1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:17,920 Welcome to Veterans Radio. 2 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:20,600 I am Jim Fossone. 3 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:22,920 I'm the officer of the deck today. 4 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:24,800 We've got some great programs for you. 5 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:27,800 I think you'll find very interesting. 6 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:36,800 We always want to remind you you can find more about Veterans Radio at its Facebook site or at the web. 7 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:42,800 VeteransRadio.org is our new URL, VeteransRadio.org. 8 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:48,800 Where we're on the web 24-7, you can find a lot of our podcasts there as well. 9 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:56,800 We post new ones every Tuesday, so you can get a new story, a new interview, something you didn't know before 10 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,800 going to VeteransRadio.org. 11 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:03,800 And before we get started, we want to thank our sponsors. 12 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:13,800 First up, we want to thank National Veteran Business Development Council, NVBDC.org. 13 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:18,800 It was established to certify both service disabled and veteran owned businesses. 14 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:25,800 You'll find out how they can help your business by going to NVBDC.org. 15 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,800 We want to thank Legal Help for Veterans. 16 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:34,800 Legal Help for Veterans fights for veterans disability rights all across the nation. 17 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:45,800 You can reach them at 800-693-4800 or on the web at legalhelpforveterans.com. 18 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:50,800 You're going to find this interview that we do today interesting because for the longest time it's been 19 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:59,800 just a few days, she's next to impossible to get somebody from the Detroit Medical Center to talk to veterans radio 20 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:01,800 and reach out to veterans in general. 21 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:10,800 And as a result, you kind of felt that, ah, somebody's hiding the ball and in fact there have been VA offices 22 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:12,800 and Inspector General reports. 23 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:15,800 The past director had all kinds of problems. 24 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:18,800 The past medical director had all kinds of problems. 25 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:23,800 We get to talk to the new director who's a breath of fresh air. 26 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,800 We want to welcome to Veterans Radio today Chris Colley. 27 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:37,800 He is the CEO of the VA Detroit Medical Center and recently appointed this year and he's got a lot of great background. 28 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:45,800 We're going to talk about it and some new ideas and just helps shed some light on the John Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit. 29 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,800 Director Colley, welcome to Veterans Radio. 30 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:50,800 Well, hello Jim. Thanks for having me. 31 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:57,800 I'm excited to be able to get the exciting news out what the Detroit VA is bringing these days. 32 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:04,800 Well, let's set this up first by, I'll explain a little bit, but then I'm going to ask you to add to it. 33 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:09,800 Director Colley did his undergraduate work at the University of Illinois. 34 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:12,800 He obtained a master's in healthcare administration. 35 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:16,800 He is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. 36 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:20,800 You've been with VA for 24 or 25 years. 37 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:25,800 You've had various leadership roles and headed up different medical centers. 38 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:32,800 Round out your background a little bit. This is clearly a passion of yours. It's your professional career. 39 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:38,800 Tell us what puts you in a great spot to be the CEO of the VA Detroit Medical Center. 40 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:44,800 All right. Well, I'll tell you my story coming into the VA. 41 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:49,800 Right, graduated from the University of Illinois. I've got a degree in kinesiology. 42 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:58,800 I had plans to become an athletic trainer for the Chicago Bears. Yes, I said it. 43 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:03,800 I am very impressed with the Lions, by the way, and am following them. 44 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:13,800 But I had plans to do that when I graduated, waiting on the next semester to come around in the fall to get my master's degree in physical therapy. 45 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:24,800 I went back home and there was an article in the newspaper that the local VA was hiring kinesiotherapists. 46 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:31,800 And I said, what? Don't know what that is, but I have a degree in it. I'm not doing anything this summer. I'll go check that out. 47 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:41,800 So I started at the VA in Danville, Illinois as a student trainee kinesiotherapist and just figured I'm just biding my time for the summer. 48 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:54,800 And, you know, I really enjoyed working with the veterans, but I will tell you, one particular day I was working with a veteran and he had a speech impediment. 49 00:04:54,800 --> 00:05:06,800 I couldn't understand what he was saying. He was permanently in a wheelchair. He kept, you know, using his motions with his hands like he was chopping at his knees. 50 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:15,800 I didn't know what that was. And I asked the nurses later, I said, hey, you know, what's this guy's story? Why does he keep doing that? 51 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:21,800 Does he have pain in his knees? Something I need to know? And they said, well, no, he's a baton deathmark survivor. 52 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:30,800 Oh boy. I'll tell you, Jim, it stopped me in my tracks. Maybe I was naive Midwest kid. 53 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:39,800 And I, you know, read about, you know, baton death march and I went back and did a little research and studied it. 54 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:52,800 And I tell you, my respect just went through the roof. I said, how am I, what honor do I have of treating this guy who went through so much? 55 00:05:52,800 --> 00:06:02,800 And they talked about, right, so he's chopping at his knees because his knees were broken as he was on that march and he survived. 56 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:12,800 And I just said, wow, I get it. I want to be an athletic trainer for Chicago Bears. Okay. But holy cow, this mission is cool. 57 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:19,800 And I know you said, yeah, I had a 25 years service actually 28. That was 28 years ago. 58 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:20,800 Wow. 59 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:30,800 Never left the VA. I, you know, I am not a veteran. I didn't serve. And that's when I said, this is, this is how I'm going to serve. 60 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:38,800 It's how I'm going to serve my country. I'm going to serve the veterans and I've been with it ever since and it is an absolute passion and honor to do that. 61 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:52,800 Well, you've certainly, yeah, if you risen through the ranks and before your current stop at the CEO in Detroit, you were the executive director of the lead of Lutz VA Medical Center in Saginaw, Michigan. 