Iraq vet honored at service-dog fundraiser
Kate Santich Sentinel Staff Writer
November 7, 2008
ORLANDO - Almost four years to the day after losing his leg to a bomb in Iraq, 1st Lt. Jeffrey Adams will be guest of honor at the Canine Companions for Independence 12th annual Tales and Tails Gala on Saturday at SeaWorld Orlando. Adams, the first Iraq war veteran helped by the nonprofit organization, graduated from training in February and will attend with his service dog, Sharif.
Friday, November 7, 2008
It's traumatic to lose your job
Job losses mount
The government reported more grim news about the economy today, saying employers cut 240,000 jobs in October -- bringing the year's total job losses to 1.2 million, CNNMoney reports. According to the Labor Department, the unemployment rate rose to 6.5 percent from 6.1 percent in September. It was the highest unemployment rate since March 1994. developing story
The unemployment rate keeps going up and according to this CNN report, it's the highest rate since 1994. I remember what it was like to lose my job. Shocking!
I worked for a Presbyterian Church as the Administrator of Christian Education. It was the perfect job for me. My faith is a big part of my life. Aside from the fact I'm Greek Orthodox, raised in the Orthodox doctrine, there really isn't that much that is different between the two branches and it wasn't that hard to be able to fit in with them. I just went to my own church for the Holy Days. I loved my job! I was there for two years. The job provided me with the part time income I needed and a lot of joy because I love kids and there is a preschool there. Twice a week, the youth pastor and I held chapel with the preschoolers. We sang and danced with the joy of praising the Lord. It was wonderful.
On my daughter's 20 birthday, I was supposed to have my employment review. I thought I was getting a raise. I ended up being told the job was being eliminated. I had to clean out my office and leave. I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to the kids or most of the people I loved.
It took a month to begin to get over it. For the first couple of weeks, I mostly cried. Yes, I know I was posting at the same time, but while the church was my job, PTSD has been my life for 26 years now. Doing this work is the reason my husband and I moved to Florida so that I could work part-time for a check and be able to do this the rest of the time. I was devastated. I worked hard for the church and was devoted to it.
I spent most of the time wondering what I had done wrong, blaming myself and worrying about what I was supposed to do for income. Working for a church, which is tax exempt, I was not allowed to collect unemployment. The church didn't pay into the system. That was in January and I am still officially unemployed as of today.
In March I became a Chaplain with the IFOC. That cost me some money and so has the traveling I've been doing with PTSD. While I am a Senior Chaplain, certified, insured and ordained, I couldn't find a job with the fire department as a Chaplain because they had a lot of budget cuts and layoffs as well. The VA won't hire me because I do not have a degree but probably know more about PTSD than most of the Chaplains they have. After all, 26 years experience plus living with it does tend to provide a higher degree of knowledge than just college. They would not even consider me, not even as a part time Chaplain.
I'm as they say, out of luck. I cannot give up the work I do, especially making the videos or going around talking to people, going for training and conferences, which all has me deeply involved on a daily basis. So what do I do? I pray and try to make it from one day to the next.
I am not counted as "unemployed" because I did not get a check. There are a lot of people just like me out there. Once you run out of benefits, or cannot get them in the first place, you drop off the count. As bad as the figures are on unemployment, they are really higher. I often wonder if the people who made a bundle off all of this ever let their conscience bother them? Do they know what they did to people who worked hard and did the right things but were not even considered when ax came down and jobs were cut? I know it bothered some people but too many just never really cared as long as it was not happening to them.
My brother got laid off a week before he passed away. He had a highly paid job in construction with a big, beautiful house and mortgage to pay. He had a massive heart attack less than a week after he lost his job.
There is a lot of suffering out there far beyond what the media reports on. It's almost as if the numbers they report about the unemployed never really make them think of the people who are the numbers, what stories they have and how much suffering they are going thru from financial stress to emotional stress. It would be great if they began to report on the people so that maybe, just maybe, some people in this country will understand people like and my brother didn't do anything wrong, did a good job, but ended up suffering all the same.
PS: If you know anyone in the Orlando area in need of Chaplain specializing in PTSD education, please let me know.
Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
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
Army to investigate 5 recruiter suicides from Houston battalion
Army to investigate 5 recruiter suicides
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Nov 7, 2008 6:31:42 EST
HOUSTON — The Army has appointed a brigadier general to investigate allegations of a cover-up among commanders of a recruiting battalion after a string of recruiter suicides, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said.
Five Army recruiters from the same Houston battalion have committed suicide since 2001, including two since August.
Cornyn, a member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services who won his second six-year term Tuesday, last month called for an independent investigation in a letter to Secretary of the Army Pete Geren.
Geren responded in a two-page letter dated Nov. 3, writing that he shared Cornyn’s concern about the suicides and reports of “undue command influence within the Houston Recruiting Battalion investigations.” He pledged to work with the senator’s staff to provide answers “after we review and assess these issues,” the Houston Chronicle reported Friday for its online edition.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_recruitersuicides_110708/
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Nov 7, 2008 6:31:42 EST
HOUSTON — The Army has appointed a brigadier general to investigate allegations of a cover-up among commanders of a recruiting battalion after a string of recruiter suicides, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said.
Five Army recruiters from the same Houston battalion have committed suicide since 2001, including two since August.
Cornyn, a member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services who won his second six-year term Tuesday, last month called for an independent investigation in a letter to Secretary of the Army Pete Geren.
Geren responded in a two-page letter dated Nov. 3, writing that he shared Cornyn’s concern about the suicides and reports of “undue command influence within the Houston Recruiting Battalion investigations.” He pledged to work with the senator’s staff to provide answers “after we review and assess these issues,” the Houston Chronicle reported Friday for its online edition.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_recruitersuicides_110708/
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Vets ask local medical services
Vets ask local medical services
Wayne Independent - Honesdale,PA,USA
By Peter Becker
Wayne Independent
Thu Nov 06, 2008
HONESDALE -
Representatives of area veteran organizations asked Wayne County Commissioners Thursday to support the idea of a veteran medical program in the local area.
Backed by several more veterans in their distinctive caps, James Bruck, newly elected commander of American Legion Post 254, Honesdale, and Michael J. O’Hara, commander, VFW Post 531, Honesdale, served as spokesmen. O’Hara explained the difficulty vets can face with the nearest Veteran’s Administration (VA) Hospital 50 miles away.
O’Hara stated that they don’t wish to compete with the VA Hospital in Wilkes-Barre, but if federal or state funds were available, Wayne Memorial Hospital could provide some of the services locally.
He cited news articles about the high suicide rate among vets and the need for addressing post traumatic stress disorder, which some combat veterans suffer for decades. More and more professionals are treating the disorder and the Pentagon is increasing funds to study the disorder.
‘Wayne Memorial Hospital is capable and willing to help the veterans,” said O’Hara, after he and other local veteran officials met with hospital administration recently. He said they were before the Commissioners today to lobby for a satellite treatment facility in Wayne County.
click link for more
Wayne Independent - Honesdale,PA,USA
By Peter Becker
Wayne Independent
Thu Nov 06, 2008
HONESDALE -
Representatives of area veteran organizations asked Wayne County Commissioners Thursday to support the idea of a veteran medical program in the local area.
Backed by several more veterans in their distinctive caps, James Bruck, newly elected commander of American Legion Post 254, Honesdale, and Michael J. O’Hara, commander, VFW Post 531, Honesdale, served as spokesmen. O’Hara explained the difficulty vets can face with the nearest Veteran’s Administration (VA) Hospital 50 miles away.
O’Hara stated that they don’t wish to compete with the VA Hospital in Wilkes-Barre, but if federal or state funds were available, Wayne Memorial Hospital could provide some of the services locally.
He cited news articles about the high suicide rate among vets and the need for addressing post traumatic stress disorder, which some combat veterans suffer for decades. More and more professionals are treating the disorder and the Pentagon is increasing funds to study the disorder.
‘Wayne Memorial Hospital is capable and willing to help the veterans,” said O’Hara, after he and other local veteran officials met with hospital administration recently. He said they were before the Commissioners today to lobby for a satellite treatment facility in Wayne County.
click link for more
UK takes a look at paramedics and PTSD
Now ambulance workers fall victim to battlefield stress
Independent - London,England,UK
Crippling condition remains taboo among paramedic colleagues
By Terri Judd
Friday, 7 November 2008
During a 20-year career in which he was among the first to reach casualties in the 1996 Manchester IRA bombings, paramedic Jon Bradshaw routinely walked into scenes most people could not comprehend.
