Hi, I’m Leigh Kentof and my brother, Master Sgt Christopher Andrew “Andy” Barnes, was a hero, patriot, father, son, sibling , husband, friend and a 20 year Army veteran who served our country honorably and proudly. Sadly, on 3/29/2020 he took his own life. Andy had reached out to my sister , who’s a medical surgical nurse, in August 2019 saying he was having problems sleeping. She said she could get him in to see her nurse practitioner friend to help him. Andy said that she wasn’t  on the VA list of community care providers so he couldn’t see her but he would go through the process at the VA, which had a wait time of 4 months to see a VA provider. 4 months later Andy was dead. 

I want everyone to know that through this awful tragedy and my research and due diligence, I have spoken to many amazing people who work vehemently at the VA to help our veterans. They offer many choices of resources and truly care for the veteran’s well being. The issue isn’t the resources but rather the number of VA providers and qualified professionals needed to help our veterans. So through Andy’s LAW, local community care qualified professionals can quickly become expedited as VA providers so no veteran has to wait more than 7 days to seek help. I’m pushing and determined to have this bill written into law and passed and appreciate everyone’s support by simply commenting or sharing your story.