Coatesville Veterans Administration Medical Center, Richard W. Gamble, R. N. was appointed as Patient Advocate at the Coatesville VA Medical Center in 1992. He is very active in assisting Veterans and family members in navigating their way through the system.
Richard served with the United States Navy and The United States Marines and is a Vietnam Combat Veteran and can readily identify with the problems the Veterans bring to him. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vieques, Puerto Rico, when his unit was activated to assist during the U.SS Pueblo capture by the North Koreans, and then went on to serve in Vietnam.
He was assigned to many units including Force Logistics Command, Camp Brooks, DaNang, involving Medical Combined Action Programs in South East Asia, and was instrumental in developing a children’s hospital that grew from a small clinic in the village to a permanent building and is still operational today support by international charitable agencies.
He entered Nursing School through the G.l. Bill and began his career at the Hershey Medical Center in 1973. He accepted a position with the Coatesville VA Menial Center in 1979 and served in many roles as a health care professional in both clinical and administrative positions throughout his career and is still serving Veterans.
Richard was appointed to the Pennsylvania’s Governor’s Committee for the Employment of People with Disabilities and has served under the past three Governors. He has served as a committed member and his last position was First Vice Chair, directly under the Secretary of Labor and lndustry. His focus was on children with disabilities, has worked directly with schools and families to encourage the development of curriculums to identify and educate the children with disabilities so they would be able to be employed in a vocation versusjust being assigned to SSI or welfare recipients. Through is work he took on an added responsible to become a “God Parent” for a special family he helped at the Hershey Medical Center and continuesto be supportive over the past 10 years.
He has worked with the local courts as an advocate to direct distressed Veterans to participate in treatment versus incarceration, a highly successful program that is now being developed as Veteran’s Courts in all counties throughout Pennsylvania