When colleagues discovered he had developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), they left a letter pinned to the station noticeboard addressed to Jonathan Bradshaw, Chief Ambulance Skiver, c/o The Padded Cell, Rampton Secure Mental Institution (sic). Inside they had inscribed a series of jokes. One read simply "Sick!! RIP".
Although PTSD is now taken seriously by the armed forces, the crippling condition remains taboo among many sectors of the ambulance service, so much so that researchers at King's College London, are about to begin a new research project into the illness.
The Healthcare Commission's annual staff survey found that 34 per cent of ambulance workers had suffered work-related stress last year.
An assessment of Oxfordshire Ambulance Service staff in 1999 estimated that 20 per cent of workers were suffering from PTSD, with cot death rated as the most traumatic event they had to deal with.
With the introduction of stricter response times this year, more ambulance workers are being sent out alone and have less opportunity to talk through traumatic events with colleagues.
"People in this profession are resilient but nobody is totally immune and extreme stress can get to anybody," said Professor Anke Ehlers, the clinical psychologist leading the study into different predictive factors which might help identify and minimise PTSD among ambulance workers. New staff will be interviewed at intervals.
The long-term aim is to develop a prevention programme where paramedics will be taught how to recognise the symptoms as part of their standard training.
Mr Bradshaw, 39, said that suffering from stress carried a stigma: "There is a culture that if you say you have PTSD, depression or anxiety, they think you are nutty. I know of several people who are suffering but they are all being treated abysmally."
click link for more
Independent - London,England,UK
Crippling condition remains taboo among paramedic colleagues
By Terri Judd
Friday, 7 November 2008
During a 20-year career in which he was among the first to reach casualties in the 1996 Manchester IRA bombings, paramedic Jon Bradshaw routinely walked into scenes most people could not comprehend.
When colleagues discovered he had developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), they left a letter pinned to the station noticeboard addressed to Jonathan Bradshaw, Chief Ambulance Skiver, c/o The Padded Cell, Rampton Secure Mental Institution (sic). Inside they had inscribed a series of jokes. One read simply "Sick!! RIP".
Although PTSD is now taken seriously by the armed forces, the crippling condition remains taboo among many sectors of the ambulance service, so much so that researchers at King's College London, are about to begin a new research project into the illness.
The Healthcare Commission's annual staff survey found that 34 per cent of ambulance workers had suffered work-related stress last year.
An assessment of Oxfordshire Ambulance Service staff in 1999 estimated that 20 per cent of workers were suffering from PTSD, with cot death rated as the most traumatic event they had to deal with.
With the introduction of stricter response times this year, more ambulance workers are being sent out alone and have less opportunity to talk through traumatic events with colleagues.
"People in this profession are resilient but nobody is totally immune and extreme stress can get to anybody," said Professor Anke Ehlers, the clinical psychologist leading the study into different predictive factors which might help identify and minimise PTSD among ambulance workers. New staff will be interviewed at intervals.
The long-term aim is to develop a prevention programme where paramedics will be taught how to recognise the symptoms as part of their standard training.
Mr Bradshaw, 39, said that suffering from stress carried a stigma: "There is a culture that if you say you have PTSD, depression or anxiety, they think you are nutty. I know of several people who are suffering but they are all being treated abysmally."
click link for more
Austin TX rookie police officer called hero after shootout
Austin police close 7 campuses, kill man armed with AK-47
By JANET ELLIOTT Austin Bureau
Nov. 6, 2008, 5:22PM
AUSTIN — A man armed with an assault rifle and wearing body armor was shot and killed by a rookie police officer in an early-morning shootout on this city's east side.
The shooting came after an attack that left two other men wounded and spurred Austin school district officials to call off classes at seven campuses in that area for the day.
Police Chief Art Acevedo praised the young officer as a hero. The dead suspect is believed to have been involved in the earlier shooting that left two people wounded at a nearby residence.
