MidLife Matters: Guest Lindsay Jesshop Veterans Community Affairs

Recorded Tues Nov 28th in StudioW

She discusses involving the community in intergenerational ways, Farmers Market featuring Veteran Farmers, Annual events, and the 4our pillars of the agency's service. 

At about 15 minutes in we hear her story, learn her favorite quote and what her younger self may hear from her today.

Transcript

Welcome to As Told Here, conversations and stories shared in the public interest in Studio W at WPAA-TV and Community Media Center. As Told Here brings community media to where you are. Welcome to Midlife Matters, where we celebrate women's wisdom and wit.

I'm Georgian Lussier , your host, and I'm delighted to introduce today's guest, Lindsay Jessup. She is a Wallingford native and she is the manager of community advocacy at Connecticut's Veterans Affairs in Rocky Hill. So welcome, Lindsay.

Thank you, Georgian. Thank you very much for having me here today. I'm honored.

 Oh, absolutely. Thank you. So you've been in this position a little over two years.

I have to give thanks to my husband. He heard you at the Wallingford Coffee House for the veterans and said he thought you'd be, you know, a great guest. And let's talk about the range of services that your role encompasses.

 Yes. So my role is manager of community advocacy. It's a very multifaceted role in the sense that I cover a lot of key functions for the agency.

 I serve as the communications lead for the agency, the legislative lead, public affairs. I do a lot with volunteers and donations. So it's a very busy role, but one that I'm very honored and humbled to do on behalf of the agency.

 Wonderful. And let's talk about some of the groups that I know you told me about. And we have some photos that have been part of all of your activities and bring the community in and build awareness.

Yes. One of the things that I've really tried to do in my first couple of years with Connecticut Veterans Affairs is expose the public to our veteran community and vice versa. So it's been very humbling for me to be able to bring in groups like our Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

Our Girl Scouts are very generous. They love to bring cookies to our veterans. And instead of just having them drop them off, I thought, why not come and hand out cookies during dinnertime for our veterans? And really the interaction, not just the veteran and then public interaction, but the multigenerational interaction was so impactful.

 And not just for the Girl Scouts and our veterans, but for the parents of the Girl Scouts to see. And really, it's just a wonderful hour where there is that camaraderie and our youth and our young people get to learn about veterans. We also had our Boy Scouts come and do an eagle project, and they brought handmade garden boxes for our skilled nursing home.

 And they were wheelchair height, so they are accessible to our veterans, and they handmade these. And again, it was just another great interaction where our community, our youth feel like they're giving back, and we get to reap the benefits of that. So that was a great experience.

And overall, just being able to, I think, connect our younger folks with veterans. I really believe that we have not been a country at war since World War II, really, where the country's immersed. It's always been something that happens on foreign land, and I don't think our young people today really understand what it means to be a veteran, what it means to serve, how much the cost of freedom is not really free.

There is no such thing. So it's been important for me in my role to bring that element to our students and our young learners. We also had a reading last year with the commissioner and the governor, and I was delighted to be able to do that as well.

It just so happened that I have two young children, and I thought, let's start small, and let's bring the commissioner to the school. And he read to each grade. And not only did he read to each grade, he brought pictures of his kids, and they got to see the impact.

 This is my dad, and he's going off to war now, or he's being deployed. And I think that really hit home to a lot of the kids. Governor was able to stop by and read some books as well.

So overall, it's resonated with me to be able to do those things in my role. It's very important to, I think, have that public perception. And that requires a good deal of creativity on your part, so that must be part of the fun of the job, right, thinking up things and having the ability to make things happen.

Yes, well, you know, I'm very lucky that people send me a lot of great ideas via email or phone call, and then the wheels just start turning, and you think, okay, how can we make this into a ceremony or event? How can we continue to be able to do this? So, for instance, we had another school reach out asking about Veterans Day, and we have a board of trustees with Connecticut Veterans Affairs. And it was out in North Windom, and I know that we have one of our BOT members that lives in Mansfield, very distinguished woman, Air Force veteran for over 20 years. And I said, would you like to do this, Dr. Cotton? And she said, Absolutely.

So, again, it's exposing others to the agency, what we do, and really bringing people together. That's really been a key, a driving factor for me in my role and what I've tried to really do in the last couple of years. Let's talk about the farmer's market, because when I was hosted by you very graciously and went to view the facility, you had just had this farmer's market, and that was an organic process, right? Yes, it was.

