PRIVATE GEORGIA HOSPITAL GETS FUNDS TO TREAT VETERANS' PTSD

PRIVATE GEORGIA HOSPITAL GETS FUNDS TO TREAT

VETERANS' PTSD -- Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital will

develop a regional post traumatic stress disorder center

whose mission will ultimately help American veterans

plagued by the experiences of war.



Phoebe to get funds for PTSD

* About 200 of the 4,700 veterans enrolled at an Albany clinic have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, a hospital official says.

Barbara Rivera Holmes



ALBANY — Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital received Monday the mock check of a $1.6 million appropriation from Congress for the development of a regional post traumatic stress disorder center whose mission will ultimately help American veterans plagued by the experiences of war.

The hospital, which has been charged with creating and implementing a Novel Working Model for a Technological Regional Center of Excellence for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, will lead the network of researchers and caregivers responsible for amassing data on the syndrome, a mental disorder triggered by an outside event, as well as treatment outcomes. By some federal estimates, about 18 percent of war veterans have PTSD, sometimes referred to as “shell shock.”
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When I first read this, I thought great idea since this is going to take everything they can shove at it to take care of our veterans. Then my stomach began to twist into knots. We are all aware of the privatizing crap Bush and his pals have been pulling off. I can't even manage to trust the man with the ability to put on two black socks on his own, so I question everything he does. I know congress did this to address the problem but as president, he should have prepared the governmental agencies for all of this. He didn't. He sold the responsibility out to the pals he owed favors to. Our troops who became wounded combat veterans have been paying the price for all of this. Now it's gotten to the point Congress has to do emergency measures to address what Bush failed to do. This is happening all over the country. "Faith based" groups are paid to pick up the slack but they have managed to hit only a fraction of the need. Most of them are into evangelizing them into their own flock instead of addressing the desperate needs they come in with. All in all this sucks for them. I can't help but think this was all part of his plan selling off the government to private industries dedicated to making a buck no matter where it came from or who had to suffer so they could get it.