
Welcome Home - A Podcast for Veterans, About Veterans, By Veterans
Welcome Home is a Willing Warriors and the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run project. The program highlights activities at the Warrior Retreat and issues impacting all Veterans. For questions or feedback, please email us at podcast@willingwarriors.org.
Welcome Home - A Podcast for Veterans, About Veterans, By Veterans
Driving Independence: Tammy Phipps on Empowering Veterans Through Driver Rehabilitation
Ever wondered how a retired Army major transformed her passion for helping wounded warriors into a groundbreaking driver rehabilitation program? Meet Tammy Phipps, the driving force behind the Driver Rehabilitation Center of Excellence, LLC, where she empowers wounded warriors to regain their independence through vehicle modifications. Her journey from serving in Iraq to founding a pioneering program at Walter Reed is nothing short of inspiring, as she shares personal encounters, like meeting Major David Rozelle, the first soldier to redeploy to the same battlefield as an amputee, which fueled her mission to aid countless veterans.
Joining Tammy is Richard Tulley, a dedicated service advisor with firsthand experience in navigating the complex landscape of veteran support services. Through personal and professional stories, we explore the transition from military to civilian life, showcasing how a Marine Corps veteran's wife turned a life-changing injury into his meaningful career path. Richard sheds light on the critical role of service advisement in connecting therapists with veterans to ensure timely and effective adaptive vehicle equipment solutions, emphasizing the importance of supporting older veterans in accessing essential resources.
We also unpack the intricacies of utilizing veteran grants for adaptive vehicle modifications, shedding light on the bureaucratic hurdles and the importance of expert guidance. Tammy and Richard discuss the need for mandatory counseling sessions to prevent costly mistakes, underscoring the collaborative efforts with dealerships to provide seamless mobility solutions. Whether you're a veteran seeking guidance or someone interested in the challenges and triumphs of veteran rehabilitation, this episode promises valuable insights and a heartfelt commitment to improving the quality of life for those who've served.
Good morning.
Larry Zilliox:I'm your host, Larry Zilliox, Director of Culinary Services, here at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run, and this week our guests are Tammy Phipps.
Larry Zilliox:She's a retired major and CEO and co-founder of Driver Rehabilitation Center of Excellence, and with us as well is Richard Tulley, one of her service advisors, and I'm excited to have him here today because we're going to learn about modifying vehicles to help warriors with mobility issues gain greater mobility. I mean, that's the key. When you lose your ability to get around, it's almost like you're a teenager again, wanting your driver's license so badly. So mobility, especially in an area like this where everybody drives you can't really go anywhere unless you're driving. To have these vehicles available to you and something that you can operate despite your conditions, your mobility issues, is a godsend, and so I'm very, very happy that you're both with us. So welcome to the Warrior Retreat number one and number two. Welcome to the podcast. I think, tammy, we'll start with you, and if you just give us a little bit of background about your military service and how you came to found this organization, I am like I said.
Tammy Phipps:I was an army reservist and I'm from South Dakota and I was deployed to Iraq in 2007, 2008. And I was deployed as a combat stress asset, so I did critical incident debriefings in all my area of operation while I was there. So mental health as an occupational therapist. During my time, the Surgeon General of the Army had visited my FOB was Balaad and I happened to be on the FOB that day and I met Major David Rosell who was his aide to camp, and Major Rosell was the first amputee to stay on active duty and return to theater.
Larry Zilliox:Wow.
Tammy Phipps:And so just visiting with them. You know you're a reservist. What do you do when you're not deployed to Iraq? And I am an occupational therapist, like I said, and my specialty is driving and I had started a driver rehab program in the hospital that I was working on as a civilian. So they asked me to come to Walter Reed and I said that is a really cool opportunity, but I'm going home, right. The reserve component is a lot of what we call onesies and twosies, right, so you are attached to units just by need. You know, I know in the Vietnam era they call the spare parts. In fact there's a book, right, and that's what we really are, and so, but that's very difficult, especially in the campaigns that we've had in the last 20 years. And what happened is I went from Iraq to my living room in five days.
Larry Zilliox:Wow.
Tammy Phipps:And life had changed significantly. You know, the Surgeon General's calling me. Walter Reed is calling me. I said you know what? I'm going to make a very big decision and this is what I counseled everybody not to do for reintegration. Right, and I came to Walter Reed because they asked me to, and that's my calling is I feel a need. I get up every morning and take a step forward. So I'd never had any sort of plan to do any of this. It was my calling is the best way I can describe it. So, being naive and being from the Midwest, I was like I can do this. You know there's going to be all this support. What I found was it's the government and I had never worked for the government before. So the first thing that happened is I couldn't figure out where to park. I called the HR person when I hit Walter Reed in Washington DC and I said where am I supposed to park? She's like, figure it out.
Rich Tulley:Everybody's problem that's ever been to all three. What yeah?
Tammy Phipps:So first of all, I packed up everything I could in my car and my cats and I drove out here and had no idea.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah.
Tammy Phipps:No idea what I was doing, but persevered, figured it out. Parking tickets became just a monthly bill for me and I am a can-do attitude. If you tell me I cannot do something, I'm going to ask you immediately why not, and that gives me the answer of how we're going to loophole right. So I started the first and only driver rehab program in the entire Department of Defense. So 2008 into 2016, we were part of the BRAC when Walter Reed Army Medical Center closed, and then to Bethesda and the number of wounded warriors that came through at that time, from 2008 to 2016, was the surge. I honestly over 400 wounded warriors that I served and many of them are still my very close friends and I continue to help them, as in the veteran community.
Tammy Phipps:So figuring out, it's not. My tagline is actually it's not just driving, and that is twofold. It's not just driving right, it's to get us where we need to be, to earn a living, to be a father or a mother, all of those roles right, but it's even more than that. It is something that is so mundane and so normal and that you've taken for granted, and that's the most beautiful part of it, you know, coming on post the first time and showing their ID just like everybody else. You know getting flipped off and as somebody with a mobility problem or issue, they're always visible. Right, you cannot make chairs disappear. Sure, you can wear long pants, but not everybody can and things like that. But it's an even playing field.
Tammy Phipps:While you're driving, nobody knows so helping them navigate, not just teaching them how to drive differently. So helping them navigate, not just teaching them how to drive differently, but navigating all of the resources that they need to get there. So the VA benefits, what's available there and moving forward was Marine Corporal Joshua Hyman. He was injured in Afghanistan in 2009. I worked with him. Excuse me, I worked with him in 2009, 10. And then I heard back from him in 2013. He was paralyzed from the chest down.
Tammy Phipps:Excuse me and is a quadriplegic and he reached out to me in 2013. He said Tammy. Actually, he didn't say Tammy, he said ma'am, and he's like. I got to figure out how to do another thing with my vehicle. We got together and he said are you ever going to start a business? You always talked about starting a business. I said, josh, it turns out I'm not a business person. That's not my, that's not my lane. I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm a hell of a therapist. I'm a great visionary, but I know nothing.
Tammy Phipps:Wounded warriors. The magic we called it the MATC magic right. Military Advanced Training Center for Amputee Center of Excellence was the people, the connection, the camaraderie, the brotherhood. You know, we are training together. We are training together. Let's rehab together and support each other in whatever barriers that we have, whether it's mobility or mental health or vision. There's certainly a lot of things. How can we continue that in a way that is sustainable? So I was on active duty orders for four of my eight years no-transcript and so we founded the business we opened up in Chantilly in 2016. And we've grown from there. We had three employees and now I have around 25.
Tammy Phipps:Again, sharing that mission of we have a role in the front door and drive out the back. So in managing the whole project and giving our population I guess the beginning of the mission is veterans in active duty. Now they are connecting and they're also sharing that magic with other people other veterans, vietnam veterans has been an absolute joy being able to meet them, connect them and share those services, because it's such a it's such a bureaucratic monster and it's it's really hard and it takes your energy and and are you going to want to fight for what is yours? But when they come and see us, we've got a team of people saying, okay, what's your situation? What do we have for networking community? Are you eligible for benefits? Let's get you connected. So that has been just an absolute joy. And then also our civilian population and the Wooden Warriors being able to connect with them, with their resources, and that just it just grows and grows and grows. So that's a very long explanation of where I come from.