It initially started when I first started in my role. Commissioner also had just started, and we went out to Muddy Roots Farm right here in Wallingford, a veteran-owned farm, and we got back, and I thought, we have this beautiful campus, 92 acres, with this flat quad up in the sun. I said, I'd really love to see a farmer's market come on.

And this summer, I said, you know what? We've got to figure this out. The governor's office has meetings with communications directors and public information officers across the agencies, and we're in little cohorts. And I just so happened to be with the Department of Agriculture.

And I said to their communications director, how do we do a farmer's market? Would you like to collaborate? And she said, yes. And I said, okay, who are the key players? And it was our nonprofit, the Resource Conservation and Development Area here in Connecticut, and they do a lot with the Homegrown by Heroes, so our veteran farmers. They have a lot of business support and entrepreneurial support for veteran farmers who are looking to start out in the agriculture business here in Connecticut.

So we reached out to them, and they said, yes, we'd love to do this. We tried to do a veteran farmer's market last year, and it was successful. Let's try again.

And then we reached out to our federal VA, and they said, absolutely. So it was a group of women who met and planned our first farmer's market. It was very successful.

We had great public participation. The veteran farmers who came all sold out of their produce and product within the first hour. Yes.

Governor came. He spent an entire hour of his time walking around meeting each and every farmer. It also included a resource fair with about 20 or so different providers that do various supports and services to the veteran community.

So overall, really nice event, and we are already planning the second one for next summer. Perfect. I'm sure that was a lot of work, right? Yes, but very, very fulfilling and just very exciting for me.

And something that must be a lot of fun for some of your residents, something like the Corvette Club. Yes. It is incredible the gracious donors that we have and the donations and the calls that we receive.

Everybody is so eager to help our veterans, which is wonderful. So we do. We have a Corvette Club.

There's a couple of Corvette Clubs, and they come onto our campus each year, and they do a Corvette show for our veterans. For our veterans who are in our skilled nursing home, who maybe don't get out as much as some of our other veterans, it's really nice for them to have that experience. They stay all afternoon.

 They drive around in their Corvettes. They let the veterans look in the engines, all of that, and they also are great donors. Everyone is so gracious, so they really go out there and solicit donations for the agency, and those came in the form of gift cards, which we're then able to provide services right back to the veterans who live on our campus.

They're very handy to have when our veterans might be transitioning back to the community, and they need a little, you know, car to Walmart to go buy some pots and pans. So, again, we're just overwhelmed by the kindness of our community. And you've had some activities around a series of books.

Yeah, so last October, we hosted a book launch for Mr. Ron Farina. He wrote a few books. His last book was called Sacrifice, the Final Chapter, and it is about Gold Star family members.

And he had a book launch with Senator Blumenthal was there, and he had many of the family members of those that were killed in action present there. We had a missy who flew out from California. Her sister, Nicole Gee, was sadly killed in Afghanistan right as our troops were pulling out of Afghanistan, and she was there.

 So, again, it's just all of these experiences that really make you pause and think about what our service members do for our country, and not just the sacrifice of their service, but the sacrifice that their families also endure. And to think that that family or spouse or child loses a precious family member on behalf of our country to keep us safe and free is just, it's really the ultimate gift. You also have a number of, I guess they would be annual events, the flagging at the cemetery, the Veterans Hall of Fame.

Yes. Talk a little bit about those. So, yes, our state veterans cemetery is in Middletown.

We have three state veterans cemeteries that we maintain. One is in Darien. It's closed to interments because it is full.

Our operating cemetery right now is in Middletown. And then we have Colonel Gates, which is across our campus in Rocky Hill. And that's typically reserved for the veterans who live on our campus who wish to be buried there.

But Flags In and Flags Out is a day for volunteers to come out and put flags at each veteran headstone so that they are remembered each Veterans Day and each Memorial Day. And we just get an overwhelming amount of support from the community to come out and put those flags in and out. And, you know, many hands make light work.

Yeah. And it takes no time at all, even though there are 14,000 or so headstones there that need flags placed. And you also participate in the Wreaths Program, right? Do all of the headstones have a wreath at the holidays? Yes, at the holidays, there is Wreaths Across America, which is a nonprofit.

And we do have wreaths delivered, and those get laid each December. It's usually the second Saturday in December this year. It will be December 13th.

And that is another day for our volunteers to come out and place wreaths. And their mission is to remember, honor, and teach. So as a wreath is laid, you are to say the individual's name.

