Solution for an Army epidemic Feedback...
Why is it important to give to Combined Federal Campaign?
Staff Sgt. E. Douglas Blair III
Special to The Signal
By Bonnie Heater Feedback...
When I started studying journalism in college I asked my professor what was in a great journalistic piece. He said that the trick was to take a subject and try to answer the questions that the normal person might have by the end of the article. This is no easy task with a subject like suicides in the Army and how to prevent them. The suicide rate has become an epidemic and if that word isn’t scary enough, then numbers like one Soldier every three days commits suicide should mortify you. In fact, according to the Department of Defense, the rate of suicides has increased from a record high of 128 in 2008 to a whopping 147 reported suicides in 2009 and over 170 this fiscal year. Nearly everyone has been touched in some form or fashion by suicide. Soldiers, like myself, are required to attend a class every six months or so and told how to deal with a fellow Soldier that is feeling depressed. Ask, Care and Escort have been the mantra of recent years and each Soldier is required to have an ACE card with them at all times. But what do we ask and how do we care and what if there is no one readily available to deal with a Soldier, friend, loved one, co-worker, etc. that has real feelings of suicide? The ACE card is like putting a bandage on a sucking chest wound (by the way, all chest wounds suck).
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Solution for an Army epidemic
Showing posts with label National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Show all posts
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Report: 14 accused GIs were ‘at risk’
Report: 14 accused GIs were ‘at risk’
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jul 26, 2009 8:24:53 EDT
Intense combat experiences, prior criminal behavior, substance abuse and barriers to seeking mental health care all contributed to a “cluster” of murders or attempted murders allegedly committed by soldiers from the same Fort Carson, Colo., brigade, Army leaders said July 15.
Fourteen soldiers are accused of murder, attempted murder or accessory to murder in separate attacks between Jan. 1, 2005, and Oct. 30, 2008. In all, the soldiers are accused of killing 11 people. Ten of the 14 soldiers are from 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. Six of the 14 belonged to the same infantry battalion.
“We would all like to look back at the cluster of misconduct and criminal activities ... and be able to say, ‘This is the reason they happened, and we know exactly what could have been done to prevent them,’ ” said Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the Army surgeon general. “But that’s rarely the way things work when dealing with human behavior.”
Instead, a team of experts from Army Medical Command found the accused soldiers were “at risk for engaging in violent behavior” based on known risk factors such as prior criminal behavior and psychopathology, according to the team’s report, released July 15.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/army_carson_072609w/
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Jul 26, 2009 8:24:53 EDT
Intense combat experiences, prior criminal behavior, substance abuse and barriers to seeking mental health care all contributed to a “cluster” of murders or attempted murders allegedly committed by soldiers from the same Fort Carson, Colo., brigade, Army leaders said July 15.
Fourteen soldiers are accused of murder, attempted murder or accessory to murder in separate attacks between Jan. 1, 2005, and Oct. 30, 2008. In all, the soldiers are accused of killing 11 people. Ten of the 14 soldiers are from 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. Six of the 14 belonged to the same infantry battalion.
“We would all like to look back at the cluster of misconduct and criminal activities ... and be able to say, ‘This is the reason they happened, and we know exactly what could have been done to prevent them,’ ” said Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, the Army surgeon general. “But that’s rarely the way things work when dealing with human behavior.”
Instead, a team of experts from Army Medical Command found the accused soldiers were “at risk for engaging in violent behavior” based on known risk factors such as prior criminal behavior and psychopathology, according to the team’s report, released July 15.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/army_carson_072609w/
Thursday, January 15, 2009
New DoD center offers help for PTSD
New DoD center offers help for PTSD
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jan 15, 2009 12:11:52 EST
The Defense Department has created a new outreach center for troops and family members who need help understanding post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, as well as to help them get the resources they need.
Army Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton, director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, said that while the Defense Department has created many existing resources for service members, the new outreach center grew out of focus groups that were conducted to see what else might be done.
“They said, ‘We want a place where we call and know the folks who answer the phones know our concerns,’” Sutton said. “We knew we had to get the right kind of professionals.”