Larry Zilliox:Perfect, so Rich. Tell us about your military history and how you got involved with the company.
Rich Tulley:Yeah. So I was born and raised on a small dairy farm in upstate New York. So I saw a guy in dress blues, you know, recruiting at the high school and decided that milk and cows wasn't what I was going to do for a living. He offered me 30 days paid vacation, which automatically sounded better than what I was currently doing, of course very soon after I joined in 2000,. Then, very quickly, we're of course in Iraqi freedom and Afghanistan and all that good stuff Ventured through my entire career, got married somewhere towards the end, which I was told was a smart move.
Rich Tulley:So my family didn't have to go through 20 years, I only had to make it through about four and a half. And when I was retiring at the end, my wife, who was also a Marine she had sustained an injury when she was, when she had first joined in about 2001, broke her leg during physical training. Fast forward, I don't know, 17, 18 years later she was getting an amputation because the bone never took her leg and the amputation was done at Walter Reed. Her leg and the amputation was done at Walter Reed. During her occupational therapy at Walter Reed they said, well, here's some resources. And oh, by the way, to get driving again. Here's a you know place to go to find that, that service. That's when we met Tammy, of course, and it was during COVID, the height of COVID, and so things were very difficult. Her injury was service connected, so obviously there's some grants and some things associated with that to help with. It was during COVID, the height of COVID, and so things were very difficult. Her injury was service-connected, so obviously there's some grants and some things associated with that to help with the financial burden. But things were very slow in the federal government and Tammy found a way to help my wife right from jump, to get her trained up, get her the resources she needed, get her the equipment she needed, and then she got back to being a mom very quickly.
Rich Tulley:You know, right, and me being at the time, I think, and still a trans transitioning service member, you know 22 years of uh life in the Marine Corps. You don't just turn it off, um, you know, towards the end I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I retired. You know what I, what I was going to do when I grew up and Tammy offered me a position. We weren't a hundred percent sure what that was going to be or what that was going to look like at the time. But uh, I guess I just kind of grew into what I'm doing now and service advisement and project managing um building the shop and kind of liaisoning between the therapist up front um external therapist and trying to translate that into equipment and vehicles.
Rich Tulley:For me it was the attention to care, the can-do attitude, like I have a veteran, I got to figure out how to help them and she helped them. Didn't know my wife from anybody else who came in the door, but that's the quality of care that was provided for everybody and to me that, you know, to be able to work in a situation like that, especially transitioning from the service, was huge for me. Being part of giving people their independence back, giving people the ability to maintain their identities and, as you said, in this area it's very difficult to get around anywhere. Um, to get around anywhere, you know public transportation is great as long as you're in the greater DC area. Once you start to get in the outskirts where you can actually afford to live, you can get anywhere.
Rich Tulley:So so that's been great and getting to meet a lot of uh other veterans along the way and, of course uh all of our civilian counterparts as well, and trying to help those that veteran community access the uh, the grants that they have available to them. To understand them, especially our older veterans you know Vietnam era that have these programs and resources that just don't know how to use them right. They don't know how to the power of Google right Jump on, figure out how do I go from point A to point B, and then you know their quality of life is suffering in the meantime. And then part of that is also as I'm walking my life as a veteran, you know, getting into the veterans VA services. My wife also does adaptive wheelchair fitness at Barnesburg, west Virginia, and so that's another community that we're we're into now and again. A lot of them are older, you know Vietnam era, older aging veterans, and they need these types of services and they just don't know how to get there. Is that in?
