Jail struggles with mentally ill inmates
Posted: Friday, April 19, 2013
By MARIKA LEE
Logan Daily News Reporter
NELSONVILLE — On Sept. 24, 2012, Cole Miller went to two local mental health hospitals seeking treatment for what his mother thought to be Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Both hospitals turned down the Iraq War veteran and Gallipolis resident. The hospitals said he did not pose a substantial risk of physical harm to himself or others, which is the legal requirement for civil commitment, according to Ohio law.
Grace Judy, Miller’s mother, said her son then went home and overdosed on prescription medication and police were called to his home on McCormick Road.
Judy said her son, 29, then fired random shots into the dark and hit Gallipolis Police Department Patrolman Jamie Bartels in the arm.
“[Miller] has had a lot of problems with his PTSD,” Judy said.
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Saturday, April 20, 2013
War veteran doctor experience vital
War veteran doctor experience vitalBy GRETYL MACALASTER
Union Leader Correspondent
April 19. 2013
Dr. Fred Brennan with Seacoast Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Somersworth and head team doctor for the University of New Hampshire hugs his daughter, Alyssa, 18, after two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, where Brennan was serving as a volunteer in medical tent B, two blocks from the finish line. (COURTESY)SOMERSWORTH - As a member of the New Hampshire Air National Guard, and a veteran of foreign wars, Dr. Fred Brennan knew there was always a chance he would again be exposed to casualties. But he never expected to see them on the streets of Boston.
Brennan, a doctor with Seacoast Orthopedics and Sports Medicine and the team doctor for the University of New Hampshire athletic program, was helping to lead the medical team in tent B at the Boston Marathon on Monday, just two short blocks from the finish line.
About 200 doctors, nurses, athletic trainers, sports medicine practitioners and other medical staff were treating a nearly full tent of runners with blisters, cramps, and some hypothermia due to the day's cold temperatures when the first bomb went off.
Brennan immediately recognized the sound of an improvised explosive device, and when he heard the second blast, he knew it was no accident. He told his team to get ready.
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VA Offers Provisional Compensation for Claims
VA Offers Provisional Compensation for Claims
Apr 19, 2013
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced a plan Friday to tackle its disability claims backlog by awarding provisional compensation to tens of thousands of veterans whose claims have languished in the VA's system.
"This is an important initiative because it will accelerate delivery of compensation benefits to those eligible veterans who have waited the longest, some over two years," VA Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey told reporters Friday morning. "Veterans whose claims are granted will begin receiving compensation immediately after a provisional rating decision."
All claims older than one year should be resolved in about six months, she said.
In the meantime, she said, the new focus on these older claims will mean the average number of days it takes to complete one – now 286 days – will go up. But as more of the older, paper-based claims are resolved, and more come in electronically, the average will shrink significantly, she said.
"It [the average] will spike, and then it will start coming down," Hickey said.
The new program does not change the claims status of select groups of veterans, such as former prisoners of war, Medal of Honor recipients, the homeless and terminally ill. These veterans will continue to have expedited claims processing, Hickey said.
The VA's claims backlog has been estimated to be as high as 600,000, with some dating back more than two years.
Depending on where a veteran lives in the country, he or she can expect to wait more than 600 days to have a claim acted on.
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Apr 19, 2013
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced a plan Friday to tackle its disability claims backlog by awarding provisional compensation to tens of thousands of veterans whose claims have languished in the VA's system.
"This is an important initiative because it will accelerate delivery of compensation benefits to those eligible veterans who have waited the longest, some over two years," VA Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey told reporters Friday morning. "Veterans whose claims are granted will begin receiving compensation immediately after a provisional rating decision."
All claims older than one year should be resolved in about six months, she said.
In the meantime, she said, the new focus on these older claims will mean the average number of days it takes to complete one – now 286 days – will go up. But as more of the older, paper-based claims are resolved, and more come in electronically, the average will shrink significantly, she said.
"It [the average] will spike, and then it will start coming down," Hickey said.
The new program does not change the claims status of select groups of veterans, such as former prisoners of war, Medal of Honor recipients, the homeless and terminally ill. These veterans will continue to have expedited claims processing, Hickey said.
The VA's claims backlog has been estimated to be as high as 600,000, with some dating back more than two years.
