Army Surgeon General defends PTSD diagnostic method
April 3, 2012
By J.D. Leipold
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, March 30, 2012) -- The Army's surgeon general last week told Senators that all military services use a standard method to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder.
Lt. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho testified March 28 at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, Defense subcommittee hearing on military health and said military hospitals use the same method as the civilian sector to diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder, known as PTSD.
"It's the one standard that's out in the civilian sector as well as the military. It's the best standard out there for diagnosing PTSD," she said.
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state said she was aware there were Soldiers at Madigan Army Medical Center at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., who were diagnosed with PTSD but then a forensics psychiatry team changed the diagnosis. She asked if Soldiers elsewhere had been misdiagnosed.
Horoho said the Army had just completed its own investigation at Madigan, which is under review by Army attorneys. She said the Deputy Surgeon General's Office under Maj. Gen. Richard A. Stone had initiated the investigation to look into the forensics used in the evaluation of PTSD.
"Then there's another investigation that was launched by the Western Region Medical Command to look into command climate and Madigan Army Medical Center," she said. "I initiated an IG assessment, not an investigation, but an assessment that looked at every single one of our military treatment facilities and the provision of care to see whether we had this practice of using forensic psychiatry or psychology in the medical evaluation process."
Horoho said that since becoming surgeon general, she has focused on care for PTSD, brain injuries and behavioral health.
"Since I took over as surgeon general on the 5th of December, what I've done so far is we're pulling behavioral health up to the headquarters level so that we have one standard of care across all of Army Medicine, and we're able then to shift that capability where the demand is," she said.
read more here
Showing posts with label VA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VA. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Senate committee approves Peake to lead VA
Senate committee approves Peake to lead VA
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Dec 13, 2007 19:35:53 EST
The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee unanimously approved the nomination of retired Lt. Gen. James Peake to be the next secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs on Thursday, and the full Senate could approve the appointment by the end of the day.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, the committee chairman, said the only serious questions about Peake, a former Army surgeon general who spent 39 years on active duty, involved his post-service employment by a company that held contracts to provide medical examinations and other services to VA.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/military_peake_071213/
I wish him luck. He can't be half as bad as Nicholson was at it. At least, I pray to God he isn't!
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Dec 13, 2007 19:35:53 EST
The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee unanimously approved the nomination of retired Lt. Gen. James Peake to be the next secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs on Thursday, and the full Senate could approve the appointment by the end of the day.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, the committee chairman, said the only serious questions about Peake, a former Army surgeon general who spent 39 years on active duty, involved his post-service employment by a company that held contracts to provide medical examinations and other services to VA.
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/military_peake_071213/
I wish him luck. He can't be half as bad as Nicholson was at it. At least, I pray to God he isn't!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Iraq war vets losing the battle with bureaucracy over disability payments
Iraq war vets losing the battle with bureaucracy over disability payments
by Alysia Patterson
Dec 06, 2007
Imagine you went to war in Iraq. Now imagine you were injured in combat. Sound bad enough? The story gets worse. After returning home, your injuries prevent you from resuming civilian work full time, or at all, and your application for disability benefits appears to be gathering dust at the Department of Veteran Affairs.
It’s a story heard over and over again by Tyrone Ballesteros, office manager at the Los Angeles-based non-profit National Veterans Foundation (NVF), founded 33 years ago by a Vietnam veteran to assist other veterans needing help.
“We have been inundated with calls… I have e-mails and e-mails asking if we can help. We don’t have the funding,” Ballesteros said.
Ballesteros estimates he gets 100 calls a week from war veterans in financial trouble as a result of service-connected health problems that prevent them from working and saddle them with enormous medical bills. Many have families to support and are facing eviction from their homes.
“There’s always been a steady flow of veterans needing financial assistance, but the real trend where families have been starting to be evicted, we started seeing it about two- to two-and-a-half years ago,” Ballesteros said.
go here for the rest
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=72735
Oh how I wish I could say it was just the newest generation of wounded veterans needing help right now, but I would be lying. It is not just the men and women who have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's the Gulf War veterans and the Vietnam veterans, and the Korean veterans and even the remaining WWII veterans. All of them needing to have their wounds taken care of. So little had been done to address the problems the older veterans face, that it is nearly impossible to catch up to the needs of the new guys on the block.
Throughout the 80's and especially the 90's, I wrote letters until my fingers were calloused, sending them to newspapers and Senators, hoping to get someone to pay enough attention to what they were going through. Reporters didn't care back then because they thought it was just too old of a story to bother to cover. Once in a while there would be an editorial popping up but for the most part, the veterans were ignored.
In the 90's the Congress allowed the VA to collect money from veterans who "made too much money" and charged them for their healthcare. They were allowed to bill insurance companies and veterans for any "non-service connected treatment" no matter if it was in fact caused by their service or not. If they VA didn't acknowledge the claim and accept responsibility to cover it, then to them, they could collect for whatever they did to treat it.
When my husband finally managed to turn to the VA to have his PTSD treated, the doctors managed to understand it was PTSD caused by Vietnam, but the bureaucratic end denied his claims. We were charged for his care no matter what we did to prove we couldn't afford it. Our health insurance company said because of the diagnosis from the VA doctors, they no longer had to cover any mental health treatments they had been covering in the past. They said it was the VA's responsibility. Our tax refunds were taken by the VA to collect for the treatment he would not have need had he not gone to Vietnam. Imagine that!
It took six years to have his claim approved. We were told by many people, "well at least he got the money back" while in fact we did get most of it back, but in between the time he filed his claim and the time it was finally approved, we had to have several forbearance agreements with the mortgage company, our credit was ruined and the extra stress made his PTSD worse. He gave up wanting to fight to have his claim approved, gave up wanting them to help him and gave up on himself. It nearly killed him.
For the new generation of veterans, they face the same torture delivered by a system under-funded and understaffed. They face income problems as well as the stresses of having been wounded and knowing they were wounded for the sake of the same country torturing them. Can you think of how you would feel if it happened to you? I don't have to think of it because I know it all first hand and it is one of the darkest secrets this nation has held. No wounded veteran should have to go through any of this and while the administration and the Congress love to talk about how much they are doing or planning to do for the veterans, it is too little and too late. With the backlog of claims there are men and women who served this nation and their families suffering. Congress needs to stop talking and start doing as if this was the most important thing they had to do, because for our veterans, it is a matter of life or death.kc
by Alysia Patterson
Dec 06, 2007
Imagine you went to war in Iraq. Now imagine you were injured in combat. Sound bad enough? The story gets worse. After returning home, your injuries prevent you from resuming civilian work full time, or at all, and your application for disability benefits appears to be gathering dust at the Department of Veteran Affairs.