Larry Zilliox:Martinsburg, correct, sir? Yeah, that's where I get my medical. It's a great VA. Well, it's also a prettier drive. It is, but from here it's the same amount of time to go to DC. Yes, it's 32 miles from my house to the medical center in DC. It's 78 miles one way to go to Martinsburg, but it's the same amount of time. So I just go to a prettier drive. It's a nice facility, really, really wonderful. So describe your role. When you say service advisor, are you actually Putting the equipment in the car or are you project managing or what's your?
Rich Tulley:role there. So I started out at the beginning. We're trying to figure out what exactly I was going to do right. So the best place to start was putting equipment in the vehicles and once we started to, as we were growing as a business, we started to assess our caps and gaps right um, assess our caps and gaps Right. And then part of that was trying to figure out how to do things more efficiently, how to serve more people quicker and still maintain the quality of quality of care and and standard of installations. So then I grew into a role of service advisement is what we're calling it I'm not sure if that's the correct term, but that's that's what we're calling it where I kind of liaise between the therapists both internal and external and customer care. I talk to the guys in the shop, I'm ordering the parts, I'm making sure all the stuff's getting done on time, getting delivered A little bit of everything, a little bit of everything, okay. So it's been great because I get to talk to a lot of people.
Tammy Phipps:Yeah.
Rich Tulley:We get a lot of people in seemingly hopeless situations where they're not sure how they're going to be able to do. You know, you name it and just go okay, wait a minute, we'll just do. You know you walk them through and they're like what, yeah, this whole time I could have just yep. And then you know they're, they're very thankful, um, and it's also being a good steward of people's money, right? So just because someone calls you and says, hey, I want this you know $20,000 mechanism to go in your vehicle, then that's when I peel back the onion skin a little bit find out if they need to talk to one of the therapists to. You know, really see what you need to make sure you're getting the most benefit for your money.
Larry Zilliox:As a transitioning Marine, we know that it's hard. It's hard to go from active duty, especially retiring, because now you put a sizable chunk of your life into this organization and into civilian life, which is so different. It sounds to me as though you found in this position a similar not quite true replacement, but a similar tribe than what you had in the Marine Corps, which is golden because there's a lot of veterans that don't get that and it's a key point in their problem with their transition, and it sounds like it's a really great place to work.
Rich Tulley:It is. It is. They're very family-oriented. It's nice to work in a place that understands your type of mental situation I guess you could say understanding that you're transitioning from a life it's not just a career, it's a life into something completely different the civilian sector as opposed to military. It's just so very different. In the military you don't leave work, you just go home.
Tammy Phipps:Yeah.
Larry Zilliox:Right.
Rich Tulley:And I think part of one of my challenges has been being able to do that Right, and I'm not good at that. It comes up on my reviews Like you need to be able to turn it off Well, and we also have several former military members on staff. We Marcus Ferran. He was a Marine and Army, I believe, too right.
Tammy Phipps:Yes, he don't like to admit that.
Rich Tulley:Yeah, yeah, he was, I'm going to throw it out there. And then Charles Danes, who's Coast Guard and Enforced Art.
Tammy Phipps:So we're bringing on. Actually he's just retired. The Army has I don't know about other branches, but the Army has what's called a bridge program. Don't know about other branches, but the Army has what's called a bridge program, and what that is is while you're still on active duty, you can apply for an internship, and so Colonel Yeager applied for an internship. He's an occupational therapist. He was the chief of rehab at Walter Reed and he had come to a course that we were offering and he said this is it, this is a mission. Now he's done 36 years, 36 years. He started as a. Is he a colonel?
Larry Zilliox:Yes, Wow, usually they boot shed.
Tammy Phipps:Well, so he's a Mustang, he's like me and what he had started out, his career as a helicopter mechanic transitioned to a pilot, made the, he'll tell you, made the mistake of being an officer instead of a warrant. So he never got to fly, left the army for just a very brief time and was exposed to occupational therapy as a possible career. Did that just totally switched gears and then now is retired as a colonel. So he did an internship with us for four months, which was absolutely fantastic, and now he's coming on board as another therapist in January.
