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‘Breathtaking’: Wreaths Across America volunteers honor service members at Arlington

An annual tradition to honor servicemen and women brought thousands of volunteers together at Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday. Wreaths Across America, started in 1992, honors service members interred at Arlington by inviting volunteers to place wreaths decorated with bows on their graves. In all, 253,000 wreaths were set out throughout the cemetery. The name of each soldier was also read aloud.

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Among the volunteers was Meredith Creswell, who traveled with friends from Maine to participate. She also helped raised money for the event. “I wanted to come experience it myself. This is my first time so it’s just breathtaking,” she said. The mission of the event is to honor, remember and teach others about the importance of the sacrifices made by the service members buried at the cemetery. Boy Scout Troop 1313 from Reston, Virginia, also came to pay a special tribute. Jake Price and Reid Schryer both have grandparents here and were excited to lay wreaths alongside their fellow scouts. “It’s good to see the massive turnout and how many people care,” Price said. For Schryer, it’s a reflective moment to remember the men and women now resting at Arlington National. “I just hope that everyone has a special moment with a soldier,” Schryer said.

Va. health dept. improves nursing home inspection backlog, reforms sanction criteria for facilities

Stories of neglect in care or unsanitary living situations have plagued several of Virginia’s nursing home facilities in recent years and data backs up a lapse in oversight by state agencies.  With reform efforts underway, the Virginia Department of Health officials said they aim to adopt sanction criteria by the end of the year to rein in bad actors and get troubled facilities back on track.  As of July, 58% of Virginia’s nursing homes were overdue for inspections and 68 of Virginia’s 289 nursing homes were found to have serious deficiencies, according to ProPublica. Several of the state’s flagged facilities with numerous deficiencies also had high staffing turnover rates.  The issue has been salient among various healthcare spaces, including VDH. 
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