62 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:56,800 Again, a long, a long way from being a summer intern. 63 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:14,800 And that it is right. So coming out of being a summer intern and just knowing I wanted to do more for the veterans, there were, there were some legislation, some laws that were being passed back in the day that I whole hardly agreed with, but I'm just going to be honest with you. 64 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:20,800 I, I didn't feel that leadership was doing it correctly. 65 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:28,800 I just had this inkling, yes, this naive kid out of Illinois that I felt that I could do a little bit better. 66 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:32,800 And so that, that was my goal is to get in some type of leadership. 67 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:46,800 Not that I did not have a goal of being the CEO of a hospital at the time, but I wanted to get into some type of supervisory and really start, you know, charging folks with, you know, this is the mission. 68 00:07:46,800 --> 00:08:10,800 This is servant leadership. This is how you get back. So just over time, yes, I, you know, took different jobs as a patient education coordinator, chief of prosthetics at Mountain Home, Tennessee, and then moved up to Michigan and went to Ann Arbor back in 2009 as the executive assistant to the associate director, the CEO. 69 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:23,800 And that's when I really got a taste for the C suite, what the executive leaders can do, what impact they have done only in the facility, but on the, on the veterans directly. 70 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:39,800 And that's what I really said. Now, this is really what I want to do. So, so from there, right, I, you know, advanced my degree became a fellow in American College health care executives went through a lot of leadership development trainings and was given the opportunity to be the CEO. 71 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:57,800 I was the CEO of the Ann Arbor VA and really enjoyed it. And then from there, yeah, became the CEO at the Saginaw VA medical center. Now Saginaw is in our market. It's in our Michigan market. Saginaw is a level three complexity. 72 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:12,800 It's low. They don't have any inpatient beds other than a nursing home. But what really kept tugging at me was Ann Arbor though is a 1B facility. It's a very complex facility and I missed that. 73 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:27,800 And when given the opportunity to take over Detroit, which is a one C complexity, and that's just, man, that's just Nicollin Dimes away from being a 1B facility. I really jumped at that chance. 74 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:45,800 You know, being in Michigan since 2009, working with Detroit always felt that Detroit just had felt like they had more offer. And I really felt that, you know, if given the opportunity, I think this facility can excel. 75 00:09:45,800 --> 00:10:05,800 And I tell you, Jim, since I've been here, that's what I've seen. The folks here are so eager. They're anxious. They're ready to go. I mean, kind of easy for me. I don't want to say that too much, but really just letting loose of the reins, the employees here, they get it. 76 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:06,800 They get the mission. 77 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:16,800 Yeah, let's talk a little bit about the Detroit VA Medical Center. It's number of employees, number of beds. Give folks some sense in this around the country. 78 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:29,800 We're talking to give them some sense of what goes on at the Detroit VA Medical Center. And we're talking to Chris Collie, who's the CEO of that center appointed this year. 79 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:39,800 And honestly, he's appointed because, you know, there were some challenges at the Detroit Center. So, but tell us, give us that sense of what's there at the complex. 80 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:47,800 Yeah, absolutely. And you're right, Jim, there were some challenges. And we're going to be digging out of that already started a lot of things. 81 00:10:47,800 --> 00:11:00,800 But the Detroit VA, like I said, is a level one C facility. So what that means to the veterans? High complexity, full tertiary facility. 82 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:16,800 So we have, you know, full emergency department, we have full surgery capacity. We have a lot of specialties that the lower level facilities don't have such as the Battle Creek and the Saginaw. 83 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:28,800 So we offer everything just about the only thing we're missing right now is cardiology. And we're working on that to add cardiology, which will increase our complexity rating. 84 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:40,800 We have about 150 beds, ranging in med surge to CLC, which is the community living center that's our nursing home. We have that on site as well. 85 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:57,800 We have ICU step down units. We have an inpatient mental health ward that has 25 beds. Now, I really want to stress that this state as a whole really is missing inpatient mental health. 86 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:06,800 It doesn't matter where you go and it doesn't need necessarily for veterans. I'm just saying the state as a whole is lacking in patient health. 87 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:22,800 And we have just increased, we were at 19 inpatient mental health beds, we have just increased to 25. And that's been very helpful for other facilities, Saginaw and Battle Creek who refer veterans over here for those services. 88 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:27,800 And how many employees work at the Detroit Medical Center? 89 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:39,800 Yeah, we've got just over 2300 and Jim, I'm going to tell you though, one year ago today, we were sitting probably at about, I don't know, 1900. 90 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:53,800 Well, that's been one of the challenges, right? You got to have appropriate staffing to do all this. And it's at 2300, what's sort of the goal? What do you need to get to to say, okay, I'm fully staffed, I can move to the next level? 91 00:12:53,800 --> 00:13:10,800 Absolutely, well, I think we are right. So I think that was the goal 2300 wasn't something we just pulled out of thin air. This was a number that we looked across all services and said, What is it that you need to one, improve quality, improve access for the veterans? 92 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:13,800 We want wait times to decrease. 93 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:24,800 What is it that you need to run your service appropriately? And that was a number that we shot at and we've reached that. And we're really starting to see a turn. 94 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:42,800 Primary care, for instance, I will tell you, admittedly, our wait times in primary care are not that good. But boy, have we improved over the last couple of months. Just last month, we hired seven, seven new primary care physicians. 95 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:48,800 In one month, they came on board. That's huge. That's huge. That's huge. Yeah, that is. 96 00:13:48,800 --> 00:14:08,800 That's just one area. One of the things I wanted to talk about, because I, you know, a lot of people don't realize this. But let's talk about the academic affiliations that Detroit Medical Center has, because really all around the country, these big VA medical centers are generally 97 00:14:08,800 --> 00:14:20,800 associated or located, originally located and associated with that academic thought in mind. So tell us about the affiliations you have. 98 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:42,800 Yeah, so yeah, that is historically what one of the VA stands on. We're a learning organization and legislation was passed. Man, it could have been 80 years ago, for that matter, that we provide residency for new physicians. 99 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:58,800 Our academic affiliate is Wayne State University. So every year we have a rotation of residents that come in year one as they're going through their studies. They graduate to fellows. 