Larry Zilliox:So for our listeners, there are a number of branches that do that, I know the Navy does it and the Army does it, and for the Army, it's part of their Soldier for Life program, which is really awesome, and basically you can look at a career field and you can say, hey, I'd like to go. You know, if you're a chef, I'd like to work in this restaurant. And as an employer, it's like oh okay, you're going to come work for me and I don't have to pay you for four to six months. Right, You're signing me up, you know, and it's a great program and I'm so glad that you were able to take advantage of it.
Tammy Phipps:So if there's anybody that is interested in shop technician to service advisor, try to replace you, Rich.
Rich Tulley:Yeah, well, I mean.
Tammy Phipps:But yeah, just an opportunity for, like you said, a tribe and it's, it's a mission.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, it's a great way for service members to see if this is what I want to do. You know, because I can speak for military chefs who are enlisted aides. So they're they're working in the residence for an admiral or a general and there's a lot of difference between that and work in the line at a restaurant and you know they go in, they see I said I don't want to do that, you know. So it's a great way to try out a career and have somebody else pay for it. And it doesn't affect, by the way, you're um, when, when you have leave built up, it doesn't eat into any of that. This is you're basically, you know, still doing what you do. Tammy, how many vehicles or clients do you service? Say, in a month or a year, what's your capacity?
Tammy Phipps:there in a month or a year. What's your capacity there? Well, so again, we essentially have two businesses together. So driver rehabilitation. I have therapists at Chantilly. We're probably seeing at least 10, probably new people a week. We do have therapists in the Richmond area as well, and we have therapists in Columbus, ohio.
Larry Zilliox:So let me ask you this when you're talking about working with somebody with mobility issues to give them more mobility through driving, it doesn't necessarily mean they have to make modifications to their vehicle. Not always so, some of your clients. They just need to learn a different way. Absolutely Correct, not always so. So some of your clients it's just, they just need to learn a different way. Absolutely Okay. So well, that's good, because I'd hate for somebody listening to say I have a vehicle but I can't afford it. You know I can't make, I don't have the money to make a change to the vehicle. I would encourage them to reach out to you to find out do you need to make a change to the vehicle?
Rich Tulley:So that's actually. It makes me kind of think of something else. So we've had a couple of people that luckily they caught us before they made a huge financial decision. So the veteran community if they're service connected for their disability, they can get a auto grant that helps them pay towards the cost of a newer vehicle that they need to get modified potentially and sometimes that's a wheelchair accessible vehicle, which is very expensive, which brings me to another question too.
Larry Zilliox:I would think that if you're going to put a nice financial chunk of money into a vehicle, that you don't want to do that on a 12 year old vehicle, correct. So part of the process is to say look, let's put your money into a vehicle that will last for you, instead of the one you've got now, which you've been driving till. It's just about falling apart.
Rich Tulley:And I would say that's part of my service advisement would be okay. You're telling me it's in 2012,. You want to put this $12,000 seat in the 2012. That's worth the same amount as the seat. Is this the car you're going to plan on driving for forever or are you planning on trading anytime soon? Because that's another fact is, if you are getting a newer vehicle. That's another fact is, if you are getting a newer vehicle, then some of the auto industries out there do provide some financial rebates on adaptive equipment. So if you buy it let's say I don't know, pick any of them out there GM they'll potentially give you a thousand dollars back after the equipment has been installed.
Larry Zilliox:I think too. When you run the numbers, you say if I keep this old vehicle and I put this in it, my cost to keep this vehicle running over four or five years could end up being more than what I would spend for a new vehicle up front. Correct yeah.
Tammy Phipps:And it's important to know too, that not all modifications in fact most of them, are not transferable into another vehicle. Yeah, um, we always ask people. You know. If that's something that you're trying to do, please give us a call, um, but often you know the labor to take it in, reinstall it buy new bracketry a lot of times is isn't worth it yeah, so it's not interchangeable.
Larry Zilliox:just because you got the same kind, I've got a hyundai sonata, I'm gonna get a new hyundaiata, so the dealer can switch it over, and that's just not happening.
Tammy Phipps:And the platform may may have changed as well.
