Saturday, July 05, 2008
Independence Day Edition - Local Veterans Issues
Join the People Power Hour as we discuss the issues local veterans have returning to American society -- such as PTSD, medical problems, employment, etc. Guests include Barry Stanley and Fanita Jackson-Norman of the Orlando VA Hospital; Kathie Costos; a local advocate for veterans issues as well as a chaplain; and Ginger Davis and Elizabeth Jackson, central Florida vets featured in Monday's Orlando Sentinel front page article. Make sure to tune in for this one, and remember to call in on (407) 273-1190 or (888) 300-3776!
You can hear a repeat of the show here.
http://www.peoplepowerhour.com/
George Grossley, Joe Miranda and John Hamilton put on quite the show. Considering PTSD is such a hard topic to discuss, they broke the show up with a lot of laughs. Ginger was the only guest I had not met before. I was amazed when Elizabeth recognized me and then mentioned the NAMI convention in Orlando. She's very active in her area of Daytona. Fatina and Barry seem to be everywhere these days and they are both dedicated to the veterans. I know I come down very hard on the VA but as I always write, it's not the people who work with the veterans I have a problem with. It's the people who make the rules and set the goals I have a huge problem with.
Fatina and Barry didn't know about the suicide hotline telling veterans to call back in the morning. The problem is, there is really no way of them knowing what a lot of problems are considering the VA is very reluctant to let them know. They work with the veterans but I work for the veterans and there is the difference right there. I have to pay attention to what is happening all over the nation, not just in Orlando, but all over and I track it all as if my life depended on it. Simply put, my life does depend on it. Their jobs keep them busy enough and they cannot be expected to track all of this. It takes me about 16 hours a day and I miss a lot of it. When you see posts on this blog, they come from alerts, searches in newspapers across the country, veterans sites and from an army of friends making sure I don't miss much at all.
People like Fatina and Barry give me a lot of hope that one day we will finally be able to live up the claim of taking care of the veterans. Without them, no matter what I did or how much time I put into this work, it would do no good if we didn't have people like them working for the VA. I give all the credit in the world to the psychologist and psychiatrists donating their time to our veterans as part of Give An Hour, but the VA are the experts of PTSD from combat. My husband had seen several private providers before he was finally treated at the VA, so I do speak with some knowledge of this.
There are a lot of problems with the VA and while things are getting better, there is a lot more work that needs to be done. If the VA is telling the people working for them everything is hunky dory, they have no way of knowing it's not.
We need the entire country to really step up and help take care of these veterans now, today, because tomorrow there will be a lot more needing help and standing in line. How long are we going to allow this line to grow while we loose more of them everyday? How many suicides will be enough? How many broken marriages and homeless veterans will it take before we get this right?
If you are a member of any service organization, push them to get involved in this. The time of selling beer at the bar only has come and gone and it's one of the biggest reasons memberships are down instead of up. Some service organizations are doing a fantastic job but there are very few of them stepping up.
If you belong to a church, make sure your clergy get involved. PTSD is also a wound of the soul and it's about time the clergy stopped ignoring this. If while you are trying to explain it to them their eyes glaze over, have them read about King David for a little refresher course in what they learned in the Seminary.
Reminder of Vietnam
1.6 million active zones
500,000 diagnosed with PTSD by 1978
117,000 suicides by 1986
300,000 homeless veterans
No counting on how many families were torn apart. Most veterans with PTSD had several families.
Pump in the fact redeployments increase the risk of PTSD by 50% for each time back and factor in some on their 5th tour and you see how serious all of this is.
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
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
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