100 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:19,800 And they get all their training here on site. They rotate through different disciplines. And yeah, you're right, across the country, I don't know that I have the exact number. Very large percent of physicians across this country at one point time walk through a VA medical center as part of their training. 101 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:40,800 Yeah, I don't remember the number exactly there, but it's something astounding, like 80% of all physicians have done some training at the VA and that's good on all fronts. And that's also true with some nursing programs. I don't know if you're affiliated with any nursing programs. 102 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:59,800 I don't recall that we have nursing programs affiliations, but I will tell you that what we do here we try to grow our own, whether it be RN, transition to practice, that we're going to be starting. So these are these are RNs that come out of school that don't have any experience. 103 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:18,800 However, we will hire them on as an RN, but they take a year to go through a transitional phase. They're mentors. They get on the job training. They have somebody a proctor with them the whole time. So after one year, they're fully ready to become an RN on their own. 104 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:21,800 But we did that within our own house. 105 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:40,800 And the point of that is, and I guess I want you to talk a little bit about this, all of this, whether it's hiring new folks or training up nurses to maybe be the full RN or being affiliated with an academic, the goal of all that is patient care and outcomes, isn't it? 106 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:55,800 Well, yeah, let's cut to the chase, right? That is it. Absolutely. We need to provide the highest quality of care for veterans and not only high quality, it's got to be timely. 107 00:16:55,800 --> 00:17:07,800 And it's got to be what they need. Now, I'll tell you that the Mission Act came out and said, look, a couple of things, right? If the VA does not provide the service that you need, we'll send you to the community. 108 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:26,800 If you live 30 minutes away from primary care, we'll send you to the community. If you send, if you're 60 minutes away from specialty care, we'll send you to the community. I am absolutely fine with sending the veteran wherever they need the care. 109 00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:38,800 I prefer they get the care in the VA. And that's why we're adding all of these staff so that we can improve quality. We can improve wait times. 110 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:53,800 When we talk about distance that you have to drive, let me speak to this real quick. So we have, currently we have two outpatient clinics. We have one in Pontiac and we have one in Yale. 111 00:17:53,800 --> 00:18:16,800 That's not cutting it, Jim. We need to get out there, right? So I'm just going to ask you, Jim, if you lived in South Lion or something of that nature and you had to go to your primary care provider just to get your blood pressure taken and you got to fight this Detroit traffic, come all the way down here just to get your blood pressure taken and drawn. 112 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:19,800 That's old days. We can't do that anymore. 113 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:31,800 It's just a disincentive. It's a disincentive and I agree with you, the outpatient clinics and there seems to be, you know, some of this is Congress, right? Congress has got to fund these things. 114 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:33,800 They have to fund them, yes. 115 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:54,800 We also have to plan strategically and so I am excited to say at the early 2024, we're opening an outpatient clinic in Trenton in the downriver area. I'm very excited about that. That's going to have primary care, mental health and lab services and that's just to get started. 116 00:18:54,800 --> 00:19:08,800 That's just to at least create a presence down there while we lease some space and then on the backside, we're going to be looking to build a new outpatient clinic and actually stand alone that belongs to us. 117 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:18,800 We're doing that. We just had a meeting two weeks ago with Selfridge Air National Guard Base creating a presence on site there as well. 118 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:26,800 We're looking at McComb County, Oakland County and Port Huron. 119 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:36,800 So Yale is too far away from Port Huron. The mission, it's 40 minutes away and you're already missing those veterans so we're going to move that closer. 120 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:44,800 So getting to bringing care closer to where the veterans are and that's our goal. We need to grow and that's what we're going to do. 121 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:56,800 We're, we've really, our number of veterans, we call them Uniques, a unique veteran, a unique social security number if you will, has been declining over the last couple of years. 122 00:19:56,800 --> 00:20:05,800 And partly because we have not been flexible, this facility has not been flexible to get out there in the community, one, to recruit them. 123 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:18,800 Two, you said it, there has been some negative news coming out of the Detroit VA, but we're here to fix it, right? And getting out there, providing that high quality care. 124 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:31,800 Number one, if I had to get a message across to veterans, I'm just asking, hey, give us a chance. If you've been here before and you said, give us another chance, I will tell you, things have changed, guaranteed. 125 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:42,800 Well, and we all know in every organization, it starts at the top and they've brought you in with your set of experiences to push that change, to be a change agent. 126 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:50,800 So these are all good things to hear about. And it really is about delivering the services the veterans need for their care. 127 00:20:50,800 --> 00:21:05,800 You mentioned some specialties. There are areas where your DACs and healthcare teams are really kind of especially or unique in serving veterans. 128 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:18,800 And that's why, you know, there's a lot of talk about community and care, but I've also talked to a lot of researchers who say the private sector doesn't understand military veteran issues. 129 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:32,800 That's why we have the VA system. So talk to us about some of the specialties that you have in Detroit that you're just not going to find these kind of experiences, maybe with other physician groups. 130 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:53,800 Oh, that's a good point. So one, let's talk about mental health real quick, right? So our mental health staff, our psychologists, psychiatrists, they have been trained in veterans, not disabilities, but the needs of what veterans need. 131 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,800 Yeah, they're health issues, yep. 132 00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:15,800 Health issues, that's right. And the public sector has not been. And so we strive a lot on whether it be PTSD, whether it be other mental health issues, we really stand far and above the community in that. 133 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:29,800 So I would just say if you're a veteran and need a mental health, you may want to try the VA first. They get it. They know it. They've seen it all. And chances are they will be able to help you. 134 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:41,800 So that's the big one. Other specialties, surgery, for instance, we have really grown our surgery department here. I've got a new chief of surgery, Dr. John Paisley. 135 00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:54,800 Well, this guy is a breath of fresh air. He's exciting. The staff really look up to him. He's got a vision. It's really going to take our surgery department to the next level. 