Rich Tulley:So and that's part of um, I think the driver rehab side too is thinking long-term. So if you have a progressive disability, it's not just you know, trying to come up with a solution for today. It's five, 10 years down the road, right? So that way you're not coming back for that same financial, you know commitment. Whatever you have now, hopefully we'll get you, you know, down the next five, 10 years until you get to the next vehicle, sure.
Tammy Phipps:And that's the important part right Of our our team is to really manage. I never want to see somebody, especially with a progressive illness ALS, ms that waste a breath or an ounce of their energy, that they have to make memories for the time that they have left. I don't want them trying to gather this information, research this information and make a decision on their own. Let's figure it, let's help you figure this out, and then have a saying I'll educate the hell out of you and then you can make your own decisions. Right, but I want you to have all of the information in one spot, because we've had it as well.
Tammy Phipps:I think one of the most proud moments that I've had is when customers have reached out and got a quote right and they get a quote from Rich, but they also get a lot of education and they say you know what? I went to the competitor down the road that just does modifications and they can do it cheaper Say, okay, you know. Well, that's great, you know we want you to do what's best for you and your family. But then they come back and they want to pay that a little bit higher rate because of the support that we can give them.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, it's a complete package. Yeah, you're getting your money's worth. I want to direct our listeners right now to the webpage, which is driverrehabcentercom. I want everybody to take a look at it. What's the best way for somebody to get in touch with you? Is it through the webpage?
Tammy Phipps:Through the webpage. You can also email info at driverrehabcentercom. We have a Facebook page. And then Rich is very good at communication and email and his email is first initial last name.
Rich Tulley:Artulli R-T-U-L-L-U-I at driverrehabcentercom.
Larry Zilliox:So Rich. What's the number one modification that you generally make for?
Rich Tulley:Probably hand control. Hand controls and left foot accelerators are pretty common and I guess that's another point to throw out there. We're, I guess you say low tech, mid tech and high tech, uh shop, so we do a hand control and, uh, left foot accelerator would be considered low tech, high tech would be tammy's probably be better at explaining that, that part semi-autonomous driving systems that integrate with the individual.
Tammy Phipps:So you're driving with joysticks, servo motors on steering wheels and gas and brakes. Do you have AI? We no.
Rich Tulley:Not yet.
Tammy Phipps:Not yet. It's definitely emerging, for sure, for sure. But you can't just think about where you want to go yet Yet.
Rich Tulley:And another one, I think that is becoming more and more popular, especially lately the Tesla Model X for people who are wheelchair addicted. Wheelchair-bound because they don't want to have a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. You know the big van, but the Tesla Model X, even though it's a pretty expensive platform, we can put certain equipment in it that makes it ideal for someone who's in a chair. The mid-row comes out of the seats. We put in a mechanism that basically is we'll call it a robot arm that grabs their chair and pulls it inside for them as they're transferring into the driver position, and then they have a hand control to drive with. So back to like. Nobody else knows on the road that you have a disability. All they see is a Model X going down the road.
Rich Tulley:So for those of us who I drive a 2009 Toyota pickup with roll-up windows, so I have no idea what a Tesla X is Is that the truck thing, it's like a middle-sized sedan, okay, has the I guess we call it gull wings or whatever and for doors that open up, oh, like the old DeLorean kind of thing, kind of Kind of sort of Wow we have not done a Cybertruck yet. Not a Cybertruck yet.
Tammy Phipps:I imagine we will very soon.
Rich Tulley:Probably, probably. We do a lot of. They call it a link seat or a tourney evo. It's a transfer seat. A lot of our specialty veterans don't want to give up our trucks. Yeah, we love our trucks, sure, but for those of us that are, you know, getting up in age arthritis in the back, arthritis in the hips, you name it this is a type of seat that can help you get off the ground and into your truck, that just comes up and out and helps you get up, so you don't have to give up that truck. There's so many things that people want to maintain that quality of life, so many things that people want to maintain that quality of life, and there are countless ways to try to help make that happen. Of course, cost is always a factor. Service Connected Disabilities does help a lot with the finance when it comes to adaptive equipment, money towards the vehicle and things like that.
