House Hearing on Veterans Mental Health on line from CSPAN

House Hearing on Veterans Mental Health Care (12/12/2007)

First I want to say that Ilona Meagher and Penny Coleman did a great job. That said, I had a lot of problems with this hearing because, although many seated at the hearing care about the troops and our veterans, they also showed they know very little.

Tim Bowman's father brought up the point that the stigma is what prevents most from going for help. He should know because Tim committed suicide. What the members of Congress do not know is that if a soldier seeks help for a wound, any wound, not just PTSD, it gets documented. They have to because when active duty become veterans, the documentation has to be there in order to put through claims. The privacy most citizens have when dealing with medical issues are not enjoyed by the troops or the veterans. Although they are not supposed to talk about healthcare with other people, the only way to process a claim is to prove it. They need the verification the wound was service connected. In order to do this, verification goes through the unit.

If they do not screen everyone, the veterans or active duty forces, will be singled out. This point was raised by Mr. Bowman. Addressing the fact that PTSD is nothing to be ashamed of must be addressed first or there will be many more needing help but reaching for whatever means they can find instead to end their suffering.

This is a wound. In England they call it Post Combat Stress and have eliminated the word disorder. To provide an honest title to this we need to look at what it is. It is a wound caused by trauma of all kinds. Combat happens to be the number one cause. We need the word After and trauma because it is Greek for wound. After Trauma Syndrome seems to be the best term to use.
Main Entry: syn·drome

Function: nounPronunciation: 'sin-"drOm also -dr&mEtymology: New Latin, from Greek syndrome combination, syndrome, from syn- + dramein to run -- more at DROMEDARY 1 : a group of signs and symptoms that occur together and characterize a particular abnormality 2 : a set of concurrent things (as emotions or actions) that usually form an identifiable pattern

I keep reminding people that combat is not normal. PTSD is a normal reaction to a very un-normal event. There is nothing in our day to day lives that is traumatic but traumatic events happen all the time around the world, by violence, natural disasters, but we also have to consider what we adapted to view as part of a job with firemen, police and other emergency responders. We tend to pass off their wounds as just part of their jobs. When it comes to the military, our blinders are thicker. We figure they know what they are getting into and train to kill. We forget that while they are trained to aim and shoot, they are not trained to pick up body parts or blood covered bodies. They are not prepared to deal with the aftermath of bombs blowing people apart.

For the hearing itself, it seems as if there have been too many hearings and speeches and very little done. Two days ago there was a report I posted on two clinics being shut down only months after they opened. To this day, there are still not enough clinicians, psychologist and psychiatrists or even claims processors.

There are two emergency needs that have to be filled. One is on the therapy end and the best way to do this is to have Veteran's centers open across the nation especially in areas where the VA hospitals are too far away to get to. Staffed 24 hour call in crisis lines is another way. These two aspects of treatment are non-confrontational. The last thing they need is to go to a VA hospital to have their wound challenged, have a claim denied and then be handed a bill for the treatment. The other issue is that claims have got to be processed or they have to come up with a way to provide the veteran with income so that they do not face unnecessary added stresses of bills that cannot be paid and rents that cannot be paid or mortgages sent to foreclosure. These are the two things that have to be done yesterday!

There are many things advocates have to do but for right now, whatever we do, we at least have to do these or what we do tomorrow will be too late.

Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington