DCVAMC Veteran Honored
Navy Veteran Zenobia Shepherd cuts a cake at a ceremony recognizing her as the First African-American Female to Earn the Vice Admiral Batchelder Award.
DC- Area Veteran Honored by the National Capital Council Navy League as the First African-American Female to Earn the Vice Admiral Batchelder Award.
Lt. Commander Zenobia Shepherd was a Logistics Naval Officer on the USS Ross (DDG-71) in 2001. After the attacks on September 11, she, like many active duty men and women, sprang into action to make significant contributions to the readiness of the U.S. armed forces.
“I’ve always been the person who jumps in when there’s a fire,” Shepherd said. “As a Supply Officer, I readied the ship as it surged for forward deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.” For her superior performance after the attacks, the USS Ross was nominated as the most combat-ready ship in the U.S. Navy and Shepherd earned the prestigious Vice Admiral Batchelder Award in 2002.
The Batchelder Award, created in 1983, is awarded annually by the Navy League of the United States to recognize Navy supply corps officers who have performed extraordinary acts and have had the most significant impact on the supply readiness of the U.S. Navy’s operating forces. She was unaware at the time, but she was the first African-American female Naval Officer to earn the coveted award.
This distinction was not lost to the National Capital Council Navy League, who recently honored her in a ceremony at the Black History Museum of Alexandria, Virginia. Shepherd received formal recognition of this accomplishment from the National Capital Council Navy League at the Black History Museum of Alexandria, Virginia on May 19, 2018. The recognition letter was presented by Captain Michael Salvato, USN (Ret.) former commanding Officer of the USS ROSS (DDG-71). Also in attendance were Alexandria Mayor Allison Silberberg, Maryland Congresswoman Donna Edwards.
“I’m so honored, I really just can’t believe it, especially after all I’ve gone through” Shepherd said.
Shepherd deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom and her recovery has been long, arduous and short of amazing.
She credits the multidisciplinary team of the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center with her recovery. "The VA team helped me to get my life back," Shepherd said choking back the tears. She credits the medical center's Speech Pathologist Dr. Pamela Harman, Recreation Therapist Lucile Lisle, Chaplains Carol Ramsey-Lucas and Edgar Bankhead, Dr. Sreelatha Katari and Psychologists Dr. Tracela White, Dr. Slavomir Zapata and Dr. Xiaoping Shao for the intensive treatment that helped her learn to how to be herself again.
“Dr. Harman is my guardian angel. She taught me to cook, how to read, to count, to shop and how to care for my family again.” The team used a multi-prong approach with Shepherd including a variety of therapies including physical, equine, pet, occupational and spiritual. “I call them my gumbo soup; every one of them has been part of my recovery. Every time I looked up, they were there -- my recipe for healing.”
Shepherd said the care the medical center’s team provides goes well beyond the walls of the medical center. When she had her surgery at another local hospital, when she woke up, Dr. Harman was there to offer support. Chaplain Ramsey-Lucas reassured her supportive husband and daughters that she would be OK. Chaplain Bankhead delivered spiritual prayer, and communion right before she went into the operating room and prayers in the recovery room.
For Thanksgiving and Christmas they delivered baskets of goodies. “Every week Dr. Harman writes me a letter and she is teaching me how to garden.”
Shepherd says she is feeling like there is hope now and has a therapy dog named Angel that is a big help and is able to get out and go to Pilates and chapel, something that seemed impossible years before.
“My advice to all veterans is to trust in the care and be open to a life long journey of therapy, and quality care at the DCVA.
“The DCVA is my recipe for healing and we’re going to keep cooking.”
The multidisciplinary health care team at the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center is committed to providing safe, quality and compassionate care to Veterans. To register for VA health care in the District of Columbia or areas of Maryland and Virginia, contact the medical center’s Business Office, 202-745-8000.
