Hinesville VA nurse feels ‘thrown away’ by clinic amidst government shutdown

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 to pay for her medical bills. The only problem is that she’s been waiting on this for over a year.

“They have such an arduous process to try and get care, it has felt like my service even though I’m giving 110% I’ve felt like sort of thrown away, like I didn’t matter. I mean I was working so hard I didn’t even know but my thing is I didn’t want to not be able to provide for my family,” said Douglas-Brathwaite.

Her husband Jose says their savings are what is allowing them to get by during the shutdown, but Allena’s injuries are only getting worse without proper surgery to get her back at the VA clinic.

She tells us that all she wants is to be able to return to work. She says she misses being able to help veterans, and was told recently that she may be at risk of being let go.