And I always, you know, when I have my kids with me, I say we're going to pause and we're going to read this person's name and just say thank you for their service. And it is a way for you as that person to connect with that veteran who you've never met and who has been passed away maybe for many years, but just to acknowledge their service and sacrifice to our country. And then Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame is an annual ceremony where we induct veterans into the Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame.

And it's not a military hall of fame. It's more about what that veteran and what that person has done after their service, how have they continued to give back to their communities, to their fellow veterans after service. So it's very another meaningful ceremony held in January typically.

And this year it will be January 22nd. Okay. And tell me about the four pillars of what's included in the overall veterans programs basically.

Yes. At Connecticut Veterans Affairs, our mission is quite simply serving those who have served. Okay.

So we have four core missions at the department, one being our skilled nursing home, Sgt. John L. Levitow Healthcare Center . It became a CMS-certified nursing home in March of 2020. Okay.

It is licensed for 125 beds. Mm-hmm. So that is our skilled side.

 Those are for veterans that need more long-term services and supports, 24-hour nursing care. Okay. Then we have our residential services and programs, and that is for veterans who may be housing insecure or need some additional supports.

It's meant to be transitional. Our veterans come in. They receive support, social work support, counseling support, assistance with finding employment, their room and board.

It's a way for them to hopefully save some money to then successfully transition out into the community. And included in that is our Patriots Landing Program, which is our temporary veteran family housing. We just expanded that.

We had the ribbon-cutting last Monday, so we went from five homes to 11. Again, it is a way for our veteran families who are in need to be able to hopefully find their footing and successfully transition back to the community. We also have our cemetery, which we mentioned.

Mm-hmm. And that's an opportunity for veterans to be buried in our cemetery and have a memorial service when that time comes. And then we have our Office of Advocacy and Assistance, and that is a team of incredible veteran service officers who assist our veterans in submitting claims to the federal VA for compensation that they may be entitled to due to their service.

Well, thank you. I think our viewers have a great deal more understanding of what's involved right up there. We have individuals living on our campus 24-7.

It's a 24-7 operation, and we are a very nimble team compared to maybe some of our bigger state agencies. So to accomplish all we have with just 240 or so full-time staff, I think, is quite a feat. We're very proud of that.

 Yes. Well, thank you. Let's talk about you a little bit.

So your background, you have a master's in social research methods, which sounds a little wonky to me. Yes. So probably a lot of math in that.

And you received that in London, right? Yes. And you had a BA from Marymount. So tell us about studying abroad and the topics that you studied.

Yeah. So that was a very conscious decision. When I was a younger person, I was taking a look at master's programs, and I thought, well, I can go to London and get my master's in a year and a half as opposed to two years here in the States and have this wonderful experience.

And I had read that the government was allowing graduates to extend their visa and work. So I thought that is a great opportunity for me to not only go and study in a different country, but get some real-life work experience over there. So that's what I did.

I took out a loan, which I am still paying for. I'm almost done. I'm almost done at 42.  I started at 22. So I'm almost there. But again, just a wonderful experience.

London and England in particular is such a diverse country. The Commonwealth has allowed for so many different countries and groups of individuals to come in and live and work. So I really was lucky in the sense that I met and worked alongside some incredible folks in England.

And the studies, the master's in social research, was a lot about policy and theory, social theory. So I really focused on the mental health and employment side of things in England. And for my dissertation, kind of did a discourse analysis on one of the government's white papers related to kind of care in the community, mental health care in the community, and how that evolved over time and what that meant over time.

So that positioned you to take some jobs prior to your most current role. Yes, yes. And what were those in general? So in general, I really started out in the mental health field doing a lot of work with employment for those with serious mental illness.

 And that was in England. We were doing some research. They were implementing an American model developed out of Dartmouth called the Individual Placement and Support Model and being implemented across the country in England.

So I got to do a lot of that development with the think tank agency, Sainsbury's Centre for Mental Health. It now just goes by Center for Mental Health in England, but it's a nonprofit think tank, and they do a lot of policy. So that was a wonderful experience.

And then coming back to the states, just being a learning specialist at Eastern and continuing my work in employment. After that, I was very fortunate to be an ombudsman for nine years overseeing the state's long-term care facilities here in the state, our nursing homes, our residential care homes, our assisted living, being an advocate for those that are oftentimes voiceless. I did that for nine years, and it was a wonderful position.