It’s a story heard over and over again by Tyrone Ballesteros, office manager at the Los Angeles-based non-profit National Veterans Foundation (NVF), founded 33 years ago by a Vietnam veteran to assist other veterans needing help.
“We have been inundated with calls… I have e-mails and e-mails asking if we can help. We don’t have the funding,” Ballesteros said.
Ballesteros estimates he gets 100 calls a week from war veterans in financial trouble as a result of service-connected health problems that prevent them from working and saddle them with enormous medical bills. Many have families to support and are facing eviction from their homes.
“There’s always been a steady flow of veterans needing financial assistance, but the real trend where families have been starting to be evicted, we started seeing it about two- to two-and-a-half years ago,” Ballesteros said.
go here for the rest
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=72735
Oh how I wish I could say it was just the newest generation of wounded veterans needing help right now, but I would be lying. It is not just the men and women who have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's the Gulf War veterans and the Vietnam veterans, and the Korean veterans and even the remaining WWII veterans. All of them needing to have their wounds taken care of. So little had been done to address the problems the older veterans face, that it is nearly impossible to catch up to the needs of the new guys on the block.
Throughout the 80's and especially the 90's, I wrote letters until my fingers were calloused, sending them to newspapers and Senators, hoping to get someone to pay enough attention to what they were going through. Reporters didn't care back then because they thought it was just too old of a story to bother to cover. Once in a while there would be an editorial popping up but for the most part, the veterans were ignored.
In the 90's the Congress allowed the VA to collect money from veterans who "made too much money" and charged them for their healthcare. They were allowed to bill insurance companies and veterans for any "non-service connected treatment" no matter if it was in fact caused by their service or not. If they VA didn't acknowledge the claim and accept responsibility to cover it, then to them, they could collect for whatever they did to treat it.
When my husband finally managed to turn to the VA to have his PTSD treated, the doctors managed to understand it was PTSD caused by Vietnam, but the bureaucratic end denied his claims. We were charged for his care no matter what we did to prove we couldn't afford it. Our health insurance company said because of the diagnosis from the VA doctors, they no longer had to cover any mental health treatments they had been covering in the past. They said it was the VA's responsibility. Our tax refunds were taken by the VA to collect for the treatment he would not have need had he not gone to Vietnam. Imagine that!
It took six years to have his claim approved. We were told by many people, "well at least he got the money back" while in fact we did get most of it back, but in between the time he filed his claim and the time it was finally approved, we had to have several forbearance agreements with the mortgage company, our credit was ruined and the extra stress made his PTSD worse. He gave up wanting to fight to have his claim approved, gave up wanting them to help him and gave up on himself. It nearly killed him.
For the new generation of veterans, they face the same torture delivered by a system under-funded and understaffed. They face income problems as well as the stresses of having been wounded and knowing they were wounded for the sake of the same country torturing them. Can you think of how you would feel if it happened to you? I don't have to think of it because I know it all first hand and it is one of the darkest secrets this nation has held. No wounded veteran should have to go through any of this and while the administration and the Congress love to talk about how much they are doing or planning to do for the veterans, it is too little and too late. With the backlog of claims there are men and women who served this nation and their families suffering. Congress needs to stop talking and start doing as if this was the most important thing they had to do, because for our veterans, it is a matter of life or death.kc
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Neglect? The VA's current backlog is 800,000 cases
Neglect? The VA's current backlog is 800,000 cases. Aside from the appalling conditions in many VA hospitals, in 2004, the last year for which statistics are available, almost 6 million veterans and their families were without any healthcare at all. Most of them are working people -- too poor to afford private coverage, but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or means-tested VA care. Soldiers and veterans need help now, the help isn't there, and the conversations about what needs to be done are only just now beginning.
Posted November 26, 2007.
The military refuses to come clean, insisting the high rates are due to "personal problems," not experience in combat.
Earlier this year, using the clout that only major broadcast networks seem capable of mustering, CBS News contacted the governments of all 50 states requesting their official records of death by suicide going back 12 years. They heard back from 45 of the 50. From the mountains of gathered information, they sifted out the suicides of those Americans who had served in the armed forces. What they discovered is that in 2005 alone -- and remember, this is just in 45 states -- there were at least 6,256 veteran suicides, 120 every week for a year and an average of 17 every day.
As the widow of a Vietnam vet who killed himself after coming home, and as the author of a book for which I interviewed dozens of other women who had also lost husbands (or sons or fathers) to PTSD and suicide in the aftermath of the war in Vietnam, I am deeply grateful to CBS for undertaking this long overdue investigation. I am also heartbroken that the numbers are so astonishingly high and tentatively optimistic that perhaps now that there are hard numbers to attest to the magnitude of the problem, it will finally be taken seriously. I say tentatively because this is an administration that melts hard numbers on their tongues like communion wafers.
Earlier this year, using the clout that only major broadcast networks seem capable of mustering, CBS News contacted the governments of all 50 states requesting their official records of death by suicide going back 12 years. They heard back from 45 of the 50. From the mountains of gathered information, they sifted out the suicides of those Americans who had served in the armed forces. What they discovered is that in 2005 alone -- and remember, this is just in 45 states -- there were at least 6,256 veteran suicides, 120 every week for a year and an average of 17 every day.
As the widow of a Vietnam vet who killed himself after coming home, and as the author of a book for which I interviewed dozens of other women who had also lost husbands (or sons or fathers) to PTSD and suicide in the aftermath of the war in Vietnam, I am deeply grateful to CBS for undertaking this long overdue investigation. I am also heartbroken that the numbers are so astonishingly high and tentatively optimistic that perhaps now that there are hard numbers to attest to the magnitude of the problem, it will finally be taken seriously. I say tentatively because this is an administration that melts hard numbers on their tongues like communion wafers.
go here for the rest
Monday, November 19, 2007
Senator Bernie Sanders: PTSD program for returning GIs to be expanded
Sanders: PTSD program for returning GIs to be expanded
November 19, 2007
BURLINGTON, Vt. --A Vermont program aimed at helping returning GIs get help to address brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder got a boost Monday, with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders announcing new federal funding that will enhance it and begin sowing the seeds for similar programs in other states.
more stories like thisA Department of Defense appropriations bill signed by President Bush contains $3 million for expanding the Vermont National Guard Outreach program and another $3 million for other states to reach out to troops returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The program, which began about a year ago, also reaches out to soldiers back from Army Reserve units or active duty soldiers who have returned to civilian life.