136 00:22:54,800 --> 00:23:04,800 And one, for instance, is plastics and hands. And we talk about orthopedics. We actually give referrals from the Ann Arbor VA. 137 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:19,800 So we do go back and forth. We send some referrals over there for some surgeries. They send folks over here for specifically plastics and hands. And that's very, very exciting that we're able to share our specialties like that. 138 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:35,800 Well, and that's what you want. You want the best care for the veteran at whichever hospital is best equipped for that. And we don't want to duplicate services because money is not unlimited in the VA system. You've got to work and cooperate together. 139 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:52,800 It's great to hear that you guys are. And one of the things that a lot of veterans have is sleep apnea or sleep problems. Is there any work that's being done there or any special work that's being done at the Detroit VA Medical Center? 140 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:58,800 Chris Colley, director, give us some insight on what's going on in that area. 141 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:08,800 Well, as a matter of fact, we have a very large research department and there's a lot of research going on specifically for sleep apnea. 142 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:25,800 Now, our new chief of research, Dr. Chaudhry, she was our chief of sleep and she's got a lot of research background. She's doing a lot of research on Gulf War veterans and sleep apnea in that arena. 143 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:38,800 Very, very impressed at what she's brought forward and what she brings to the table, not only in the research department, it's not only going to help the Detroit VA, it's going to help every VA across the country, what they're doing. 144 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:43,800 So our sleep department, though, in general, they get it. 145 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:55,800 So they know what Gulf War veterans went through, what other veterans in other areas went through, and so they can specifically tune into what their needs are. 146 00:24:55,800 --> 00:25:04,800 Okay, I'm going to ask you the hard questions now. Everybody's listening going, hey, wait a minute, Jim, you're not hitting Chris with the stuff that people want to know about. 147 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:18,800 Right, what are the top three or four issues that you're working on because there were challenges that had to be overcome and that's why you're there. So what are those top issues that you're working on? 148 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:27,800 Let me put it this way, Jim. I'm going to tell you a little story and I share this with any time I get in front of veterans. You got a favorite restaurant you go to, I assume? 149 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:29,800 Absolutely. 150 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:36,800 You go there and you get a steak every time it's perfect and you go there one time and the steak is not that great. 151 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:41,800 And you figure, well, you know what, the chef's having a bad date. That's okay. It's my favorite place to go. 152 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:50,800 But you go back the next time the steak still isn't all that great and, well, the customer service wasn't all that great either. 153 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:56,800 So unfortunately, you just got to say, you know what, just something's happened here. I'm not sure what it is. I'm not going back. 154 00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:04,800 So one day, Jim, you see a sign on the wall says under new management. What does that tell you? 155 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,800 Well, hopefully my steak will be better. 156 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:17,800 Right, right, right, right. It tells me that, you know what, somebody recognized something and a change has to be made and that's what's happening here. 157 00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:26,800 So some of the things that we're working on, I will tell you, one of the issues right off the bat is customer service. Right? 158 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:34,800 So when I walked in the door the first day I was here, I talked about the all employees survey. 159 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:40,800 What does that mean? Right? People are looking at me like, are you kidding me? You're the new CEO. We've got all these issues going on. 160 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:50,800 You want to talk about a survey of the employees? Yes, I do because I want to know where the employees feel about working at the Detroit VA. 161 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:55,800 What are the issues here? Because we're not going to make change unless I know what the issues are. 162 00:26:55,800 --> 00:27:08,800 And so there's been a big resounding feedback from the employees. They let their voices be known and that was great because in the past, that was not allowed. 163 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:15,800 They were not psychologically safe. They could not speak up. There's fear of reprisal. That's changing. 164 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:20,800 Now people are raising their hand and going, hey, look, I don't think this is right. 165 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:27,800 Look, I think this may harm the veteran. And I think in the past that was shied away from. 166 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:33,800 Well, now we're getting folks who are saying, look, if you don't change or if this happens, it's going to harm the veteran. 167 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:40,800 These are called close calls. We're having more close calls and then we're having adverse events. 168 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:44,800 So we're actually catching them ahead of time because people are raising their hands. 169 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:52,800 So that's psychological safety. That was a big issue. I talked about customer service. We really need to improve in that area. 170 00:27:52,800 --> 00:28:02,800 I'll be honest with you. There were places where you would go and the person would, it was almost like you were bothering them when you walked up to the counter. 171 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:11,800 And we've done a lot in that area. A lot of folks have responded also and we've seen improvements in that area. 172 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:17,800 And then I talked about just that one, just overall our decrease in veterans and we really need to increase it. 173 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:26,800 This is how we get our funding. I do want to say for the veterans who are out there who are saying, hey, you know what, I don't need it. 174 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:33,800 Give it to the veterans who deserve it. Well, the reality is it's already paid for. It's already there. 175 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:45,800 But if we don't get your service, we don't bring you in. That's a unique, remember I talked about, that goes in through the big calculation in the sky, which is how we get our funding. 176 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:55,800 So I will tell you, you may not qualify for health care or being paid by the VA. You still get your care here. 177 00:28:55,800 --> 00:29:07,800 If you have Blue Cross Blue Shield and maybe you're not service connected and you don't fall into one of those categories, you still get your care here, just like any other hospital. 178 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:19,800 Well, just charge your insurance company just like anybody else would. Go ahead and get that now. You may not think you need it now, but it'd be nice if you were already in the system, something or the other happened. 179 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:34,800 That's what we tell everybody that we get involved at Veterans Radio and at my full-time job. Go register. You may not qualify for health care by VA at the moment. 180 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:46,800 You may feel you don't need it, but get in the system because life changes, events change. You lose a job. You lose an insurance package, whatever it might be, but get in the system. 181 00:29:46,800 --> 00:30:00,800 So registration, getting registered is a big deal and that helps as you're talking about making sure you've got enough Veteran units to justify continuing the programs. 