{"id":7967,"date":"2025-01-01T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7967"},"modified":"2025-01-01T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T15:30:00","slug":"veteran-jose-diaz-is-the-model-employee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7967","title":{"rendered":"Veteran Jose Diaz is the model employee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published:<\/strong> 2025-01-01T15:30:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n

Veteran and VA employee Jose Diaz is the model employee. During the past 12 years, Diaz has made hundreds of models and many of them are proudly displayed at the Connecticut VA<\/a> community living center in West Haven, Connecticut.<\/p>\n

Diaz served three years in the Army and six years in the Marine Corps. He got started making models after being hospitalized at \u00a0Connecticut VA from 2011 to 2012.<\/p>\n

In addition to crediting VA Health care workers with saving his life, he says they also helped him develop his passion for making models. \u201cWhile in the hospital, one day an employee brought me a model. I was in a lot of pain so I didn\u2019t do anything with the model, but after a couple of weeks I started building that model. I was getting better and then I decided to build another one and then another one,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n

In addition to building models, Diaz shares his passion with other Veterans. \u201cI work on the dialysis unit so when Veterans come in for treatment, I pass out models for them to take home,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n

Each model is different, but Diaz said the average model usually takes him about five hours to build. \u201cThe Veterans here really appreciate the models.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI love hearing these stories from Veterans.\u201d<\/h2>\n

Diaz has worked at Connecticut VA for 15 years. \u201cWhen I was building a B-17, I met a WWII Veteran and he told me he was a gunner on a B-17. I just love hearing these types of stories from Veterans,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very touching to see Jose and the patients really connect like that. Jose is a Veteran serving Veterans and continues to give back. He is a blessing,\u201d said Michelle Alberico, dialysis unit.<\/p>\n

Diaz plans to continue building his models for many years to come. \u201cI do it for the Veterans. It\u2019s all about the Veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Army and Marine Corps Veteran started making models after being hospitalized at Connecticut VA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":67,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-news"],"yoast_head":"\nVeteran Jose Diaz is the model employee - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Army and Marine Corps Veteran started making models after being hospitalized at Connecticut VA.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7967\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Veteran Jose Diaz is the model employee - 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