Tammy Phipps:And then the wheelchair accessible vehicle. We also we will support the and provide education and help you choosing the correct wheelchair accessible vehicle. So what a lot of people don't know is a ramp van is not a ramp van. So you have just like in your cars. There are different manufacturers Chrysler, toyota, honda. So you have just like in your cars. There are different manufacturers Chrysler, toyota, honda but then there's also different conversions that are shorter, cut, longer cut to be able to meet your needs.
Tammy Phipps:So if I could tell anybody who is out there searching for a wheelchair accessible vehicle, give us a call, we can facilitate whatever it is that you need and, again, educating you on what's out there. There are companies that are not QAP peer it's a quality assurance program. There are, you know, you can go to a lot that sells wheelchair accessible vehicles and they're not going to be thinking about the function and everything that you need that vehicle to do yeah so, and we've had, unfortunately, clients that have found something on, say, facebook marketplace and they go put $30,000, $40,000 into something because they had a wheelchair-accessible ramp for their aging parent.
Rich Tulley:And then they're coming to us my ramp doesn't work, this doesn't work, that doesn't work, and you start peeling it apart and you're just like, yeah, unfortunately, this is a good vehicle.
Tammy Phipps:This is a good vehicle. Are there certain manufacturers that are easier to adapt? To direct you towards the correct vehicle? If you're tall, you're short, your spouse is taller, you're shorter, heavier. Right now I would say the biggest emerging population is bariatric, which is a whole nother set of problems being able to fit into a vehicle. But yeah, I mean and I always encourage don't make any big financial decisions until you can get a consultation. So if you have a truck and in your mind there's no way I can modify this truck and then you sell the truck. You may find out later.
Tammy Phipps:Oh my goodness I could have done. That's too late then.
Rich Tulley:It's too late. We actually were working on one right now. That's pretty, pretty cool. So veteran has had this Silverado in his garage, you know, got to a point where he needed a wheelchair accessible vehicle. Mobility was, you know, kind of a concern, but he didn't want to get rid of his truck.
Rich Tulley:And this is probably a year and change ago now, when he were working on his wheelchair accessible vehicle, and he said let me ask you a question, if I had a pickup truck in my condition, would I be able to? Well, we can talk about it. So we have since made it so that he can drive his pickup truck. We're currently putting a topper on the back because he has what's called an outrider that picks up his mobility device and puts it in the back of the truck for him, has one of those transfer seats that I spoke of. He sits in that picks up his scooter, puts it in the back of his truck. Now we're putting a topper on the back of his truck. Now we're putting a topper on the back of his truck too, because he wants to protect his investment, sure, and he's always driven with a topper. So now his baby is back under his rear end driving down the road and he's as happy as can be because he doesn't have to drive that wheelchair accessible van anymore.
Larry Zilliox:Right, yeah, it's like nobody wants to drive the minivan. Yeah, that's awesome Listeners again, the webpage is driverrehabcentercom. I want everybody to go to it now. This is one of the rare times when I'm not talking about donating to a nonprofit, so there's no donate button to bang on there. But you do want to check them out. And please, please, please, don't make any decisions about a vehicle, making changes to it, until you get in to see Tammy or Rich or one of their people there, because they're going to steer you right. I mean, it's clear that they're the place to go to because it right in the name it says center of excellence. So you know it's gotta be good. There's no doubt about it.
Tammy Phipps:I'm not sure that we also. We are a service disabled veteran, owned small business and supporting that and supporting the mission is customers right, we can bring you into the community.
Rich Tulley:One thing I wish that the VA had was and maybe they do and maybe they don't, depending on which VA you go to is a way for the veteran that rates a vehicle grant or the auto adaptive equipment grant had to use it because they get told, yes, you rate this, and then they'll try to go out and buy a vehicle that may or may not be able to be modified.
