[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 52 (Thursday, March 29, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E499]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO MAX McINTOSH

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GREG WALDEN

                               of oregon

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 29, 2012

  Mr. WALDEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Max McIntosh, 
the director of the VA's Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center and 
Clinics (SORCC) in White City, Oregon, who will retire tomorrow, March 
30, after 39 years of service to the VA.
  Since 2003, Max has run the SORCC, transitioning it from a 
domiciliary into a world class rehabilitation center and a system of 
clinics for veterans in southern Oregon. He came to the clinic two 
years earlier as Chief Operating Officer.
  When he arrived, the SORCC served 7,000 outpatients in the region--no 
small feat. Today, through the good work of Max and his staff of over 
500 employees and another 500 volunteers, the SORCC cares for 450 
residential patients and 18,000 outpatients in Southern Oregon. These 
are men and women who have worn the nation's uniform to defend our 
freedom and cherished way of life, and they deserve the highest levels 
of care. Max made sure that they received it.
  In his years as director of the SORCC, Max and the facility have 
adapted to serve our nation's heroes--from those who served in World 
War II to Iraq and Afghanistan. Vocational rehabilitation and 
employment services place veterans with community employers and 
partners. They have programs focused on post-traumatic stress disorder 
and suicide prevention, and clinics on chronic pain and diabetes. They 
recently instituted a system of home-based primary care, caring for 
veterans in their homes.
  Perhaps the greatest challenge he faced in his tenure was among the 
first, when a proposal was floated to close or reduce services at the 
SORCC. Max stood arm-in-arm with me and the rest of the community as a 
fierce advocate for the facility. Today it stands as a nationally known 
veteran rehabilitation center, in no small part because of Max's 
leadership.
  When I spent Veterans Day with Max and the veterans of southern 
Oregon at the SORCC this past November, I noted that ``A nation is 
judged by the way it takes care of the people who protect its 
freedom.'' In his 39 years of service to our country, Max has made us 
proud. I understand that he's already signed up to do volunteer work at 
the SORCC.
  Mr. Speaker, on behalf of a grateful community, state, and nation, I 
thank Max for his service to this country's heroes, and wish him well 
as he moves on.

                          ____________________