The fatal shooting occurred after a chase in which a pickup truck that was seen leaving the residence crashed into a closed hamburger stand while fleeing police.
Five men ran away from the truck, one of them firing an AK-47 at police, Acevedo said.
go here for more
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6098264.html
By JANET ELLIOTT Austin Bureau
Nov. 6, 2008, 5:22PM
AUSTIN — A man armed with an assault rifle and wearing body armor was shot and killed by a rookie police officer in an early-morning shootout on this city's east side.
The shooting came after an attack that left two other men wounded and spurred Austin school district officials to call off classes at seven campuses in that area for the day.
Police Chief Art Acevedo praised the young officer as a hero. The dead suspect is believed to have been involved in the earlier shooting that left two people wounded at a nearby residence.
The fatal shooting occurred after a chase in which a pickup truck that was seen leaving the residence crashed into a closed hamburger stand while fleeing police.
Five men ran away from the truck, one of them firing an AK-47 at police, Acevedo said.
go here for more
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6098264.html
Barack Obama makes inroads with religious voters
64,519,950 people paid attention. While most love Obama and were happy to vote for him, some voted because they were terrified of McCain as President to be followed up by Sarah Palin, who didn't know what countries are part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (hint, there are only three in North America and we're one of them) or that Africa was a continent and not a nation among a lot of other things. The question is; How could 56,785,572 people be so stupid? That's how many votes McCain received and to think we owe most of those votes to the fine people over at FOX and the McCain campaign supporters lying online.
Well here goes yet another rumor some never got the message of. Obama is a Christian. They will just have to deal with it.
The we have this "hockey mom" trying to be one of the regular people pulling stunts that caused McCain's staff to say she was out of control, adding in that she wanted to give a
concession speech along with McCain until his staffer stopped her. Read the rest of this here. All in all the Good Lord found some mercy on this nation and opened up the eyes of most of us that McCain/Palin were not telling the truth and were not putting the country first. If they had, McCain would have never picked Palin and would have never sold out his principles to make the speeches and commercials he did.
Ticker: McCain sources gripe about Palin
Well here goes yet another rumor some never got the message of. Obama is a Christian. They will just have to deal with it.
Barack Obama makes inroads with religious voters
Democrat does better with Catholics and white evangelicals than John Kerry in 2004
By Margaret Ramirez and Manya A. Brachear Tribune reporters
November 6, 2008
With his Christian faith playing a key part in his personal life and campaign, President-elect Barack Obama emerged victorious by winning the Catholic vote and making slight gains among white evangelicals.
Early exit polls found that Obama took 54 percent of the Catholic vote, while Republican John McCain captured 45 percent. That outcome was a reversal from the 2004 election, when George W. Bush won the Catholic vote with 52 percent compared to John Kerry's 46 percent.
Obama's win among Catholics came despite an aggressive push by some of the nation's bishops to encourage the faithful to make abortion their main issue. The abortion debate intensified when Catholic legal scholars Douglas Kmiec and Nicholas Cafardi announced their support of Obama, who supports keeping abortion legal, and urged Catholics to consider the full agenda of Catholic social teaching.
go here for more
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-religion-vote-06-nov06,0,2817080.story
The we have this "hockey mom" trying to be one of the regular people pulling stunts that caused McCain's staff to say she was out of control, adding in that she wanted to give a
concession speech along with McCain until his staffer stopped her. Read the rest of this here. All in all the Good Lord found some mercy on this nation and opened up the eyes of most of us that McCain/Palin were not telling the truth and were not putting the country first. If they had, McCain would have never picked Palin and would have never sold out his principles to make the speeches and commercials he did.
Ticker: McCain sources gripe about Palin
"Chicago is on top of the world"
Chicago is on top of the world
Nov 06, 2008
City walks on air after historic win
Feeling pride and seeing opportunity
By Bob Secter and Rick Pearson | Tribune reporters
November 6, 2008
The city walks on air after President-elect Barack Obama's historic win, feeling pride and seeing opportunity as officials consider what Obama's presidency may mean to Chicago now and for years to come.
We split the atom, invented the skyscraper, reversed a river, linked a sprawling continent by rail and air, butchered the world's hogs, rose from the ashes of a historic blaze, rigged a World Series, raised graft to an art form and all but trademarked the political machine.