Rich Tulley:We had an instance where a gentleman was trying to purchase a Mercedes Sprinter van and then try to get a ramp put in it. Those two don't go together, so he would have bought a very expensive vehicle and then still not be able to have the solution that he was looking for. So I definitely wish there was a way to just direct people to education on how to better use that grant so they're getting the most for their money and, of course, being good stewards of the government's money as well right Tax payer's dollar to go help these veterans that they're getting the quality of equipment that they need that's going to last them for the duration of however long they need it for.
Larry Zilliox:Is there an association of companies that do this type of work? So what I'm thinking of is along those lines. I think it would really benefit the VA and the veteran if they had a mandatory requirement of a counseling session before they release the grant. That would be amazing. So to say, we're not giving any money until you sit down with a trained professional to make sure that you're going to get the most out of this benefit. Because when I think about it, when you think of the other benefits that the VA provides, that is a constant in those. You're not going to get medical treatment until you get with a medical professional from the VA to figure out what you need and how you're going to receive those benefits.
Tammy Phipps:So there's got to be a way to push that and unfortunately, the again we go back to the confusing system that is the VA. The grant that Rich is talking about comes from the VBA Veteran Benefits and the equipment comes through the prosthetics department and the approvals and all that stuff. And unfortunately there's also such a high turnover within those departments and, as important as this discussion is, it is a very, very, very tiny part. It's huge to the individual of the prosthetics department's jobs, so they're having a hard time within the prosthetics departments just keeping up with what their jobs are. But in finding the time to do that education, it just, it just does not Well, I would.
Larry Zilliox:I think it would be fine to have that education provided by your company or another company, that, as long as there's some sort of organization that can sort of certify that this isn't just a used car dealer, they're sitting down with you know.
Tammy Phipps:And the rules change. So you, if this is our business, right, so we are on top of what those rule changes are. When they come out where somebody may not have you know, other VSOs will contact us as well PVA, dav, the fund, you know, there's so many different nonprofits and they will also say hey, you know what I?
Larry Zilliox:I knew, but I'm going to flip you to to somebody who's yeah, because by the time they get the grant and then get the car, things may have changed. Well, they may not even get to the car part. Yeah, I mean, you're talking about, you know, months and months and months. It's nothing.
Tammy Phipps:It's another thing that veterans have a problem with is adjusting to how slow things move in civilian life Well and unfortunately, what can happen is they will use that grant, they'll read it, they'll think they know everything, they'll have gotten consultation and if the dealer doesn't get paid, yeah, that's another difficult thing too, is that?
Rich Tulley:so this is a vehicle grant. You're asking a lot of times for a dealership to hold up inventory until they can get that approval. You know what I mean. And during COVID that was difficult. Cars were hard to come by and there wasn't a whole lot of automotive dealers out there that wanted to sit on a car just so we could have it for a veteran. Yeah, and then you know, obviously we have a few of those dealerships that we work with that understand what it is we do. They understand what they need to do for a veteran.
Larry Zilliox:Do you find that those dealers are veteran owned? No.
Rich Tulley:Not owned. No, not always.
Tammy Phipps:No, I would say, the majority are not.
Rich Tulley:There's definitely a few in Chantilly that have been pretty fantastic at understanding the need.
Tammy Phipps:We're always trying to network with dealers that are willing to work with.
Rich Tulley:Trump.
Tammy Phipps:And then we try to help facilitate and make sure the paperwork's done properly, it's sent to the right place, everybody has the right numbers, so that the dealer gets their money in a timely manner and the veteran doesn't have to worry about their vehicle being repossessed.
Larry Zilliox:Wow, great, wow. Well, again it's driverrehabcentercom. Go there, check the webpage out, reach out through the webpage and don't do anything until you talk to either Tammy or Rich or one of their people there. Set up a consultation and I guarantee you they're going to steer you right. Tammy, rich, thank you so much for joining us. I really, really appreciate it. Thanks for having us.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, so for our listeners, we'll have another episode next Monday morning at 0500. Those of you who would like to get up early and listen to podcasts Until then, thanks for listening.