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Winter 2016: A Hero's Home Away From Home

On May 22, 2014, Hopewell resident Mike Erro finally received the medals he had earned 40 years earlier for his service as a U.S. Army Light Weapons Infantryman in Vietnam. The entire Hopewell community watched with pride as Sgt. Ryan Thomas pinned six medals, including the Purple Heart, onto Mike’s jacket.

It was an emotional and memorable day for Mike, made possible by Hopewell staff who had worked with him since his admission in February 1997. The day also marked a turning point for the quiet man who has suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and, since his return from the Vietnam War in 1969, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Joined by family members long estranged, and overwhelmed by the outpouring of affection from his peers and the staff of Hopewell, Mike began to open up. That day he said, “It seems like I haven’t realized before how much people in my life like me.”

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