The goal is simple, but the problem isn't.
"This is a hugely important issue, because we are seeing a staggering number of people coming home with PTSD and traumatic brain injury," said Sanders, I-Vt. "It is terribly important that these people get the help they need and in order to do that, we need to do this effectively."
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffering from PTSD jumped by 70 percent over the last year.
The Pentagon says 38 percent of soldiers and 31 percent of U.S. Marines report having psychological concerns after deployment.
click post title for the rest
November 19, 2007
BURLINGTON, Vt. --A Vermont program aimed at helping returning GIs get help to address brain injuries and post traumatic stress disorder got a boost Monday, with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders announcing new federal funding that will enhance it and begin sowing the seeds for similar programs in other states.
more stories like thisA Department of Defense appropriations bill signed by President Bush contains $3 million for expanding the Vermont National Guard Outreach program and another $3 million for other states to reach out to troops returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The program, which began about a year ago, also reaches out to soldiers back from Army Reserve units or active duty soldiers who have returned to civilian life.
The goal is simple, but the problem isn't.
"This is a hugely important issue, because we are seeing a staggering number of people coming home with PTSD and traumatic brain injury," said Sanders, I-Vt. "It is terribly important that these people get the help they need and in order to do that, we need to do this effectively."
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffering from PTSD jumped by 70 percent over the last year.
The Pentagon says 38 percent of soldiers and 31 percent of U.S. Marines report having psychological concerns after deployment.
click post title for the rest
Friday, November 16, 2007
VA Watchdog: VA strikes back at CBS for doing their job
The VA is striking back at CBS News for their reporting on veterans and suicide.
The first CBS report is here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfNOV07/nf111407-10.htm
The second is here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfNOV07/nf111507-10.htm
But, the VA's arguments, against CBS and for their own advocacy, do NOT hold water.
VA's self-congratulatory press release (below) speaks of all they have done in the area of suicide prevention. Truth be told, VA has virtually ignored the problem of veterans and suicide until this year.
In the wake of the Walter Reed scandal and the ensuing stories about problems in VA healthcare, the VA added more suicide counselors.
Their suicide hotline did not get started until late July of this year.
go here for the rest
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfNOV07/nf111607-1.htm
It took CBS months of hard work but the VA has had years. No excuse will work now.
The first CBS report is here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfNOV07/nf111407-10.htm
The second is here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfNOV07/nf111507-10.htm
But, the VA's arguments, against CBS and for their own advocacy, do NOT hold water.
VA's self-congratulatory press release (below) speaks of all they have done in the area of suicide prevention. Truth be told, VA has virtually ignored the problem of veterans and suicide until this year.
In the wake of the Walter Reed scandal and the ensuing stories about problems in VA healthcare, the VA added more suicide counselors.
Their suicide hotline did not get started until late July of this year.
go here for the rest
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfNOV07/nf111607-1.htm
It took CBS months of hard work but the VA has had years. No excuse will work now.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
UPDATE Central Florida Homeless Veterans
The run around just ended. There is more information coming but the reason for the lack of knowledge and answers about our homeless veterans has just been cleared up by Dr. Shea of the Orlando VA Hospital and the DOM. The program at the VA is fairly new and has not received the media attention it justly deserves.
They have a facility separate from the nursing home they also operate. They have 60 beds and they offer rehabilitation, health and dental, mental health care and all support services to take our veterans from living on the streets or the woods to being self sufficient. We all know what these guys are like. It is very hard for them to seek help. That's one of the reasons Orlando is doing another Stand Down operation.
There are things you can do to help them get back on their feet. Aside from general donations that cover clothing for job offers and tools for tradesman, they also need donations for bus passes to get to and from job interviews and jobs, as well as AA meetings and church services. They need phone cards so they can call connect back with people they have not had the ability to speak to in a long time. You can specify what you want your donations to go to provide them with.
Donations can be sent to
Sandra Boza
Volunteer Services
Orlando VA Hospital
5201 Raymond St
Orlando FL 32083
Keep in mind you can also adopt a veteran when they are ready to go into housing on their own by donating what they need. This could be anything from a clock radio, to an iron to a coffee pot. You can get more information by calling 407-629-1599 ext 1727.
One other interesting point Dr. Shea raised is that people tend to think they do not take in female homeless veterans but they do. They understand the unique problems females face above and beyond the traumas males experience. From sexual assaults straight down the line to all issues our female veterans need help with, they are there and ready to help. Each one is provided with a safe room of their own and a key to help them feel safe and cared for.
There is a great need across this country and there needs to be expansion of all of these programs. This has never been more apparent than in recent weeks with the media reporting on what the rest of us should have been too aware of. All of these programs are done for two reasons. The first reason is love and the second reason is because our veterans were willing to risk all for all of us.
I know I complain the most about the VA, but that is the bureaucratic end and you have never heard me once complain about the people who work for the VA. They could all be making a lot more money working in the private sector. Face it, rehabs alone charge thousands a month for inpatients. The VA cannot compete with the money they could be getting from private facilities, but they do what they do for the veterans and to them, that is priceless. ( I think they're all underpaid and over-worked but that is besides the point.)
So what is a veteran worth to you these days? When the last protest happened in downtown Orlando, there were about 3,000 people gathered together to end the occupation of Iraq along with 100 supporting what has been done in Iraq. Both sides came out in the rain and spent hours that afternoon waiting to do what their hearts told them was the right thing to do. Both sides did it because they love the troops, but go about it different ways. Think about the effort all of those participating made just to be there for one afternoon. Now think about what all these people supporting the DOM and our homeless veterans can make for the homeless veterans Central Florida has today. If we do nothing then tomorrow or next year when there are more of them, we will have no excuse for not doing something about it today.
Because of the recent media reports more people are aware most are suffering from PTSD and self medicating with drugs and alcohol. They end up homeless for lot of reasons but that is the biggest one. What are you willing to do for a combat wounded veteran? If you think small donations don't matter then think of what it means to a veteran who pulls out a bus pass to go where they could not go without it. Or to a veteran with a phone card able to call his/her family they lost all contact with. Think of what those tiny donations end up meaning to them.
In Central Florida there is at least one church on every major street. Think about the message Christ gave to take care of the poor and needy along with what he said about there is no greater act than to be willing to lay down your life for your friends. Can there be anything more charitable than for a church to establish a donation fund for their congregations to set aside donations for them? Imagine what kind of message of the love of Christ you would be delivering for the DOM to receive donations for these veterans coming from Christian love for them.
There are wondrous things to be accomplished but it takes action and awareness. It takes someone who really cares and wants to do something for them. This is a place to start.
Over the next few days as more information comes in, I'll post it here. Until then, take a look at the change you have set aside. Go to your CoinStar and then write a check for the pocket change you have. I bet it adds up to several bus trips for them. The next thing you can do is call the Orlando Sentinel and tell them to get on the ball about reporting on the DOM. If someone like me who has been doing this for 25 years such a hard time finding out information, the people who need it will have an even harder time. It's time for the media to do some good reporting that can make a difference.
Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
They have a facility separate from the nursing home they also operate. They have 60 beds and they offer rehabilitation, health and dental, mental health care and all support services to take our veterans from living on the streets or the woods to being self sufficient. We all know what these guys are like. It is very hard for them to seek help. That's one of the reasons Orlando is doing another Stand Down operation.
There are things you can do to help them get back on their feet. Aside from general donations that cover clothing for job offers and tools for tradesman, they also need donations for bus passes to get to and from job interviews and jobs, as well as AA meetings and church services. They need phone cards so they can call connect back with people they have not had the ability to speak to in a long time. You can specify what you want your donations to go to provide them with.
Donations can be sent to
Sandra Boza
Volunteer Services
Orlando VA Hospital
5201 Raymond St
Orlando FL 32083
Keep in mind you can also adopt a veteran when they are ready to go into housing on their own by donating what they need. This could be anything from a clock radio, to an iron to a coffee pot. You can get more information by calling 407-629-1599 ext 1727.
One other interesting point Dr. Shea raised is that people tend to think they do not take in female homeless veterans but they do. They understand the unique problems females face above and beyond the traumas males experience. From sexual assaults straight down the line to all issues our female veterans need help with, they are there and ready to help. Each one is provided with a safe room of their own and a key to help them feel safe and cared for.
There is a great need across this country and there needs to be expansion of all of these programs. This has never been more apparent than in recent weeks with the media reporting on what the rest of us should have been too aware of. All of these programs are done for two reasons. The first reason is love and the second reason is because our veterans were willing to risk all for all of us.
I know I complain the most about the VA, but that is the bureaucratic end and you have never heard me once complain about the people who work for the VA. They could all be making a lot more money working in the private sector. Face it, rehabs alone charge thousands a month for inpatients. The VA cannot compete with the money they could be getting from private facilities, but they do what they do for the veterans and to them, that is priceless. ( I think they're all underpaid and over-worked but that is besides the point.)
So what is a veteran worth to you these days? When the last protest happened in downtown Orlando, there were about 3,000 people gathered together to end the occupation of Iraq along with 100 supporting what has been done in Iraq. Both sides came out in the rain and spent hours that afternoon waiting to do what their hearts told them was the right thing to do. Both sides did it because they love the troops, but go about it different ways. Think about the effort all of those participating made just to be there for one afternoon. Now think about what all these people supporting the DOM and our homeless veterans can make for the homeless veterans Central Florida has today. If we do nothing then tomorrow or next year when there are more of them, we will have no excuse for not doing something about it today.
Because of the recent media reports more people are aware most are suffering from PTSD and self medicating with drugs and alcohol. They end up homeless for lot of reasons but that is the biggest one. What are you willing to do for a combat wounded veteran? If you think small donations don't matter then think of what it means to a veteran who pulls out a bus pass to go where they could not go without it. Or to a veteran with a phone card able to call his/her family they lost all contact with. Think of what those tiny donations end up meaning to them.
In Central Florida there is at least one church on every major street. Think about the message Christ gave to take care of the poor and needy along with what he said about there is no greater act than to be willing to lay down your life for your friends. Can there be anything more charitable than for a church to establish a donation fund for their congregations to set aside donations for them? Imagine what kind of message of the love of Christ you would be delivering for the DOM to receive donations for these veterans coming from Christian love for them.
There are wondrous things to be accomplished but it takes action and awareness. It takes someone who really cares and wants to do something for them. This is a place to start.
Over the next few days as more information comes in, I'll post it here. Until then, take a look at the change you have set aside. Go to your CoinStar and then write a check for the pocket change you have. I bet it adds up to several bus trips for them. The next thing you can do is call the Orlando Sentinel and tell them to get on the ball about reporting on the DOM. If someone like me who has been doing this for 25 years such a hard time finding out information, the people who need it will have an even harder time. It's time for the media to do some good reporting that can make a difference.
Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington
Monday, November 12, 2007
War Law: You Break Them You Owe Them
Wherever you send them and whenever you send them, you better make damn sure you are ready to take care of them when they come home. All this nonsense about them fighting to have their wounds taken care of and their ability to support their families is not worthy of debate unless you want to debate their worthiness! Next time Congress authorizes any funds for war or for the VA they should include a new War Law stating that if they are wounded, have their futures challenged in any way, shape or form, this nation owes them! If they are to risk their lives for the sake of the nation, this nation owes them. kc
“I didn't really deal with it all,” he said. “I just thought it was part of the aftermath. I just thought it was normal.”
Getting the word out about county's veterans services
By JASON HARRIS
Burlington County Times
Like a lot of Vietnam veterans, Frank Schuyler, 59, used to cringe every time a helicopter flew overhead.
He was drafted into the Army in 1968 and saw combat as an infantryman near Saigon with the 82nd Airborne Division. He left the service in 1970, but never really left the jungle behind.
Schuyler, now the Water Department supervisor for Burlington Township, had night terrors for years. He had to quit his job as a water-plant operator at Fort Dix because he couldn't stand being on a military base. He broke down once after watching soldiers get ambushed during a training exercise.
Seven months ago, at the urging of his father-in-law, a World War II veteran, and his brother-in-law, who also served in Vietnam, he went to the Burlington County Military and Veterans Services office in Westampton.