People who access existing programs — Military OneSource, the Wounded Warrior Resource Center or the National Resource Directory — might find that their first contact was not necessarily with someone who understands that traumatic brain injury may make it harder for victims to quickly make a point or understand an answer, or that a person with PTSD might quickly become frustrated and angry if asked an insensitive question.
The new center was designed with that in mind, Sutton said. It is also hoped that the center will help the military better reach National Guard and reserve members who live in rural areas.
The new Outreach Center for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury opened Jan. 15 and will feature 21 clinicians, most with master’s degrees, who are specially trained to understand and help those with TBI and PTSD. Clinicians will take calls and answer e-mails 24 hours a day, Sutton said.
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jan 15, 2009 12:11:52 EST
The Defense Department has created a new outreach center for troops and family members who need help understanding post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, as well as to help them get the resources they need.
Army Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton, director of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, said that while the Defense Department has created many existing resources for service members, the new outreach center grew out of focus groups that were conducted to see what else might be done.
“They said, ‘We want a place where we call and know the folks who answer the phones know our concerns,’” Sutton said. “We knew we had to get the right kind of professionals.”
People who access existing programs — Military OneSource, the Wounded Warrior Resource Center or the National Resource Directory — might find that their first contact was not necessarily with someone who understands that traumatic brain injury may make it harder for victims to quickly make a point or understand an answer, or that a person with PTSD might quickly become frustrated and angry if asked an insensitive question.
The new center was designed with that in mind, Sutton said. It is also hoped that the center will help the military better reach National Guard and reserve members who live in rural areas.
The new Outreach Center for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury opened Jan. 15 and will feature 21 clinicians, most with master’s degrees, who are specially trained to understand and help those with TBI and PTSD. Clinicians will take calls and answer e-mails 24 hours a day, Sutton said.
To contact the Outreach Center, call (866) 966-1020 or e-mail resources@dcoeoutreach.org
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Saturday, May 3, 2008
Bush funded less for PTSD in 2005 than in past years
WRJ vets hospital gets funding boost
May 3, 2008
By Susan Smallheer Rutland Herald
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The budget for the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder got a 20 percent boost Friday.
Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., both pushed hard for the additional $2 million funding for the $10 million budget for the center, which is headed by Matthew Friedman.
The national center, whose headquarters is at the Veterans' Administration Hospital in White River Junction, had seen its funding reduced since 2005, resulting in cuts in staffing and research, according to Sanders' spokesman Will Wiquist.
Sanders and Leahy had lobbied fellow Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs.
Sanders and Akaka then pushed Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake to restore funding and increase it. Sanders and Akaka met with Peake last month to push the additional funding. Sanders is a member of the committee as well.
According to a letter Sanders and Akaka sent to Peake earlier this year, the funding for the center had increased only 9 percent in the past five years, growing from $9.1 million to $10 million. In 2005, the funding was $10.1 million, but it was cut back to $10 million.
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This has been in the news before but the media, well, they let the report drop out of time slots. Guess they had better things to report on. The price of this action by Bush came at a very, very high price with two occupations causing more PTSD cases and more needless suffering when they could have been healing.
May 3, 2008
By Susan Smallheer Rutland Herald
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The budget for the National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder got a 20 percent boost Friday.
Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., both pushed hard for the additional $2 million funding for the $10 million budget for the center, which is headed by Matthew Friedman.
The national center, whose headquarters is at the Veterans' Administration Hospital in White River Junction, had seen its funding reduced since 2005, resulting in cuts in staffing and research, according to Sanders' spokesman Will Wiquist.
Sanders and Leahy had lobbied fellow Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs.
Sanders and Akaka then pushed Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake to restore funding and increase it. Sanders and Akaka met with Peake last month to push the additional funding. Sanders is a member of the committee as well.
According to a letter Sanders and Akaka sent to Peake earlier this year, the funding for the center had increased only 9 percent in the past five years, growing from $9.1 million to $10 million. In 2005, the funding was $10.1 million, but it was cut back to $10 million.
With the cut in funding, the number of full-time equivalent employees at the center dropped from a high of 97 in 1999, to 87 employees, the senators said.
click post title for more
This has been in the news before but the media, well, they let the report drop out of time slots. Guess they had better things to report on. The price of this action by Bush came at a very, very high price with two occupations causing more PTSD cases and more needless suffering when they could have been healing.
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