182 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:10,800 Yeah. I will say, if you have an opportunity, go on Hospital Compare. It's a website. 183 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:23,800 This is the first time that the VA has been allowed to participate. So what this does, it's comparing all the hospitals in the community and you look up anybody and gives them a rating like a hotel star rating. 184 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:34,800 The Detroit VA is a four-star facility. The four-star facility, I want to put that out there and I'm not going to say what everybody else is. 185 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:43,800 Go ahead and do your own comparison. We do have a goal to become a five-star and we already know the areas that we're lacking to keep us from a five-star. 186 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:48,800 But being a four-star, it's pretty cool. I'm telling you. 187 00:30:48,800 --> 00:31:07,800 Right. Getting that mentality across to people that, hey, don't run down our reputation. We're a four-star and we're moving to five and the employees are moving to five. That's the kind of culture change you're trying to drive, I think. 188 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:26,800 Absolutely correct. Okay. You talked customer service. You talked getting enough people through the doors and expanding the service territory. Any other issues that you go, yep, we're working on this. I want to dispel any rumor about this right now. 189 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:41,800 Oh boy. Yeah. So, well, there was a big OIG, Office of Inspector General, that came through last year and then the final report came out and, yeah, it smeared some ugly on us. 190 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:57,800 But I will tell you, if you read the report, the final report, what it says, our response to them is, you know, it says, we'll be compliant in January 2024. That's standard templated response that you have to give. 191 00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:07,800 We've already replied and responded to every one of those issues. They've all been corrected. The reason we can't say they're compliant right now is we have to show sustainment. 192 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:16,800 We've got to show that six months worth of, you said you were going to do this. Oh yeah. Well, you are. You're doing it and so that's fine. 193 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:28,800 We have challenged everybody to step up, meet that challenge. I will tell you when the OIG report came out, I did not hide it, Jim. I didn't put it under my desk. I didn't sit on it, put it under a carpet. 194 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:43,800 I sent out, sent it out to every employee and we put it on our Facebook page because I want everybody to know we're not hiding behind this. We're transparent. This is the truth. This is what happened. 195 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:48,800 But it's not what's happening today and it's not what's going to happen in the future, guaranteed. 196 00:32:48,800 --> 00:33:06,800 Well, that's why we have you on. That's why we have on the CEO of the VA Detroit Medical Center, the John Dingell Medical Center because we want all of our veterans to get the top care and it hurts all of us when we say, oh man, they're not living up to that expectation. 197 00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:21,800 We want to hear from leadership that they're heading in this direction and they're getting the job done and Chris, I really appreciate you taking some extra time to talk to Veterans Radio today to get these messages out and we'll be back. 198 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:32,800 We'll talk to you some more in the future to see how the progress has gone and give you a chance in a forum to talk to the larger veteran population in the area. 199 00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:40,800 Yeah, let's do that. Next time I'll give you an update on the Fisher House. We just broke ground last week and I'm super excited about that. 200 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:57,800 Well, we are Veterans Radio big supporters of Kate and the Fisher House team and have them on regularly so we've been following the progress and so that's going to be a great addition for the Detroit Medical Center to have that Fisher House nearby. 201 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:03,800 Chris, thanks for the time today. I really do appreciate it. 202 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:11,800 As I said, Director Crawley at the John Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit is a breath of fresh air from what there was in the past. 203 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:21,800 We're all rooting for them because we all want our veterans to get the top care and it not depend on which medical center you go to. 204 00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:30,800 It shouldn't be. There's a bad one here and a good one 60 miles away. So real good interview. We look forward to having them back on next year. 205 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:47,800 I want to thank a few of our sponsors, including our VSO sponsors, the Vietnam Veterans of America, Charles S. Kettles chapter in Ann Arbor, the Graffelhera Post, VFW Post 423 in the American Legion, 206 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:58,800 Prescor and Post 46 in Ann Arbor. We really need the help of our sponsors and if you'd like to be a sponsor, go to veteransradio.org. 207 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:13,800 Contact us or click on the sponsor page. It cost a few bucks to put this on. Nobody's getting rich in this radio program, but we are passionate about what we do and we hope we're bringing you information that you find interesting and helpful. 208 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:21,800 Military veterans touch everyone's life. I'm guessing right now you're thinking of a veteran, a close friend, relative, maybe it's you. 209 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:29,800 Even the toughest of us sometimes need help, but don't know where to turn for support. You don't need special training to help a veteran in your life. 210 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:39,800 We can all help someone going through a difficult time. Learn how you can be there for veterans. Visit veteranscrisisline.net. Veteranscrisisline.net. 211 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:43,800 A message from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. 212 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:51,800 If you have a VA claim denied by the Board of Veterans Appeals, contact Legal Help for Veterans at 1-800-693-4800. 213 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:59,800 They're experts in handling cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. Their number again, 1-800-693-4800. 214 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:13,800 We're going to hear now from an Army veteran who tells people that barbecue saved his life. We have veterans who are small business owners all over the country. 215 00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:24,800 You need to search them out. You need to support them and help them. If you're a VSO, if you're a local post, I want to challenge you to make sure that you're using these kind of guys. 216 00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:37,800 If you're a business owner or you're having a tailgater or party, again, search out veteran-owned small businesses to help them develop this business and also develop this people. 217 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:43,800 As you listen to this story, I think you'll see why we're so passionate about helping. 218 00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:53,800 We want to welcome to Veterans Radio an Army veteran, Richard Werobelski, commonly known as Chubb Zee. We'll talk about that a little bit later. 219 00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:57,800 Richard, welcome to Veterans Radio. 220 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:00,800 Well, thank you for having me, sir. 221 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:07,800 I'll probably call you Chubb Zee through this thing too because that's how I first met you at a barbecue festival. 222 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:10,800 We're going to get around to talking about that a little bit later. 223 00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:22,800 Richard, why don't we start with why you joined the military and you served from 2006 to 2012, but you got some family history. Tell us why you joined. 224 00:37:22,800 --> 00:37:26,800 I joined because I lost my dad at a young age. 225 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:33,800 Going through that, I lost my family and I knew at the time I needed something. 226 00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:43,800 I was being recruited for baseball at the time and then when my dad passed on, my whole life flipped upside down. 227 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:53,800 My mom told me that the guy she was seeing was my real father, come to find out that wasn't the truth. 228 00:37:53,800 --> 00:38:05,800 But at the time, I was in high school and I was really running with the wrong people and I needed an army more than they needed me at the time. 229 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:11,800 And that's what got me going into the recruitment office, doing all the testing. 230 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:16,800 And as I said, you had some family history. Talk about your grandfather a little bit. 231 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:23,800 Yeah, my grandfather, he served in Korean War and the Vietnam War as well. 232 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:32,800 So I had a little bit of history there. I had a cousin who joined the military and he's like, oh, you can't do it. 233 00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:43,800 He went AWOL and things like that and he's like, you just couldn't. It's like, this is going to fuel me. People tell me I can't do something, I'm going to do it. 234 00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:52,800 Yeah, I think that's like a lot of us these days. We get told, that'll never last or that won't work and you got to put the naysayers off to the side. 235 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:55,800 I think that's one of life lessons that you're passing along here. 236 00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:59,800 Absolutely, same thing with this business that we started. 237 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:07,800 And when you went into the Army, tell us about what jobs you had, what was your MOS, that sort of thing. 238 00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:24,800 So I was a 92 Yankee specialist. I went in as a unit supply and when opportunity came in for my unit, I did a cross MOS with 31 Bravo, which is a military police. 239 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:32,800 Well, one of those opportunities that Uncle Sam said I got for you, hey, I'm going to send you to Afghanistan. 240 00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:38,800 So tell us about that rotation. When did you end up in Afghanistan? What year? 241 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:45,800 I was in Afghanistan in 2008-2009. 242 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:52,800 And you had some experiences there that kind of impacted the rest of your life, didn't you? 243 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:58,800 Yeah, and every day, it doesn't change. 244 00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:10,800 During the elections in Afghanistan, I'm not going into too much details and stuff, but I was pretty injured pretty severely. 245 00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:19,800 Suffered a traumatic brain injury. I had shoulder issues. I had my back and my neck is fused as well. 246 00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:27,800 What we're going to focus on here is kind of the transition that the 10 or 12 years post getting out of the Army. 247 00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:31,800 You were medically retired in 2012, I believe. 248 00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:38,800 This is with a TBI and besides the other injuries you mentioned, you have PTSD. 249 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:44,800 And those things have affected your life over the last 10 or 11 years, 12 years. 250 00:40:44,800 --> 00:40:50,800 And it's hard to work your way through all that, but you got to get on the other side. 251 00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:53,800 So talk to us about some of those challenges. 252 00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:59,800 The first challenge was my daughter was being born when I was being retired. 253 00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:04,800 And I thank God every day because she kept me on a straight and narrow. 254 00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:15,800 Every week or a month or two months go by and we're doing military ceremonies for guys who off themselves. 255 00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:24,800 And I thank God every day that my kids are here and then my son was born a couple of years after. 256 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:34,800 And the family has really, is what changed me. 257 00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:39,800 When I went in, you go in with a sense of, hey, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. 258 00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:50,800 And you change your whole life when your kids are born and I'm more understanding of things. 259 00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:52,800 It gives you a whole new purpose in life. 260 00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:57,800 And unfortunately veterans have a horrible daily suicide number. 261 00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:05,800 And when you have a TBI or PTSD or other disabilities and life isn't going very well, it's easy to say, 262 00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:08,800 I got no reason, no purpose to live. 263 00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:16,800 But in your instance, Chubbzy, it was the kids who were in your life giving you that purpose and reason to live. 264 00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:23,800 Absolutely, and my wife, who I've been married to for almost 10 years. 265 00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:30,800 One of the things that we also have to realize is it's never just one hurdle to get over. 266 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:38,800 There's almost always multiple hurdles in life and they start particularly if veterans can they feel like they're stacking up on you. 267 00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:47,800 And you had to face a lot of those hurdles, obviously the TBI, the PTSD, working through the VA system. 268 00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:52,800 But in personal life, you were working on a house that you had a fire in. 269 00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:56,800 The insurance was a problem that led to a bankruptcy. 270 00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:58,800 We hit COVID. 271 00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:01,800 It leads to tax issues. 272 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,800 I mean, it just kind of starts snowballing. 273 00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:11,800 How do you stay in the game when all those problems feel like they're ganging up on you? 274 00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:16,800 Well, you know, I never wanted to be wealthy. 275 00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:18,800 You know, I've always wanted to give back. 276 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:24,800 You know, the same thing when I joined the military was all about giving back is finding a different purpose. 277 00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:35,800 And the community has really been a touching situation for me because when COVID happened, I found purpose again. 278 00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:41,800 And I was like, cool, I can't let this country be in such a turmoil. 279 00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:44,800 And I wanted to show that there is humanity. 280 00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:49,800 And we started up different fundraisers and stuff like that through the city. 281 00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:59,800 I worked with big companies like Catamins to help donate 900 meals to our frontline workers to just show them that, hey, you know, we care. 282 00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:02,800 You know, we understand what you're going through. 