He knows now that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. At the time, he thought the emotional fallout from his time as a soldier was just a part of going to war.
go here for the resthttp://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/25-11122007-1439502.html
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Rising Number Of Homeless Veterans A Disgrace To Our Nation
Iowa
56 funded beds
615 homeless veterans
http://www.nchv.org/page.cfm?id=81
What Harkin should be shocked at is that in his own state, there are homeless veterans. There is an "all of a sudden" mentality among the elected that never gets aroused until the media reports on it. The problems have been with us for years but because of neglect, they have gotten worse. None of these problems happened overnight. Veterans did not begin to have problems with claims, backlogs, overloaded VA hospitals, clinics and shabby conditions. The media just finally noticed. What must not be forgotten is the fact our elected were supposed to know what veterans were going through all along. They were supposed to know simply because our tax dollars pay for all of it and our elected are supposed to be representing us when they make decisions on how to spend it. While I am fully aware that the record for Congress has been abysmal in the last six years, they are beginning to correct huge problems. For this the Democrats do deserve credit. However, during the years of Republican control, they should have been talking to every major news outlet in the nation making sure none of this was allowed to go on.
Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
56 funded beds
615 homeless veterans
http://www.nchv.org/page.cfm?id=81
Tom Harkin: Rising Number Of Homeless Veterans A Disgrace To Our Nation
Fri, 11/09/2007 - 11:25 — newsdesk
Pushes measure to ensure federal housing programs are reaching veteran population
November 8, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today expressed alarm and dismay with the findings of a new report showing one out of four homeless people in the United States is a military veteran.
A new report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness and the Homelessness Research Institute found that veterans make up roughly 26 percent of the homeless population, but only 11 percent of the general population. Data also showed that Iraq war veterans are becoming homeless at a much faster pace than Vietnam veterans.
“It’s not right for our returning heroes to be left out in the cold by their government,” said Harkin. “It is imperative that we in Congress and the Bush Administration take immediate action to reverse this awful trend. Our government cannot make the same mistakes with the veterans of this generation that they did with the veterans of my generation.”
click post title for the rest
From Harkin's site
A chief reason for the increase in the number of homeless veterans is the high rate of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) amongst Iraq war veterans. Record numbers are suffering from these conditions that, without proper treatment, can cause formidable challenges to transitioning back to civilian life.
How many people are homeless in central Iowa? There are more than 5,100 homeless people living in central Iowa on any given day. Of this number, about 2,800 are individuals not living in family units, including more than 450 veterans. With homeless housing capacity at fewer than 2,300 beds, there is a substantial community-wide service gap that is insufficient to meet the emergency, transitional and permanent housing needs of the individual homeless.
http://www.centraliowashelter.org/faq.html
What Harkin should be shocked at is that in his own state, there are homeless veterans. There is an "all of a sudden" mentality among the elected that never gets aroused until the media reports on it. The problems have been with us for years but because of neglect, they have gotten worse. None of these problems happened overnight. Veterans did not begin to have problems with claims, backlogs, overloaded VA hospitals, clinics and shabby conditions. The media just finally noticed. What must not be forgotten is the fact our elected were supposed to know what veterans were going through all along. They were supposed to know simply because our tax dollars pay for all of it and our elected are supposed to be representing us when they make decisions on how to spend it. While I am fully aware that the record for Congress has been abysmal in the last six years, they are beginning to correct huge problems. For this the Democrats do deserve credit. However, during the years of Republican control, they should have been talking to every major news outlet in the nation making sure none of this was allowed to go on.
Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
West Virginia VA
West Virginia
41 funded beds
357 homeless veterans
http://www.nchv.org/page.cfm?id=81
Taking a look at what they say and what they do.
41 funded beds
357 homeless veterans
http://www.nchv.org/page.cfm?id=81
Benefits available to veterans, their families
By Katie Wilson
Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT — Veterans and their families have many opportunities for different kinds of help.
Different benefits are available through the state and federal government as well as various online support groups.
“We are blessed in this state to have a real strong VA presence,” David Allen, acting director of the Veterans Administration Huntington Regional Office, said.
Just for starters, the state has four medical centers in Beckley, Clarksburg, Huntington and Martinsburg, as well as seven veteran centers, a national cemetery and a veterans home in Barboursville, Allen said. Each of the medical centers and veterans centers have satellite offices, which bring veteran care and benefits to those who have served and their families in every part of the state.
Allen said all the state and federal veterans officials work together, which ultimately benefits the veterans. A VA representative can pick up the telephone and call other organizations to benefit their veterans, he said. If someone is in a real hardship situation, such as terminal illness, a dire emotional state or if they’re homeless, the veterans organizations can provide help.
go here for the rest
http://www.timeswv.com/intodayspaper/local_story_315030355.html
Taking a look at what they say and what they do.
West Virginia VA
VA spent more than $912 million in West Virginia in 2006 to serve about 182,000 veterans who live in the state. That same year, 32,555 veterans and survivors received disability compensation, dependency and indemnity compensation, or pension payments in West Virginia. VA provided 4,778 veterans, reservists or survivors education benefits through the GI Bill; 10,120 owned homes with active VA home loan guarantees originally valued at $297 million. West Virginia veterans held nearly 9,000 VA life insurance policies worth $97 million. In 2006, 224 were interred in West Virginia’s national cemeteries.
In West Virginia, VA operates medical centers at Beckley, Clarksburg, Huntington and Martinsburg.In 2006, the Martinsburg medical center had 336,814 outpatient visits and 4,726 inpatient admissions.
Beckley had 145,787 outpatient visits and 1,571 admissions.
Huntington had 293,359 outpatient visits and 4,459 inpatient admissions.
Clarksburg had 207,669 outpatient visits and 3,820 inpatient admissions. Clarksburg also admitted 191 to its nursing home.
A full range of medical services is provided to West Virginia’s veterans, including acute medical, surgical, psychiatric and nursing home care. Specialty units at most medical centers offer veterans rehabilitative medicine, prosthetics and sensory aids, spinal cord injury care, women's health clinics, mental health and substance abuse clinics, urology and post-traumatic stress disorder counseling.
Additionally, outpatient clinics throughout the state serve veterans in rural areas such as Tucker, Wood, and Braxton counties, and at Charleston, Franklin, Williamson, and Petersburg.
