Soldier on: Ride benefits veterans with PTSD

Soldier on: Ride benefits veterans with PTSD
Posted: May 14, 2012
By Jeff Hansel
The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

Symptoms of PTSD The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which offers online screening, lists PTSD symptoms such as: • Re-living a bad memory of an event, sometimes triggered by a sight, sound or smell. • Avoidance of potential reminders of bad events and shutting off emotionally to protect from pain and fear. • Hypervigilance or increased arousal that can make a person startle easily, staying on high alert and having a short fuse.

If you have ''disturbing thoughts and feelings for more than a month, if they're severe, or if you feel you're having trouble getting your life back under control, talk to your health care professional," recommends Mayo Clinic's website.

Treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder has become a focus as increasing numbers of veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq return from deployment.

To help, planners have set a goal of getting 200,000 people across the United States to participate in a Soldiers Ride for Rehab to support veterans. The ride takes place June 9.

"We're trying to bring awareness and help to all the veterans who are suffering from traumatic syndrome, or PTSD, as it's called," said Dave Soderberg, a civilian participant who has been helping to raise awareness of the ride.
read more here

For these women veterans, a home to call their own

Gulf War veteran Tinamarie Polverari greeted a fellow resident at Jackie K's House for homeless women veterans. (Gretchen Ertl for The Boston Globe)

For these women veterans, a home to call their own
By Brian MacQuarrie
Globe Staff / October 31, 2009
NORTHAMPTON - An oversized stuffed tiger lies across a bedspread in a brightly colored room where Tinamarie Polverari has draped a New York Yankees cap on a lampshade.

She feels safe here.

Polverari, a 38-year-old Army veteran, lives in a duplex cottage run by the nonprofit group Soldier On. A victim of repeated rapes during the Gulf War, she returned in 1993 to an unhinged civilian life of heroin, crack cocaine, and desperate homelessness.

She is among a growing legion of female veterans who have turned to the street after a failed transition from military to civilian life. At a time when women are assuming an ever-expanding role in the armed forces, the number of homeless female veterans is rising.

Women last year accounted for an estimated 5 percent of all homeless veterans, or 6,500 former servicewomen, a figure that is 67 percent higher than the number reported in 2004, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs. By contrast, the total number of homeless veterans decreased by 33 percent in the same period, to 131,000 from 195,000.
read more here
For these women veterans, a home to call their own

Homeless Veteran Shows Not All Gifts Come In Wrapped Packages

Homeless veterans celebrate Christmas
Updated: 12/25/2007 2:19 PM
By: Ryan Burgess



PITTSFIELD, MASS. -- Soldier On resident Eugene Vereen sits looking through an old prayer book. It's a simple way to celebrate Christmas.

"Today is a day of celebration for me, really from the inside, because not in my wildest dreams did I ever believe that I'd ever be here talking to you," said Vereen.

He's been here for three years now, along with other homeless veterans at Soldier On in Pittsfield. For many of them, celebrating Christmas brings mixed emotions.


WATCH THE VIDEO
Homeless veterans celebrate Christmas
It's the spirit of Christmas that can get some people through difficult times and for some formerly homeless veterans, they're now trying to live this spirit every day. Our Ryan Burgess has the story.
go here for the rest
http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=228009