283 00:44:02,800 --> 00:44:16,800 And, you know, with everything was so crazy at that time where people were taking these diseases home and they're willing to sacrifice their life for the job that they signed up for. 284 00:44:16,800 --> 00:44:19,800 And that's the same thing we did in the military. 285 00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:23,800 And I had ultimate respect for that and it started there. 286 00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:35,800 And it gave me a purpose during those times I've retired from truck driving because some I shook and I didn't realize I had PTSD. 287 00:44:35,800 --> 00:44:48,800 And it took me out of work for almost a year and then they came out with trial experiments to help with PTSD and they put kind of me through my blood. 288 00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:53,800 And when they did that, they told me I totally lost it. 289 00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:55,800 I had severe PTSD. 290 00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:57,800 I needed to go get help. 291 00:44:57,800 --> 00:45:00,800 And at that time I was working getting help. 292 00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:04,800 I lost about a year of my life laying in bed. 293 00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:08,800 And I tell people, you know, it was mental pains. 294 00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:13,800 Yeah, I had some herniated disc and I had some other underlying things. 295 00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:16,800 But ultimately they said it was mental pain. 296 00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:26,800 I tell people to stay, you know, if you're struggling and you've seen things or, you know, you're going through a hardship, you're doing things that you don't understand. 297 00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:31,800 And this is where fibromyalgia takes place as well. 298 00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:33,800 It attacks your mental. 299 00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:36,800 It attacks you as a depression. 300 00:45:36,800 --> 00:45:41,800 And if you don't talk about it, your pains will go internal. 301 00:45:41,800 --> 00:45:49,800 And if that happens, it is very hard every day to get out of that bed because the pain is so bad. 302 00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:52,800 And I'm a pretty physical guy. 303 00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:57,800 And I'll tell you, I was in the fetal position for some of these episodes and these pains. 304 00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:00,800 And it really took me out. 305 00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:04,800 Well, you had fortunately the support of your family. 306 00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:09,800 You fortunately had some VA recognized care. 307 00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:12,800 But you also had the support of your community. 308 00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:18,800 And Chubbs is in a blue collar facility in southeast Michigan. 309 00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:20,800 All good, solid working people. 310 00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:27,800 And you kind of mentioned it that, you know, you joined the military to have public service. 311 00:46:27,800 --> 00:46:34,800 And in COVID, you're recognizing the public service at all these first line responders and healthcare people are doing. 312 00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:36,800 And you started catering meals to them. 313 00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:39,800 And that kind of gets us into what you're doing now. 314 00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:50,800 So talk to us how that gave you a new purpose to help those other public servants, but also gave you a lot back to the community. 315 00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:55,800 Well, you know, first off, you have to be in a position to help others. 316 00:46:55,800 --> 00:47:01,800 You know, I've always been told that, you know, before you can help others, you got to help yourself. 317 00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:09,800 So a company was born, you know, Chubbs Smokehouse was born because not only when I make it, other people make it. 318 00:47:09,800 --> 00:47:24,800 I have done numerous donations to our police, our fire, to our legion, to churches. 319 00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:31,800 You know, I tried to do the best I can because in reality, this business saves my life. 320 00:47:31,800 --> 00:47:33,800 It gives me a purpose. 321 00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:36,800 And cooking food puts a smile. 322 00:47:36,800 --> 00:47:40,800 It's a different type of service that you offer than being in the military. 323 00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:46,800 Yes, it is a profitable business that has to be. 324 00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:49,800 But at the same time, you see what it does to people. 325 00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:53,800 And when you give back, you know, that's what helps me. 326 00:47:53,800 --> 00:48:00,800 You know, I've always told my wife, you know, if I could cook for free, I would, you know, but at the end of the day, you know, we still got bills. 327 00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:12,800 And I've taken on a lot more bills starting this business and still trying to pay for those mistakes and errors and things like that. 328 00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:17,800 Because it's not the easiest thing to start a business. 329 00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:30,800 Well, and that's one of the lessons you've got here to pass along is that, hey, here's a guy who was, you know, a truck driver, unit supply clerk, military police. 330 00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:35,800 But who the heck did he think he was that he could run a business? 331 00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:39,800 And you start small and you kind of build up. 332 00:48:39,800 --> 00:48:43,800 Tell us about starting small and building up. 333 00:48:43,800 --> 00:48:50,800 You know, after we donated 900 meals, first we had to have insurance and liability just to even donate. 334 00:48:50,800 --> 00:48:53,800 And we went through all that stages. 335 00:48:53,800 --> 00:48:58,800 I depleted my retirement fund because this was what I was passionate about. 336 00:48:58,800 --> 00:48:59,800 It was a passion. 337 00:48:59,800 --> 00:49:05,800 And then I didn't have the money to start a trailer and to go full out. 338 00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:08,800 You know, I upgraded my equipment when I could. 339 00:49:08,800 --> 00:49:12,800 We started in a tent and we did that for about three years. 340 00:49:12,800 --> 00:49:27,800 And then in our city, you know, they passed food truck laws and it was also in turn towards me as well because some other brick and mortar thought I was taking business from them. 341 00:49:27,800 --> 00:49:31,800 And it was very hard at the time. 342 00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:33,800 It was hard to get meats. 343 00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:35,800 Meats were very costly. 344 00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:36,800 Still are. 345 00:49:36,800 --> 00:49:37,800 That hasn't changed. 346 00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:39,800 But we started in a tent. 347 00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:40,800 We just went. 348 00:49:40,800 --> 00:49:50,800 I got licensed every day to do those tent sales because I was always the one I told myself, you know, I'll be the one to get it. 349 00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:54,800 You know, you get the guys with the smokers on the corners. 350 00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:56,800 You get this guy and they're not licensed. 351 00:49:56,800 --> 00:50:00,800 They haven't went through the process of doing it the right way. 352 00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:03,800 And in turn, you could be sued and things like that. 353 00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:16,800 So I had food insurance, I had the local health department giving me licenses on temporaries and those were very costly and expensive when we first started. 354 00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:18,800 But it got me my clientele. 