[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 86 (Thursday, June 30, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                           DR. PAUL E. ERRERA

                                 ______


                      HON. G.V. (SONNY) MONTGOMERY

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 30, 1994

  Mr. MONTGOMERY. Mr. Speaker, last October, I placed in the Record an 
article about the largest integrated network of homeless treatment 
programs in the country, which was developed by the Department of 
Veterans Affairs. The evolution of these impressive programs was guided 
by Dr. Paul E. Errera, the Director of the Mental Health and Behavioral 
Sciences Service at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  Paul has left his post at the Department's central office--which he 
held since 1985--to return to the work he once did with veterans at the 
West Haven VA Medical Center.
  I want to share with you a little about this dynamic man and his 
impressive career of service to veterans with mental health problems.
  Paul received his medical degree at the Harvard University School of 
Medicine. He interned at the Yale New Haven Hospital and did his 
residency in the department of psychiatry, Yale University School of 
Medicine. During his residency, he began his service to veterans at the 
VA Hospital, West Haven, CT. He held various positions at Yale where he 
taught others in the field of psychiatry and became a professor of 
psychiatry in 1970. From 1970 to 1985, he served as chief of the 
psychiatry service at the VA Medical Center in West Haven.
  In a speech Paul made at a going away luncheon held in his honor on 
June 21, he referred to his time at central office as the capstone of 
my professional life, and turned the gathering into a tribute to those 
he serves--the mentally ill, the homeless, alcohol abusers, drug 
addicts and the vocationally disabled--and the team of committed and 
immensely skilled professionals he directed. This man is a selfless 
professional, who always turns the spotlight from himself to, in his 
own words, ``the mission that we have successfully kept at the center 
of our efforts and that we celebrate today.''
  Mr. Speaker, I want my colleagues and the entire country to know that 
we have exemplary individuals in the Department of Veterans Affairs but 
none better than Paul Errera, a man totally committed to the service of 
our Nation's veterans.

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