The Martinsburg medical center provides inpatient psychiatric care and a residential therapeutic program for veterans who completed inpatient post-traumatic stress disorder treatment. Martinsburg also offers a center for addiction treatment and a brain injury rehabilitation unit. In addition to general medical care, the Beckley, Huntington and Martinsburg medical centers use telepathology, telemedicine and telepsychiatry services to provide care to veterans closer to home. Clarksburg uses telepsychiatry at its outpatient clinics in Wood and Tucker counties. Martinsburg offers telepsychiatry at the outpatient clinic in Cumberland, Md.
Each of the medical facilities is affiliated with at least one major university, including West Virginia University and Medical School, Mountain State University, Bluefield State College, Radford University, Marshall University's Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, and the Pikeville, Ky., School of Osteopathic Medicine and The George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. West Virginia VA provides training for hundreds of medical students each year in nursing, dentistry, dietetics, audiology and speech pathology, medical technology, radiation technology, pharmacy, podiatry, psychiatry and social work. Through West Virginia's Rural Health Education Consortium, medical and dental students, along with pharmacy and physician assistant students, rotate annually through the Martinsburg medical center.
The Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense are working together to seamlessly transfer the health care of returning service members from military treatment facilities to VA health care facilities. The purpose of this initiative is to assist service members who were injured or became ill during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Although this initiative pertains primarily to OIF and OEF, transition to VA health care is available for service members returning from other assignments.
In West Virginia, more than 3,300 active duty service members and veterans of the Global War on Terror have sought VA health care. Many veterans from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan have visited VA counseling centers in Beckley, Charleston, Huntington, Logan, Martinsburg, Morgantown, Princeton and Wheeling. These community-based Vet Centers serve as an important resource for veterans who, once home, often seek out fellow veterans for advice or help transitioning back to civilian life.
Programs to assist homeless veterans in West Virginia are extensive and reach all areas of the state. VA domiciliary staffs make sure veterans receive a supportive, therapeutic residential rehabilitation program that addresses the multi-faceted needs of the homeless by providing comprehensive clinical and vocational services. Outplacement and aftercare are also offered. The Martinsburg, Huntington, Beckley and Clarksburg medical centers have homeless outreach social workers who routinely screen and counsel homeless veterans. During the past several years, West Virginia facilities have been a significant partner with their communities in hosting veterans' stand downs, providing medical care, clothes, sleeping bags and VA counseling.
http://www1.va.gov/opa/fact/statesum/wvss.asp
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Timeline for VA changes not remotely realistic
On the basis of testimony given during an Oct. 17 hearing of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, especially statements from the chairman of the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission, I do not believe that the timeline in the president's legislation is remotely realistic.
Equitable Care for Veterans
By Daniel K. Akaka
Saturday, November 3, 2007; Page A19
There has been much discussion recently, including in an Oct. 21 Post editorial, about the Dole-Shalala commission on veterans' disabilities and the need for prompt action on its recommendations. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I have reviewed the recommendations, which focus primarily on collaboration between the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs on meeting the needs of service members injured in combat.
Most of the suggestions are worthy and, indeed, much work is underway on some of the points. There are, however, some conclusions about which I have serious concerns.
click post title for the rest
Sunday, November 4, 2007
PTSD when the shell breaks and healing begins
Anthony S. Bush / The Capital-Journal
Timothy Sanders, left, talks with Scott Ferguson, assistant service officer for Kansas Veterans of Foreign Wars, during Saturday's information fair at the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center.
Vet tells story of recovery
VA information fair in Topeka shines light on available services
By Julie K. Buzbee
Special To The Capital-Journal
Published Sunday, November 04, 2007
Timothy Sanders grew up in the aftermath of the Vietnam era, playing GI Joe in his Chicago neighborhood.
But nine years in the Army, including tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, shattered his childhood illusions and much of his adult life to date. Sanders, 32, said he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and endures nightmares, flashbacks and anxiety attacks.
He was one of about 25 veterans who attended a welcome home information fair Saturday for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom troops, veterans and their families at the Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center in Topeka.
When Sanders got out of the military in 2005, he didn't seek help with problems adjusting to civilian life in Missouri, where he was living. He tried to cope on his own.
"I really wasn't too well informed when I left the military about what to do," he said.
Richard Selig understands the dilemma that Sanders and other veterans go through upon their return from war. Selig is the Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom program manager for the Eastern Kansas Health Care System, which sponsored the information fair.
"You're hyper-aroused, you're hyper-vigilant," Selig says of troops. "Even if you wanted to pay attention, you really couldn't. When they come back from a combat zone, a lot of them are going to want to isolate."
Sanders, who was part of the ground force invasion in Iraq, said he isolated until his PTSD became so unmanageable that he ended up as a patient in Colmery-O'Neil's stress disorder treatment program.
"One thing about PTSD is you isolate," Sanders said. "In this program, I broke out of my shell."
go here for the rest
http://www.cjonline.com/stories/110407/loc_214817980.shtml
Friday, October 26, 2007
Bill Richardson Proposes Expansion of PTSD Treatment for Veterans
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson Proposes Expansion of PTSD Treatment for Veterans
Fri, 10/26/2007 - 10:08 — newsdesk
October 25, 2007 -- Santa Fe – New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson today announced his proposal to expand treatment for veterans and their families suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.
At the request of Governor Richardson last fall, a team led by the Governor’s Behavioral Health Czar, Linda Roebuck, has been meeting to improve coordination of behavioral health services for military personnel in New Mexico.
click post title for the rest
Fri, 10/26/2007 - 10:08 — newsdesk
October 25, 2007 -- Santa Fe – New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson today announced his proposal to expand treatment for veterans and their families suffering from post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.
At the request of Governor Richardson last fall, a team led by the Governor’s Behavioral Health Czar, Linda Roebuck, has been meeting to improve coordination of behavioral health services for military personnel in New Mexico.
click post title for the rest
Friday, October 19, 2007
VA Service Reps less now than in 2003?
Between 600,000 and 800,000 claims (depending on who you believe) are trapped in a huge backlog of cases and there are less Service Reps now than before the invasion of Iraq?
Four years after the invasion of Iraq and they have less to deal with the wounded they claim are so important to them?
Six years after the invasion of Afghanistan and that occupation now producing more wounded along with more dead, and they didn't increase service reps?
Suicide rates on the rise every year and they have less service reps?
Families falling apart and they have less service reps?
Veterans come back from combat wounded, unable to work, ending up homeless and they have less service reps?
WTF are they out of their minds?
