"I need an extraction," he explained.
He said his sister read in The Herald the state Department of Veterans Affairs was having its annual Stand Down at the Veterans Home so he decided to check out what it had to offer.
"I'm going for a health screening and whatever kind of assistance I can get out here," he said.
The Bristol resident served in the Army from 1974 to 1975 and today he's an unemployed drill press operator who says he's been "close to homeless." He's just the kind of person the Stand Down was meant to serve.
"Stand Down" is a term from the Vietnam War, referring to an area behind the front lines that was safe and afforded battle-weary soldiers a place to relax and attend to person needs such as showers, hot meals and minor health care issues. Since 1992 Veterans Affairs has held a Stand Down most years in Rocky Hill to assist homeless or needy veterans from across the state.
This year's event took place Sept. 18. Veterans Affairs Commissioner Linda Schwartz said more than 800 veterans pre-registered and many showed up without pre-registering.
"We think there are over 1,000 here today," she said. "It's a real coming together of all the federal and state agencies and volunteer organizations dedicated to helping the veterans."
More than 40 groups set up shop in the Veterans Home buildings or in tents on the green outside, offering everything from legal assistance to hot meals to haircuts, all for free.
The dental clinic where Bochan was waiting was set up by Community Health Center Inc. (CHC), complete with seven dental chairs and other mobile equipment, and a team of dentists, assistants, and hygienists, all dressed in light blue scrubs.
"This is our fourth year at the Stand Down," explained Dr. Maggie Drozdowski Maule, DMD, dental director for CHC, a statewide organization. She practices dentistry at CHC's New Britain location.
"We do an oral cancer screening for probably over 100 people, and we'll end up doing cleaning for probably 60 to 70 people. Most of these are veterans are uninsured or under insured. I see a lot of the same faces every year, they're very nice people," she said.
If they need follow up care, we give them a list of community centers where they can get it at a lower cost care, she added.
CHC had about 30 staff on hand for the day, some doing ear checks and blood-pressure screening, said, Agi Erickson, program manager for Wherever You Are, a CHC program that provides health services to the homeless at locations in New Britain, Meriden and Middletown.
"It's not a priority for them to get health care when they're thinking 'I have nowhere to live. What am I going to eat?'" she said. The program connects them with care, and helps to reduce unnecessary emergency room visits and overall "misery and morbidity" she added.
In another building, the Lions Club set up an eye care clinic in the Veterans Home library, complete with a digital imaging machine set up among the video shelves and eye charts taped to a large fish tank.
"We did 198 eye screenings last year, so we expect to do a similar number this year," said Stephen Polezonis, an optometrist who practices in New Britain and is a member of the Lions. "We've got four doctors and 25 to 30 volunteers here, most of whom are Lions, and a couple of VFW people. This is our third year at Stand Down."
The Lions test vision, screen for glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, and cataracts, provide reading glasses, and adjust and clean prescription glasses.
"Last year we had some with retinal issues. So far today we've found a couple of cases of glaucoma," Polezonis said. The Lions help connect the veterans with any immediate care they might need, he said.
Vision care "is the foremost project for the Lions," added Alan Daninhirsch, a volunteer from Bristol. "This is what we do."
Outside, it was a gorgeous late summer day, and Frank Christiansen from Plainville handed out doughnuts and bottles of water, at a Disabled American Veterans booth.
Himself a veteran (27 years in the Army Reserves, including tours in Panama and the second Iraq conflict), Christiansen is a volunteer with the DAV and the Veterans Administration in Newington. "We started with about 50 dozen doughnuts and now we're almost out" by 10 a.m., he said. "This is my second Stand Down. Last year I passed out sweaters for four and a half hours."
As the Veterans Home carillon starts to play "The Army Goes Rolling Along," a couple of guys in leather vests marked American Legion Riders grabbed cases of bottled water. for veterans waiting in line for services, said Christiansen.
Some of the lines were very long and the men, and women, had to stand in the sun. The weather was chilly when the Stand Down got started at 7 a.m. but by midday it had warmed up considerably.
Jeff Belanger said he was waiting in line to get sneakers.
"I don't like the line, but being here is great," said the naval veteran, who served for four years in the late '70s and early '80s. A longtime Bristol resident, he now lives in an independent living facility for veterans in Bridgeport.
He said legal services at the Stand Down helped him resolve some child support problems. "I'm also looking for work, and I just need to get some help with issues," he added.
The long line was headed for the tent for No Vet Left Behind, a Derby-based non-profit giving out giving out toiletries and clothing. Unfortunately for Belanger, No Vet Left Behind had already run out of sneakers, said George Porter, whose wife Mary is the director of the organization.
Porter said they started out with a large rental truck full of goods to give out but now they running low on everything. "This is the first time we've participated in Stand Down. I wish we could give more," he said, tossing some last boxes of jogging pants out from the back of the truck.
By now the green was rocking to the sounds of Dallas blues guitarist Hash Brown, who was reportedly visiting family in Bristol and volunteered to play the Stand Down with some other area musicians.
Indoors, Pedro Rodriguez was taking a break from cutting hair. The New Britain resident was one of several students from the Brio Academy of Cosmetology in East Hartford who set up shop in a seven-chair barbershop room on the ground floor of the Veterans Home dining hall.
"So far we've done 23 people in less than an hour," Rodriguez said. He has sophomore status at the academy, which means he's put in at least 350 hours of study so far.
One of the things you learn is how to talk - and especially listen - to the person you're working on, it's like being a bartender, he said. A lot of the veterans have issues, so if they're feeling depressed, at their low point, "we get them to look good, feel good. Our job is to pick them back up."
"We help them physically with their looks but also spiritually and mentally," he said.
Upstairs, Marianna Koziol-Dube, from Unionville, had set up a table in the cafeteria for the League of Women Voters of Greater New Britain. One of the veterans she registered to vote was Karl DeVoe, a former New Britain resident.
DeVoe, who was in the Army in Vietnam from 1970 to 1971, said he's a house painter who wasn't able to work much earlier in the year due the to heavy rain. On unemployment, battling depression, facing eviction, he turned to the Veterans Administration in Newington for help with drug problems and the VA got him a room at the Veterans Home.
He said he's been there for four months until he can get back on his feet. So far at the Stand Down he got his eyes checked, got some help from the Pardons Board with some problems, and got screened for sexually transmitted diseases.
It was only a 15-minute cheek swab test for the STDs, he said, and by the time you're done filling out the applications they have your results. He's OK.
"This is great," Devote said.