355 00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:21,800 And that's the biggest thing in business. 356 00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:29,800 Before you up your business and you want to make sure you have the right people, the place and the product. 357 00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:38,800 You now have a fancy looking, beautiful eye kitchen trailer that goes to these fairs and festivals. 358 00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:41,800 Let's talk about your menu. 359 00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:45,800 What's on your menu that people just line up to get? 360 00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:51,800 So what I am talking about lining up, oh man, what's laying barbecue and blues. 361 00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:57,800 There were so many people and we try to feed as many as we can with what we got. 362 00:50:57,800 --> 00:51:02,800 But I always do a chicken, pork and brisket. 363 00:51:02,800 --> 00:51:11,800 And those are the main items because of now you're touching people's religions, you're touching people's appetites. 364 00:51:11,800 --> 00:51:17,800 So you got a chicken and a pork and a brisket so in case someone doesn't eat something, then you have that. 365 00:51:17,800 --> 00:51:21,800 Then we also have our mac and cheese for our vegans. 366 00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:24,800 The mac and cheese is really good. 367 00:51:24,800 --> 00:51:28,800 I can attestify to that as well as the ribs. 368 00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:33,800 Yes, and then we always have a rib type on our truck. 369 00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:36,800 We'll do either rib tips or we'll do our baby backs. 370 00:51:36,800 --> 00:51:42,800 If we're doing dinner service and stuff, baby backs tend to do better. 371 00:51:42,800 --> 00:51:48,800 But when you're at different events, you have to gauge what's going to go. 372 00:51:48,800 --> 00:51:53,800 For that one event that you were at, Jim, we added turkey legs. 373 00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:55,800 We did smoked turkey legs. 374 00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:57,800 We call it the Chubbs Club. 375 00:51:57,800 --> 00:52:00,800 The thing is like 28 to 32 ounces. 376 00:52:00,800 --> 00:52:03,800 It will club you. 377 00:52:03,800 --> 00:52:10,800 And one of the things too that you've learned along the way, and again this is the message to veterans who are thinking about, 378 00:52:10,800 --> 00:52:14,800 I don't know if I can start a business, you start small and you grow it. 379 00:52:14,800 --> 00:52:19,800 If you're passionate about it like Chubbs is, you'll find a way to grow it. 380 00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:24,800 But you also found that fairs and festivals are one thing as you say, you kind of have to estimate the crowd. 381 00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:27,800 Catering's a whole other thing, isn't it? 382 00:52:27,800 --> 00:52:33,800 It is. It's a double business. Catering is more of a safety thing. 383 00:52:33,800 --> 00:52:37,800 So you know how much you have to cook and how much. 384 00:52:37,800 --> 00:52:40,800 When you go into these fairs, you never know. 385 00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:45,800 You've got 100 people. They'll tell you 200 people and then only 25 people eat. 386 00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:51,800 And now you're out, you know, because it's all pre-cooked foods and all your supplies. 387 00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:54,800 You know, it's very hard to gauge. 388 00:52:54,800 --> 00:53:03,800 So this was my very first big, big event where we paid a vendor fee as they call it to show up. 389 00:53:03,800 --> 00:53:05,800 And now you're gambling. 390 00:53:05,800 --> 00:53:12,800 It's a very, very mathematical equation that you need to put in. 391 00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:18,800 How much food you need to have, how much you have to cook to make this amount. 392 00:53:18,800 --> 00:53:26,800 So it's hard. Catering is very easy and anyone can start a catering company. 393 00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:36,800 But as you say, you've got to have the clientele and part of your clientele comes out of having the trailer and the barbecue and everything. 394 00:53:36,800 --> 00:53:39,800 There's two more things I want to cover before we get out of time. 395 00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:43,800 One on your menu is pays homage to your mother. 396 00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:49,800 Tell us about Chubb's mama on the menu. 397 00:53:49,800 --> 00:53:52,800 Yeah. So my mom helped me start this business. 398 00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:56,800 She was in and out of East Hospital, left and right. 399 00:53:56,800 --> 00:53:58,800 And this was gave me the idea. 400 00:53:58,800 --> 00:54:02,800 I fed the Garden City Hospital and she will walk around. 401 00:54:02,800 --> 00:54:07,800 She goes, oh, my son's Chubb's, you know, he eats all who fed you. 402 00:54:07,800 --> 00:54:14,800 And, you know, and she was a disabled person for most of her life and stuff. 403 00:54:14,800 --> 00:54:19,800 And she wanted to be part of this movement and she was my cashier. 404 00:54:19,800 --> 00:54:24,800 And for the longest time, you know, we worked together. 405 00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:25,800 She loved it. 406 00:54:25,800 --> 00:54:33,800 You know, we became so much closer than what we have with all of my family past and stuff. 407 00:54:33,800 --> 00:54:39,800 And what's on when I order the Chubb's mama? 408 00:54:39,800 --> 00:54:41,800 What am I getting? 409 00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:44,800 And I think, again, here's a lesson for other veterans. 410 00:54:44,800 --> 00:54:47,800 These businesses can pull the family together. 411 00:54:47,800 --> 00:54:49,800 But what was on the menu? 412 00:54:49,800 --> 00:54:53,800 So the Chubb's mama is all of her favorite foods. 413 00:54:53,800 --> 00:54:58,800 So you're getting rib tips or baby back ribs in it. 414 00:54:58,800 --> 00:55:02,800 You get brisket, you get chicken, you get pork, 415 00:55:02,800 --> 00:55:05,800 you get two sides and we do that for $30. 416 00:55:05,800 --> 00:55:11,800 So, and I tell people, you know, you can feed two people at least for that. 417 00:55:11,800 --> 00:55:14,800 Well, I wish we're on radio, if you will. 418 00:55:14,800 --> 00:55:16,800 You can't smell how wonderful this is. 419 00:55:16,800 --> 00:55:22,800 But when he just explained what that's involved, I hope your mouth is grueling because it should be. 420 00:55:22,800 --> 00:55:25,800 Now, there's one more thing I want to bring up here. 421 00:55:25,800 --> 00:55:31,800 I want to challenge all veteran organizations to get out here 422 00:55:31,800 --> 00:55:35,800 and do this and that is find a veteran-owned business, 423 00:55:35,800 --> 00:55:38,800 a veteran-owned caterer, a veteran-owned food truck, 424 00:55:38,800 --> 00:55:45,800 and help them make it by bringing them into your organization and getting them some business. 425 00:55:45,800 --> 00:55:50,800 But I think we learn a lot from Chubb's by knowing the struggles that he went through 426 00:55:50,800 --> 00:55:54,800 and what can be done to change it and the importance of family 427 00:55:54,800 --> 00:55:56,800 and the importance of meaningful work. 428 00:55:56,800 --> 00:56:02,800 So, if you get a chance, make sure this season you get out and help a veteran-owned business. 429 00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:10,800 And until next time on Veterans Radio, I'm Jim Plosone and Dale Throneberry will be back next. 430 00:56:10,800 --> 00:56:16,800 You can find us on Facebook at veteransradio.org or on our website. 431 00:56:16,800 --> 00:56:17,800 Check us out. 432 00:56:17,800 --> 00:56:20,800 We're always glad to find out what you're thinking. 433 00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:21,800 Send us a note. 434 00:56:21,800 --> 00:56:22,800 It's always interesting. 435 00:56:22,800 --> 00:56:27,800 And until next time on Veterans Radio, where we bring you these great stories, 436 00:56:27,800 --> 00:56:29,800 you're not going to hear anywhere else. 437 00:56:29,800 --> 00:56:55,800 You are dismissed. 438 00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:06,800 And until next time, we'll see you in the next one. 439 00:57:29,800 --> 00:57:33,800 Call us at veteransradio.org or call 800-745-RIDE. 440 00:57:33,800 --> 00:57:59,800 We'll see you in the next one.