Boston Red Sox want troops safe at home with PTSD

Safe at home
After Red Sox visits to Walter Reed, team foundation and MGH launch effort to help struggling war veterans

By Liz Kowalczyk
Globe Staff


It was supposed to be a brief stop for the Red Sox to share the World Series trophy with wounded soldiers. But the team lingered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for much of the afternoon, deeply moved by their conversations with amputees and veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

Now that visit in February 2008 has turned into much more. The Boston Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital will announce today the launch of a $6 million program to treat the rising number of men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries and to encourage reluctant veterans to seek services.

The players hope to take a crucial role in trying to diminish the stigma many veterans feel about asking for help for a mental disorder. Pitcher Tim Wakefield has filmed the first of a series of planned public service announcements in which he implores veterans to get treatment. “Being on a team means never having to face a challenge alone,’’ he says.
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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/09/17/safe_at_home/