Help not getting to veterans and military members who need it

Help not getting to veterans and military members who need it
WAVE News
By Janelle MacDonald
Posted: Jul 01, 2013

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Even as the U.S. military presence overseas begins to drop, the wounds of war are becoming increasingly present back at home.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says post-traumatic stress disorder poses a rising risk to our veterans. So many free resources are available out there to not only current military members and veterans, but also their families and friends. In too many instances, it's not getting to the people who need it most.

Sean Cassedy inspired his mother's new career and her new life's work.

"I don't know where this is going to take me but I know that I'll be working as a psychiatric nurse for the rest of my life," Carol Cassedy said.

Sean, a decorated marine who served several tours in Iraq, suffered wounds of war, as he told us in a 2007 interview.

"I had spider fractures through both my legs, I had a fractured pelvis, I had a fractured hip and gunshot wound to the right inner thigh," he said.

For two years his mother Carol was Sean's primary caregiver but there were wounds that would not heal.

"The physical ones healed relatively quickly but it was the mental, the psychogenic issues that we continued to struggle with," Carol said.

"I was just trying to work myself until I was exhausted and I couldn't think and then I'd go to sleep and I'd wake up repeat the cycle," Sean said in 2007.

Sean ended up taking his own life, one of the approximately one service member every hour to do so. Stories like his are the reasons that gatherings like this are so important.

"Part of the problem that we have is even if we have the services, many people don't know about them," said Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear.

She and those who work at the Robley Rex Louisville V.A. Medical Center on Monday urged service members and their families to take the help that's out there: a veterans crisis line available 24 hours a day, free access to therapists and peer support to help veterans find available resources including mental health treatment.
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