What is Veterans Bedside Network?
Should you become a part of it?

 

VBN is a 58-year-old 501(c)(3) not for profit organization of dedicated volunteers who conduct a program of therapeutic activities in veterans hospitals. If you believe our hospitalized veterans, men and women who defended our freedom, deserve your support please read more about how the VBN serves them.
To paraphrase a well-known quote: VBN is entertainment of the veterans, by the veterans, for the veterans. Our activities are TV & radio programs and patients are the stars. The volunteers bring scripts, adaptations of favorite radio and TV shows. They bring songbooks with the lyrics of the most popular songs of the century. They bring tape machines and record the productions. Before they leave the hospital, the tape is played back for the veterans to hear their performance as actors and singers.

 

It's this element of participation, which makes VBN activities a unique form of therapy. You need only watch a man listening intently to his own voice on the playback to recognize how effective it can be.

That's because there is more to healing than just medicine and surgery. Disease and disability eat away at morale. Hospitalization can weaken spirit. VBN activities provide stimulation and a feeling of “team” accomplishment. They build confidence, instill self-esteem and inspire that most important element: hope. The VBN program in support of patient regimen can play a vital role in recovery and rehabilitation.

 


How is this worthwhile service funded? VBN does not receive any government grants. The bulk of our revenue comes from individuals, ordinary citizens like you.  Occasional modest grants from a foundation or corporation and special personal appeal responses help to keep us afloat.

 


This website barely touches on the VBN experience. In our long history of service to our country’s veterans we have conducted many activities outside the hospital.  For example, we’ve hosted veterans at numerous theater parities in Chicago and on tours of the Intrepid Sea/Air/Space Museum in New York.  We pioneered the first Virtual Reality program, which was introduced to patients in the spinal cord injury ward at the Bronx VMAC. We are constantly seeking to expand and upgrade, and we look forward to establishing exciting new special projects.

We invite you to be part of the VBN experience. Perhaps you'd like to find a place as one of our dedicated volunteers. Do you have a special skill we can benefit from? Are you an actor, a director, a technician, a piano player?

No time to spare? Please consider a tax-deductible donation.

In any case, your contribution will insure that our service to hospitalized veterans will continue and grow.