Veterans groups maintain that the backlog amounts to official negligence. Since the launch of the Iraq war more than four years ago, the number of people charged with reviewing and approving veterans' disability claims has actually dropped. According to the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA employed 1,392 Veterans Service Representatives in June 2007 compared to 1,516 in January 2003.
Read this story and then remind yourself of what is really going on. Why are they being allowed to torture our wounded veterans?
POLITICS-US: Homeless Vets Play the Waiting Game
By Aaron Glantz
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 19 (IPS) - U.S. Army Specialist James Eggemeyer injured himself before he even set foot in Iraq, jumping out of a C-130 gunship during training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
"I jumped out and the jumpmaster who was holding that line that was wrapped around my arm had to cut the line because I was pretty much being dragged behind the airplane," the 25-year-old Florida native told IPS as he drove a donated truck through the streets of his hometown of Port Saint Lucie, a two-hour drive north of Miami, Florida.
"I hit the side of the plane with my Kevlar," he added. "My parachute was twisted up like a cigarette roll and I hit real hard and my ankle and my knee and my back and my shoulder (got hurt). I tore my rotator cuff. I feel like a 50-year-old man."
After the incident, military doctors prescribed Eggemeyer painkillers: the opiate Vocodin, the anti-depressant Percoset, and the steroid hydrocortisone.
Then, in April 2003, they sent him to Iraq. For the next year, he drove a Humvee, running supply convoys to U.S. soldiers stationed all around the country.
His experience in Iraq was rough. His convoys were attacked twice. His worst day occurred early on, when the military truck in front of his Humvee hit a civilian vehicle. Eggemeyer says he slammed on the brakes to avoid adding his vehicle to the pile-up. Then he got out and loaded an entire family of dead Iraqis onto a U.S. helicopter, including a little girl.
After that, Eggemeyer says his condition worsened. The longer he stayed in Iraq, the worse his body felt. He also started to take more of the opiates and the steroids the military had given him. The more he took them, the more he needed to dull the pain.
But violence wasn't the only thing Eggemeyer had to deal with while deployed overseas. While Eggemeyer was in Iraq, he filed for divorce. His mother had called to tell him his wife was cheating on him with a man in a local hotel. Then Eggemeyer checked his bank account and found 7,000 dollars was missing.
So for the duration of Eggemeyer's time in Iraq, James's parents took custody of his son, Justin, who had been born just two months before his deployment.
Returning to Fort Bragg in April 2004, James was quickly discharged from the military. His experience in Iraq had changed his disposition. He started fighting with his captain, and was given "dishonourable discharge under honourable conditions", which allowed him to use services from Veterans Administration but denied him access to college tuition assistance or vocational training.
go here for the rest
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39731
Four years after the invasion of Iraq and they have less to deal with the wounded they claim are so important to them?
Six years after the invasion of Afghanistan and that occupation now producing more wounded along with more dead, and they didn't increase service reps?
Suicide rates on the rise every year and they have less service reps?
Families falling apart and they have less service reps?
Veterans come back from combat wounded, unable to work, ending up homeless and they have less service reps?
WTF are they out of their minds?
Veterans groups maintain that the backlog amounts to official negligence. Since the launch of the Iraq war more than four years ago, the number of people charged with reviewing and approving veterans' disability claims has actually dropped. According to the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA employed 1,392 Veterans Service Representatives in June 2007 compared to 1,516 in January 2003.
Read this story and then remind yourself of what is really going on. Why are they being allowed to torture our wounded veterans?
POLITICS-US: Homeless Vets Play the Waiting Game
By Aaron Glantz
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 19 (IPS) - U.S. Army Specialist James Eggemeyer injured himself before he even set foot in Iraq, jumping out of a C-130 gunship during training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
"I jumped out and the jumpmaster who was holding that line that was wrapped around my arm had to cut the line because I was pretty much being dragged behind the airplane," the 25-year-old Florida native told IPS as he drove a donated truck through the streets of his hometown of Port Saint Lucie, a two-hour drive north of Miami, Florida.
"I hit the side of the plane with my Kevlar," he added. "My parachute was twisted up like a cigarette roll and I hit real hard and my ankle and my knee and my back and my shoulder (got hurt). I tore my rotator cuff. I feel like a 50-year-old man."
After the incident, military doctors prescribed Eggemeyer painkillers: the opiate Vocodin, the anti-depressant Percoset, and the steroid hydrocortisone.
Then, in April 2003, they sent him to Iraq. For the next year, he drove a Humvee, running supply convoys to U.S. soldiers stationed all around the country.
His experience in Iraq was rough. His convoys were attacked twice. His worst day occurred early on, when the military truck in front of his Humvee hit a civilian vehicle. Eggemeyer says he slammed on the brakes to avoid adding his vehicle to the pile-up. Then he got out and loaded an entire family of dead Iraqis onto a U.S. helicopter, including a little girl.
After that, Eggemeyer says his condition worsened. The longer he stayed in Iraq, the worse his body felt. He also started to take more of the opiates and the steroids the military had given him. The more he took them, the more he needed to dull the pain.
But violence wasn't the only thing Eggemeyer had to deal with while deployed overseas. While Eggemeyer was in Iraq, he filed for divorce. His mother had called to tell him his wife was cheating on him with a man in a local hotel. Then Eggemeyer checked his bank account and found 7,000 dollars was missing.
So for the duration of Eggemeyer's time in Iraq, James's parents took custody of his son, Justin, who had been born just two months before his deployment.
Returning to Fort Bragg in April 2004, James was quickly discharged from the military. His experience in Iraq had changed his disposition. He started fighting with his captain, and was given "dishonourable discharge under honourable conditions", which allowed him to use services from Veterans Administration but denied him access to college tuition assistance or vocational training.
go here for the rest
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39731
Friday, September 21, 2007
TriWest And Montana Veterans Administration Launch PTSD Video Conference
TriWest And Montana Veterans Administration Launch PTSD Video Conference To Reach Rural Health Care Providers
Published 09-21-2007
Community providers learn to recognize combat stress symptoms in returning troops
PHOENIX,AZ (CompNewsNetwork) - As part of their continuing efforts to address the needs of returning Guard members, TriWest Healthcare Alliance, the Department of Defense's TRICARE contractor in Montana and the VA Montana Health Care System have partnered to launch the first Combat Stress Video Conference. The conference, being held from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2007, will bring together nearly 150 community-based health care providers that care for the thousands of returning Montana National Guard troops throughout the state.
