VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System

03/30/2026

Big News! is cutting red tape to streamline education benefits and help Veterans maximize their GI Bill Benefits.

03/27/2026

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has opened 34 new health care facilities during the second Trump Administration! Find a VA location near you here: http://va.gov/find-locations/

03/26/2026

Women Veterans: this conversation is for you!

Please join the Women Veterans Virtual Town Hall on Thursday, April 9, from 6:00–7:00 p.m. CST. This is a chance to hear about VA services for women, ask questions, and connect with staff and fellow Women Veterans.

Topics include:
• Resources and services for Women Veterans
• Women Veteran health care
• Mental health
• VA eligibility
• Women’s health updates

Please help us spread the word by sharing with the Women Veterans in your life.

VISN 15 women Veterans will have the opportunity to hear about VHA services for women - a time for Q & A with staff and to hear from their sisters in arms as well.

https://video.teleforumonline.com/video/streaming.php?client=20887

03/26/2026

Amazing tribute to an incredible man.

This week's Lamp newspaper:
-Bust of Donlon dedicated at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College on National Medal of Honor Day
-CGSS modernizes Distance Learning Common Core
-Combat medics sustain critical skills through 68W training (Munson Army Health Center)
-And more! 🔗 👇

https://home.army.mil/leavenworth/1417/7452/8980/Lamp_All_03.26.26_reduced.pdf

03/26/2026

Please consider visiting the Manhattan Veteran Center's Advance Directive Information Sessions!

03/25/2026

LET’S CONNECT and square you away for a VA Sign-In account! The My HealtheVet Coordinator for VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System continues to tour all our sites assisting veterans with their VA Sign-In accounts to access VA.gov and My HealtheVet. NEW DATES INCLUDE APRIL STOP IN EMPORIA. Locations & info can also be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/EKHCS-VA-Sign-In-Info

Create an account anytime at www.VA.gov and verify your identity using Login.gov or ID.me. These verification sites increase cybersecurity while protecting your health data. If you want our assistance at a tour stop, YOU MUST BRING YOUR SMARTPHONE (or a tablet/laptop ) with ABILITY TO ACCESS YOUR EMAIL during the visit, as well as A VALID STATE ID / driver’s license.

03/25/2026

National Medal of Honor Recognition day 2026!

Across VA Eastern Kansas, the story of our mission is written in the lives of the Medal of Honor recipients who called this region home: Colonel Roger H. C. Donlon, Lieutenant Colonel Charles C. Hagemeister, Chaplain John Milton Whitehead, Specialist Fourth Class Danny J. Petersen, Staff Sergeant Herbert H. Burr, Technician Fifth Grade Forrest E. Peden, General Frederick Funston, and Staff Sergeant Walter D. Ehlers. Their courage stretches from Civil War battlefields to the jungles of Vietnam and the beaches of Normandy, but their roots run through Leavenworth, Topeka, St. Joseph, Iola, Junction City, and the communities our health care system serves every day.

From Leavenworth, Colonel Donlon and Lieutenant Colonel Hagemeister show us what it means to lead under fire and then spend a lifetime quietly lifting others up. One fought through a night of ferocious attack at a remote outpost in Vietnam, wounded but unshaken, determined that his team would survive. The other, a young combat medic in a deadly ambush, moved again and again into enemy fire to reach the wounded, render care, and stand between his Soldiers and certain death. Both later chose to root their lives in Leavenworth, mentoring officers, engaging with schools and civic groups, and reminding us that true heroism is as much about how you live after the battle as what you did in it.

In Topeka’s story, Chaplain John Milton Whitehead and Specialist Danny Petersen embody two generations of selfless service. Whitehead, a Civil War chaplain, stepped into the smoke and chaos of combat not with a rifle, but with faith, courage, and a refusal to leave the wounded behind. His final resting place in Topeka links our capital city directly to the earliest national efforts to tend to those who sacrificed. A century later, Danny Petersen, a young Kansan in Vietnam, repeatedly risked and ultimately gave his life to shield his comrades and pull his fellow Soldiers to safety. His sacrifice mirrors the experiences of thousands of Vietnam Veterans who now come to VA Eastern Kansas seeking care, understanding, and dignity.

