Illinois Warrior Assistance Program helping National Guardsmen as Veterans

Warrior Assistance Program Screens Returning Soldiers for TBI and PTSD
Barbara Kois
Monday March 24, 2008

The new Illinois Warrior Assistance Program is the first program of its kind in the U.S. to mandate screening of all Illinois National Guard members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan for traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The free screening is available to all Illinois veterans. The program also provides 24-hour toll-free confidential psychological counseling for any veteran who may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Veterans' family members also can call the hotline.

The hotline is manned by master's level licensed clinicians, including some veterans, who are trained to administer the screening tool. Screening also can be conducted in all of the 51 Veteran Service Offices in the state by 73 Veteran Service officers — state employees who were trained extensively by clinicians from the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

Felise Zollman, MD, the medical director of the Brain Injury Medicine and Rehabilitation Program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, was involved in devising the tool and the training for it.

"The screen was designed to be very sensitive and cast a wide net to identify any potential cases of brain injury so the person can go to a doctor for a definitive assessment. It can be administered in 10 minutes, much as one might get a blood pressure screening at a health fair," Zollman said. "Because many of the symptoms of brain injury are similar to those of PTSD, we can tell the person that it doesn't look like brain injury, but it might be a good idea to get a further assessment to see if PTSD is causing the symptoms."
click post title for the rest