGA professionals who are certified in golf instruction for veterans with disabilities, veterans either learn the rules of the game or refine their skills with the help of professionals.

In support of the partnership, the VA will help the PGA identify disabled veterans who are candidates to participate in PGA HOPE golf programming in more than 50 locations across the nation.

"An important part of truly transforming the VA and doing the right thing for veterans are the kinds of things we will do with PGA REACH and PGA HOPE. Working with the private sector, working with non-profits to create this fabric of support is critically important," said Senator Tillis. "If you go to the VA or you go to the network of coffee shops we have down in North Carolina where veterans get together, [you see] the therapeutic value of having veterans sharing the either visible or invisible wounds of war, sharing their stories, and making friendships among themselves. The therapeutic value of that cannot be understated."

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