New Veterans Service Officer reports for duty
By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — Wakefield veterans and their families have a strong new advocate.
Karen Burke took the position of Veterans Service Officer in December and the former Air Force flight nurse has hit the ground running in making sure that local veterans get the services they are entitled to.
Burke retired from the Air Force this past year after a 20-year career flying soldiers out of war-torn areas of Afghanistan and the Middle East. After taking a few months off, she accepted her current position as Wakefield VSO in order to continue to serve her fellow veterans.
One of her primary goals in her new position is to improve community outreach to make veterans aware of all the benefits to which they are entitled, both from the state and the federal government.
“We execute the benefits as part of our job and the other part is being a liaison for veterans and their spouses in the community,” Burke says. “And of course to help honor our veterans – not just on the holidays but all the time, and especially to make sure that part of the community spirit is honoring our veterans.”
She has already been impressed with the spirit of honoring veterans that she has seen in Wakefield.
Burke received her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Villanova and a Master’s Degree in emergence and disaster management from Trident University while she was serving in the military overseas.
As an Air Force flight nurse, Burke cared for patients on-board cargo planes as they were being transported from the battlefield in Afghanistan to Germany or from Germany back to the states. When injured soldiers need to be transported, medical care continues mid-flight. It’s the responsibility of Air Force flight nurses to provide them with lifesaving emergency and prehospital care.
In addition to flying in and out of Afghanistan, Burke also did a lot of related work such as regulating patients – essentially coordinating and matching patients to planes – while deployed in the Middle East.
But she says the highlight of her military nursing career was as a flight nurse flying missions in and out of combat areas in Afghanistan.
“When I was actually flying in the air were some of my best assignments,” she says, “where you’re actually up on the back of planes taking care of patients. The flight nursing in the wartime environment,” she says, were actually “some of the most memorable” experiences of her military career.
A native of the New Hampshire Seacoast area, she currently lives in Stoneham, MA with her husband Brendan and her five-year-old son Bode who is in kindergarten.
“We retired and came back to this area to be closer to our families,” Burke says. “My husband’s family is from the Cape and my family is in New Hampshire so this is a good way to be close to both of our families.”
When she’s not working Burke loves to go skiing. “That’s a nice thing to be back in the northeast for,” she says. “We also like to go hiking. We’re outdoor people, so we like to be active.”
She and her family are big sports fans too, and enjoy supporting local teams like the Bruins, Patriots and Red Sox.
Burke really wants to raise the profile of the Wakefield Veterans Services Office and make sure people know it’s there and that they know what services are available to veterans and their families.
Her office is on the first floor of the John J. McCarthy Senior Center at 30 Converse St. She is normally in the office Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., but is often there at other times as well. She says that people are always welcome to walk into her office, but may want to make an appointment to avoid waiting. Her office phone number is 781-246-6377. She can also be reached via email at kburke1@wakefield.ma.us. The Veterans Services Office web site provides veterans with valuable information and useful links to resources.
Burke says that she’s glad to be in Wakefield, a town with a reputation for honoring and respecting veterans.
“I’ve been very impressed with the Wakefield community,” she says, “so it’s nice to be a part of it.”
This story originally appeared in the January 4, 2017 Wakefield Daily Item.]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Feature stories, News, Profiles, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: Afghanistan, benefits, flight nurse, flying, Iraq, Karen Burke, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Middle East, military, New Hampshire, nurse, nursing, patients, planes, soldiers, Trident University, US Air Force, veterans, Veterans Service Officer, Villanova, VSO, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, war, wounded
Search this site
Categories
Flickr Photos
Archives
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
Recent Comments
John Breithaupt on Civics lesson Mark Sardella on The longest year John Breithaupt on The longest year Paul Sullo on PARK GATES ONCE FRAMED EXCLUSI… John Breithaupt on Straw man Blog Stats
- 298,249 hits
LINKS
No Responses Yet to “New Veterans Service Officer reports for duty”