HINESVILLE, Ga. (WTOC) - Providing health care to veterans is crucial to their life after service, but one VA nurse in Hinesville feels abandoned by her clinic amidst the government shutdown.

Allena Douglas-Brathwaite’s husband is a member of the military who is working during the government shutdown, but he’s not the only one in the family that’s experiencing work without pay.

Allena went seven months, from November 2024 to May 2025 without receiving any pay from Hinesville’s VA clinic where she’s worked for 17 years.

This was because she was injured while helping a veteran at her clinic, and now requires a knee replacement and shoulder surgery. With no funds coming from her job, and her husband not being paid for his work with the military, she’s relying on money from her work injury

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