Across the wider region, Burr and Peden from St. Joseph, Funston from Iola, and Ehlers from Junction City carry that same thread of courage. Burr climbed from a disabled tank and fought on to protect his crew. Peden ran toward fire to bring help to his embattled unit and never came back. Funston led a daring river crossing under intense fire, inspiring his men to seize a decisive objective. Ehlers, a Junction City native, led his squad through the hedgerows of Normandy, assaulting enemy positions and refusing evacuation despite his wounds. Each began life in a town that looks like the communities where our clinics stand today. Each made choices in a moment of extreme danger that put others first.

For VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System, these men are not only figures in history; they are a moral compass for our work. Their lives remind us that service is not abstract. It has names, faces, families, hometowns, and empty chairs at kitchen tables. When we say we are here “to care for those who have borne the battle, and for their families, caregivers, and survivors,” we are speaking directly to the kind of sacrifice they made and the burdens their brothers and sisters in arms still carry.
Their legacy challenges us to match courage on the battlefield with courage in care: to listen when it would be easier to move on to the next task, to advocate when bureaucracy gets in the way, to remain present with Veterans and families in their hardest moments. It calls us to see every Veteran not as a case, but as someone who, like Donlon or Hagemeister or Petersen or Ehlers, once stood ready to risk everything for others.

By honoring these Medal of Honor recipients in Leavenworth, Topeka, St. Joseph, Iola, Junction City and across our catchment area, we also honor every Veteran who raised a right hand in these communities. Their stories give us a standard to live up to and a clear reason for what we do: to ensure that in VA Eastern Kansas, the courage they showed on distant battlefields is met with equal dedication, compassion, and excellence in the care they and their fellow Veterans receive here at home.

03/25/2026

03/18/2026

This March, we proudly celebrate Social Work Month and mark an incredible milestone — 100 years of VA Social Work.

Our VA Eastern Kansas social workers are at the heart of Veteran care, providing guidance, compassion, and support that help Veterans and their families navigate life’s challenges and achieve their goals.

For a century, VA social workers have been advocates, problem-solvers, and trusted partners in care. Their dedication continues to shape the future of the VA.

Join us in thanking our social work team for their unwavering commitment to serving those who served. 💙

03/17/2026

Centenarian Parade for Dr. Tommy D. Taylor

Friends, family, and the community are invited to participate in the parade. Drive your personal car, motorcycle, or classic car and make some noise for Dr. Taylor.

When: Saturday March 21st
Staging will begin at 9:30 a.m. at 1314 N. 43rd Street, Saint Joseph, MO. The parade will begin at 11:00 and travel to Dr. Taylor’s location in the neighborhood.

U.S. Army Air Corp, World War II Veteran, Dr. Tommy D. Taylor, will celebrate his 102nd birthday on March 19, 2026. Mr. Taylor served as a 60mm mortar gunner from February 1943 to August 1945. He volunteered for service in 1943 and was assigned to Company I, 311th Regiment, 78th Infantry Division (Lightning Division). During World War II, he fought in the Battle of the Bulge and in the Hürtgen Forest. On January 30, 1945, he was wounded in action and earned the Purple Heart; his platoon commander was killed that same day. After surgery in Brussels, he returned to the United States aboard the RMS Queen Mary and completed his recovery at Fitzsimons Hospital in Denver, Colorado.

After the war, Dr. Taylor graduated from the University of Missouri and UMKC Dental School and practiced dentistry for 35 years. A devoted family man, he married Carol Sue Taylor in 1959 and is the father of three, grandfather of nine, and great-grandfather of eight. He was also an avid barbershop singer and runner, completing a marathon at age 57.

Friends, family, and the community are invited to participate in the parade. Drive your personal car, motorcycle, or classic car and make some noise for Dr. Taylor.

When: Saturday, March 21st Staging will begin at 9:30 a.m. at 1314 N. 43rd Street, Saint Joseph, MO. The parade will begin at 11:00 and travel to Dr. Taylor’s location in the neighborhood.

03/13/2026

VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System Director and CEO- Rudy Klopfer during the Veterans Town Hall Meeting at the Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center.

03/13/2026

Veterans Open House and Town Hall on March 11th at the historic Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center in Leavenworth Kansas! Veterans and patrons were invited to explore our hallways and the services we provide from 4-6. A Veterans Town Hall was presented at 6:30 with our CEO - Rudy Klopfer.