Yet Chicago, a city defined by superlatives and cunning, had never in its 175 years produced the ultimate American leader. Until now.
Wednesday was nothing short of a "pinch-me" moment in Barack Obama's adoptive hometown, the weather remarkably warm for November and the civic mood even warmer.
"Chicago is alive and refreshed," Charlie Hill, 34, said as he strolled through Grant Park, the site of Obama's victory rally just hours before. "I feel [his] presence in the city. Chicago is a winner as well."
click link for more
Nov 06, 2008
City walks on air after historic win
Feeling pride and seeing opportunity
By Bob Secter and Rick Pearson | Tribune reporters
November 6, 2008
The city walks on air after President-elect Barack Obama's historic win, feeling pride and seeing opportunity as officials consider what Obama's presidency may mean to Chicago now and for years to come.
Paid for by Mayor Richard Daley's campaign committee, new banners hang outside City Hall on Wednesday. (Jose M. Osorio/Tribune / November 5, 2008)
We split the atom, invented the skyscraper, reversed a river, linked a sprawling continent by rail and air, butchered the world's hogs, rose from the ashes of a historic blaze, rigged a World Series, raised graft to an art form and all but trademarked the political machine.
Yet Chicago, a city defined by superlatives and cunning, had never in its 175 years produced the ultimate American leader. Until now.
Wednesday was nothing short of a "pinch-me" moment in Barack Obama's adoptive hometown, the weather remarkably warm for November and the civic mood even warmer.
"Chicago is alive and refreshed," Charlie Hill, 34, said as he strolled through Grant Park, the site of Obama's victory rally just hours before. "I feel [his] presence in the city. Chicago is a winner as well."
click link for more
Chicago:Five firefighters, woman and child hurt in crash
Five firefighters, woman and child hurt in crash
November 6, 2008 at 5:01 PM
Five firefighters, a woman and a young girl were injured today on the Near North Side when a car and a fire truck collided at the intersection of Division and Wells Streets and the fire truck caught fire, fire officials said.
Two firefighters and the woman were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the child was taken to Children's Memorial Hospital, and the other three firefighters were taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, fire officials said.
The injured were in serious to critical condition but none of the injuries was life-threatening, fire officials said.
The fire truck was traveling east on Division Street responding to a call with its lights flashing when it collided with a tan Toyota Corolla traveling south on Wells Street at about 3:10 p.m., said Eve Rodriquez, a Fire Department spokeswoman. The injured woman and child were in the Corolla.
click post title for more
November 6, 2008 at 5:01 PM
Five firefighters, a woman and a young girl were injured today on the Near North Side when a car and a fire truck collided at the intersection of Division and Wells Streets and the fire truck caught fire, fire officials said.
Two firefighters and the woman were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the child was taken to Children's Memorial Hospital, and the other three firefighters were taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, fire officials said.
The injured were in serious to critical condition but none of the injuries was life-threatening, fire officials said.
The fire truck was traveling east on Division Street responding to a call with its lights flashing when it collided with a tan Toyota Corolla traveling south on Wells Street at about 3:10 p.m., said Eve Rodriquez, a Fire Department spokeswoman. The injured woman and child were in the Corolla.
click post title for more
Feds pay suicidal Air Force vet’s family
Feds pay suicidal Air Force vet’s family
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Nov 6, 2008 16:14:02 EST
HONOLULU — The federal government has paid $800,000 to the family of a suicidal Air Force veteran who jumped to his death from Tripler Army Medical Center after his pleas to be admitted went unheeded.
Robert Roth died in January 2007 after he jumped from a 10th-floor balcony at Tripler. Roth suffered from a bipolar mood disorder and had a long history of depression.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_suicidepayment_110608/
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Nov 6, 2008 16:14:02 EST
HONOLULU — The federal government has paid $800,000 to the family of a suicidal Air Force veteran who jumped to his death from Tripler Army Medical Center after his pleas to be admitted went unheeded.
Robert Roth died in January 2007 after he jumped from a 10th-floor balcony at Tripler. Roth suffered from a bipolar mood disorder and had a long history of depression.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/ap_suicidepayment_110608/
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