Dear Editor:
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald recently told the Baltimore Sun, that not only does the VA provide healthcare for almost 9 million veterans, but also its research has led to advances in medical care and training generally unrecognized. In the article, it was stated that few people understand that VA medical professionals:

• Pioneered and developed modern electronic medical records.
• Developed the implantable cardiac pacemaker.
• Conducted the first successful liver transplants.
• Created the nicotine patch to help smokers quit.
• Created artificial limbs that move naturally when stimulated by electrical brain impulses.
• Demonstrated that patients with total paralysis could control robotic arms, using only their thoughts (a revolutionary system called Braingate).
• Identified genetic risk factors for schizophrenia, Alzheimer's and Werner's syndrome, among others.
• Applied bar code software for administering medications to patients — the initiative of a VA nurse.
• Proved that one aspirin a day reduced by half the rate of death and non-fatal heart attacks in patients with unstable angina.
• Received three Nobel Prizes in medicine or physiology; seven prestigious Lasker Awards to persons who make major contributions to medical science.
• More than 70 percent of all U.S. doctors have received training at VA. Each year, VA trains, educates and provides practical experience for 62,000 medical students and residents, 22,000 nurses and 33,000 trainees in other health fields —people who go on to provide health care not just to veterans but to most Americans.

As one vet who has benefited from the care and expertise of the staffs at Togus in Augusta and two VA hospitals in Boston, I want people to know that the VA gives back in many ways.
Palmer Payne
Boothbay Harbor