I was so proud to hold that role for that amount of time. And this opportunity with Veterans Affairs opened up, and I thought, you know, after nine years, sometimes you have to leave what you love and meet new challenges. So that's what happened.

But I really think that all of these roles have culminated into my ability to hopefully connect with others. I really think that is what I'm here to do. I'm a people person.

I like to connect. I like to make sure that everyone feels included and that we're sharing information and sharing our knowledge with each other. And I think that's really been what I've been put in place to do.

Never mind the research, you know, the research methods that kind of went by the wayside. Well, but that's your foundation piece, right? You have your concepts and those principles, and that probably guides you a lot in terms of really looking at issues as they arise and being able to connect things. Like, I mean, you're dealing with a skilled nursing facility right there on campus in Rocky Hill, and, you know, you've got that background.

It does help. It does help to know how state government and our services and supports work and to have that really in-depth knowledge. For instance, if there's an issue with Medicaid, I know exactly who to go to.

And if that person's not there anymore, you know someone who is. So I think having those inner workings of state government and what each department does and the services each provide has really helped me be able to navigate the system on behalf of others. Yeah, wonderful.

And you've talked about collaborating with women, a couple of the projects you've talked about. And this is a show for women at Midlife, which you're just getting into. Have you had mentors? Have you had women mentors? I've had mentors in the sense that I've worked alongside women who I have admired and tried to emulate every step of the way.

And the two most profound women mentors that I've had have been our Commissioner of Aging and Disability, Commissioner Amy Porter, who is now overseeing the Office of Health Strategy as well. She just has a way about her. She is so incredibly bright and smart, but she is so humble and just gracious in her approach.

And to me, that's always been something that stood out. How do I be more like her? And the same with the State Ombudsman now, Maraith Painter. She was an excellent supervisor.

She really put a lot of effort into the growth, the honest growth of her employees. And I think that's something that you don't always see in the workplace. And to have those women saying, no, you can do this, continue to be confident, you have got this, you don't need me, you know what you're doing, go for it, has been just, for me, it's been such a, something that I, has been so deeply personal to me in the sense that, you know, I've always, I hear them in the back of my mind all the time saying that.

Yeah, wonderful. And you've talked certainly your professional life, and I know you've referenced your children, right? And so how lucky are they that they get to be exposed to all the things at the Veterans. Yeah, that is one thing that I have tried so very hard to do is to bring my kids into that realm.

They know the commissioner, they know, you know, who some of the key staff are. They've come to the Memorial Day ceremony and, you know, and it's not always easy for a younger person to sit there and listen to people talk. And I remember at the last Memorial Day, my son sat there and all of his eight years of high energy, and he sat and listened, and to have the lieutenant governor say to him, you were a model citizen at the end, he was beaming.

And it's just nice for him to come and place the wreaths or the flags and to have that exposure and to know again what it is our service members and our veterans do for our country has been very important for me. So that will always be a lasting memory for me is to know that my kids were exposed to that world while I was at Veterans Affairs. It really is.

And so looking back in your 20-whatever years of professional experience, what advice would you perhaps give your younger self? My younger self, again, I would say be you and be confident. Don't be afraid to be yourself. Don't be afraid to show that you're a confident person.

That's always something that I've struggled with a little bit is that little voice inside your head that always has you second-guessing yourself. And so I would say don't second-guess yourself. You know exactly what you're doing, and you can do it.

And the other thing, and you try not to have any regrets in life. If I had another shot at it, I would say lose weight and join the armed services. It's not a, you know, I don't have many regrets, but I always think back and say I wish I could have served my country.

So that's why this role now is so important to me because I feel like I've kind of come full circle, and I can give back to our veterans and our service members in a way that I wasn't able to do back then. Okay, and with all the skills, talents, and experiences. Yes.

 And good heart. Yes. Yes.

 We like to close with a favorite quote or saying. Sure. My favorite author, Tom Robbins, he sadly passed away earlier this year, great novelist, and one of his quotes was, when we accept small wonders, we qualify ourselves to imagine great wonders.

And that always resonated with me in the sense that once we start to kind of accept the small things in life, we can imagine the big things. Well, that is incredibly inspirational. So thank you so much.

Thank you, Tom Robbins. All right. And please tune in to hear other fascinating women on future segments of Midlife Matters.

I'm Georgian Lussier, your host, and thanks for joining us. Thanks to our local producers and team Hercules for production support.