The conference will be broadcast simultaneously to providers in nine locations including Billings, Culbertson, Glasgow, Glendive, Great Falls, Havre, Helena, Kalispell and Lewistown. It is intended to help rural providers identify deployment-related symptoms such as combat stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD and traumatic brain injury, as well as providing treatment methods.
The Montana National Guard consists of more than 3,700 members who live in nearly every corner of the state. Since 2001, more than 80 percent have been mobilized for active duty.
"Family practitioners and community-based health care providers are integral in helping Montana's returning National Guard troops cope with the emotional and mental health issues resulting from serving in combat," explained David J. McIntyre, President and Chief Executive Officer of TriWest Healthcare Alliance. "This video conference is the first of its kind to combine the resources of the VA and TriWest to reach rural providers caring for these service members as they reintegrate into mainstream civilian life."
"The onset of emotional or mental health symptoms is unpredictable.
click post title for the rest
Published 09-21-2007
Community providers learn to recognize combat stress symptoms in returning troops
PHOENIX,AZ (CompNewsNetwork) - As part of their continuing efforts to address the needs of returning Guard members, TriWest Healthcare Alliance, the Department of Defense's TRICARE contractor in Montana and the VA Montana Health Care System have partnered to launch the first Combat Stress Video Conference. The conference, being held from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2007, will bring together nearly 150 community-based health care providers that care for the thousands of returning Montana National Guard troops throughout the state.
The conference will be broadcast simultaneously to providers in nine locations including Billings, Culbertson, Glasgow, Glendive, Great Falls, Havre, Helena, Kalispell and Lewistown. It is intended to help rural providers identify deployment-related symptoms such as combat stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD and traumatic brain injury, as well as providing treatment methods.
The Montana National Guard consists of more than 3,700 members who live in nearly every corner of the state. Since 2001, more than 80 percent have been mobilized for active duty.
"Family practitioners and community-based health care providers are integral in helping Montana's returning National Guard troops cope with the emotional and mental health issues resulting from serving in combat," explained David J. McIntyre, President and Chief Executive Officer of TriWest Healthcare Alliance. "This video conference is the first of its kind to combine the resources of the VA and TriWest to reach rural providers caring for these service members as they reintegrate into mainstream civilian life."
"The onset of emotional or mental health symptoms is unpredictable.
click post title for the rest
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
PTSD have you feeling like you can't live with it? Call for help that is waiting for you
VA Suicide Prevention Hotline Flooded with Calls
Joyce Kryszak
BUFFALO, NY (2007-09-17) Thousands of distressed veterans have flooded the the Veterans Affairs new suicide prevention hotline.
The VA opened the new national call center about a month ago to respond to the growing number of returning troops experiencing mental health problems. The 24 hour call center is located in Canandagua, New York but takes calls from veterans anywhere in the country.
About 4,500 people, including some non-veterans, have called the hotline for help. Of those, 100 were admitted to VA hospitals for treatment. Three of those cases were referred to Buffalo's VA Medical Center.
Michael Finegan is Director of the Center. He says they have long provided emergency mental health care at the facility. But he says the hotline adds another level of critical response.
It's estimated that roughly 50,000 returning veterans suffer from some type of combat related mental health stress.
The hotline number is 1-800-273-TALK.
Click the "listen" icon above to hear Joyce Kryszak's story now or use your podcasting software to download it to your computer or iPod.
© Copyright 2007, WBFO
http://publicbroadcasting.net/wbfo/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1149028§ionID=1
This is wonderful! Think of the lives being saved because there is someone there for them! Veterans risk their lives for us, for a nation sending them into combat. It's our turn to fight for them. It shouldn't be this way. They should all have whatever they need waiting for them to help them heal their wounds, but until that day comes, we have to make sure the same government sending them, takes care of them.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Nicholson to veterans, you're no different than the rest of the citizens
Nearly $2 billion has been budgeted for homeless veterans’ health care, but $1 billion is earmarked for faith-based programs, such as that operated by the Volunteers of America, to provide per-diem assistance to veterans suffering from addiction and mental disease, Nicholson said.Half the money went to "faith base" programs instead of the VA programs and shelters already operating for all veterans without any strings attached.
“We’re aware of the influx of homeless veterans here and (are aware of the need for) making more resources available for medical and grant per-diem programs,” Nicholson said. “And we’re constantly looking for good, faith-based sponsors here like the VOA.”And are they supporting the shelters that operated all over the country? No they are looking for more "faith based" ones to give money to. Nicholson seems proud of this instead of ashamed that the money has not gone to fund the VA but faith base groups.
Veterans vent to VA leader
Homelessness, few resources are big issues
By SAMUEL IRWIN
Special to The Advocate
Published: Sep 9, 2007 - Page: 5B
Page 1 of 2 SINGLE PAGE VIEW
U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson heard praise, complaints and suggestions Saturday from homeless military veterans while touring the Baton Rouge Volunteers of America nine-bed transitional housing facility on West Garfield Avenue.
Nicholson visited with the veterans in the parlor of the old Odd Fellows Lodge a few blocks away from Magnolia Mound Plantation and the LSU campus.
“We (the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) are the agents of a grateful society grateful for people who put on the uniform,” Nicholson said. “But we have challenges to take care of the many living veterans who are no different from the rest of the citizens of our country. We have veterans who have problems.”
This is the other part that made me lose my dinner. Nicholson told this group of homeless veterans, they are no different than that rest of the citizens in this country. No different! No different! Is he out of his mind? I wonder how they avoided beating the crap out of him to show him how very different they are?
go here for the rest
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/9669677.html
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Raising GIs' mental health care discussed
Raising GIs' mental health care discussed
Web Posted: 08/25/2007 09:53 PM CDT
Abe Levy
Express-News
Fueled by growing public support for better resources for soldiers wounded in Iraq, a local partnership of military and civilian mental health agencies has formed to expand the fight against post-traumatic stress disorder — not only for military personnel, but their spouses and children.
And federal lawmakers appear supportive, proposing billions in new funding toward the cause and vowing to beef up mental health care services at military hospitals and clean up subpar standards at Veterans Affairs hospitals.
They're also supporting a plan to fund civilian contracts for health care services that includes help for military families, a move many say recognizes the link between post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and depression, spousal and child abuse, and suicide.
click post title for the rest
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