OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The First Lady of The United States Dr. Jill Biden visited the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Veterans Village San Diego in Oceanside Saturday afternoon.
This was her last stop on her two-day visit to America’s Finest City.
Dr. Biden met with veterans, military spouses, military leaders and clinic organizers.
She discussed mental health resources the clinic provides to those that have served the U.S. and their families.
“Mental health I think is so important in our military and I think really people tend to forget a lot of people in the United States don’t know anybody in the military. We are more aware of the military when we are in times of war, but now we are in times of peace,” Dr. Biden said.
Those with the clinic said it is invaluable to have the First Lady listen to their efforts firsthand, and also hear about plans and desires they have to continue to grow and the resources they need to help more veterans and military family members with mental health at military bases worldwide.
“I believe this roundtable discussion went very well. We are all thrilled to have Dr. Jill Biden here to share about our clinics but also share how we are working to provide strategies for mental health care and helping to break the stigma that often goes along with the words mental health care,” said Akina Goodson, outreach coordinator at the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Veterans Village San Diego.
Dr. Jill Biden’s “Joining Forces Initiative” has been a focus during her two-day visit to the San Diego region. The initiative supports the military, veteran families and caregivers.
“You’re doing service not just in military service, you’re doing service to your community and that’s what really counts,” Dr. Biden said in her closing remarks.
Dr. Biden left San Diego County and is headed to Los Angeles, where she is a presenter at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night.
She also touched on the suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down just before her meeting Saturday.
“Just like this (Saturday) morning if any of you were watching the TV where they were following the balloon from China, and we saw the effort that our military did. I felt, such a sense of pride, about the effort that our military shot down the balloon. How coordinated it was, how thoughtful it was that they decided to wait until it was over water so that civilians weren’t affected. So it brings to mind, I hope that most Americans, I hope when they watch that, really begin to think about our military, Joe and I think about them every day. We pray for them in our prayers at dinner, but I hope that people become aware that we have to support our military in peacetime as well,” Dr. Biden said.