Depending on where a veteran lives in the country, he or she can expect to wait more than 600 days to have a claim acted on.
read more here
THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR on Kindle
THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR is available on Kindle, finally!
April 18, 2013 Military and veteran suicides are higher even though billions are spent every year trying to prevent them. After years of research most can be connected to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
PTSD has been researched for 40 years yet most of what was known has been forgotten. Families are left blaming themselves for what they were never told.
Reporters have failed to research. Congress failed at holding people accountable. The military failed at giving them the help they need. We failed to pay attention.
There are several things to think about right now. The first one is the bombings in Boston have set off mild PTSD into full-blown. Most of the OEF and OIF veterans were not prepared for what a secondary stressor could do to them.
Second Marathon bombing suspect captured yesterday was not the end of the story for them. Brigham and Women's Hospital is where the bomber has been taken after being wounded. So were many of his victims.
War medicine now is helping Boston bomb victims
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
By:Associated Press
The bombs that made Boston look like a combat zone have also brought battlefield medicine to their civilian victims. A decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has sharpened skills and scalpels, leading to dramatic advances that are now being used to treat the 13 amputees and nearly a dozen other patients still fighting to keep damaged limbs.
"The only field or occupation that benefits from war is medicine," said Dr. David Cifu, rehabilitation medicine chief at the Veterans Health Administration.
Nearly 2,000 American troops have lost a leg, arm, foot or hand in Iraq or Afghanistan, and their sacrifices have led to advances in the immediate and long-term care of survivors, as well in the quality of prosthetics that are now so good that surgeons often chose them over trying to save a badly mangled leg.
Tourniquets, shunned during the Vietnam War, made a comeback in Iraq as medical personnel learned to use them properly and studies proved that they saved lives. In Boston, as on the battlefield, they did just that by preventing people from bleeding to death.
Military doctors learned and passed on to their civilian counterparts a surgical strategy of a minimal initial operation to stabilize the patient, followed by more definitive ones days later, an approach that experience showed offered the best chance to preserve tissue from large and complex leg wounds.
Many of the National Guardsmen were there helping the wounded and had also seen what happened in Iraq as well as Afghanistan. Many of the police officers and firefighters along with emergency responders also knew the horrific wounds of war. The last thing they thought was that it could happen in their hometown.
After the massacre at Fort Hood was something the soldiers did not expect to happen in their "hometown" where they lived with their families, went shopping and to school.
It happened after September 11th 2001 when people decided to kill as many as possible. The veterans didn't expect it to happen here.
As bad as it is that none of them were prepared for the secondary stressor of the bombings in Boston, we should have learned by what happened before, but we didn't.
We should have learned what happens to veterans when they came home from Vietnam because after all, they are the ones that pushed for research and treatment. They are the reason we have psychologist, mental health professionals and crisis intervention responders.
We should have learned what happens to them after battlefield technology saved the lives of the wounded citizens we take care of in hospitals around the world, but we didn't.
If you want to know why we didn't learn from the past, it is in THE WARRIOR SAW, SUICIDES AFTER WAR. It isn't just about who took their own lives but about why. It isn't just heartbreaking stories from families, but stories from newspapers around the country that tell what else was going on so you will be just as infuriated as I am.
It is also about what we can do for them right now. If we don't, we will lose more.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion Killed 13, Injured 200
Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion Killed 13, Injured 200
ABC News
By COLLEEN CURRY
April 19, 2013
At least 13 people, including firefighters and emergency medical workers, were killed and about 200 more injured in the massive explosion and fire at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, according to officials.
The number of deaths and injuries could still grow as search and recovery efforts continue at the site of the plant, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
The explosion rocked the rural Texas town Wednesday night, flattening buildings for blocks around the fertilizer plant. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.
Of the individuals confirmed dead, five were volunteer firefighters, four were emergency medical technicians, and four were civilians, according to the mayor of West, Tommy Musko.
Crews have searched the plant, a nearby nursing home, and a nearby apartment building that were all severely damaged. All 144 people inside the nursing home made it out alive, according to mayor.
read more here
ABC News
By COLLEEN CURRY
April 19, 2013
At least 13 people, including firefighters and emergency medical workers, were killed and about 200 more injured in the massive explosion and fire at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, according to officials.
The number of deaths and injuries could still grow as search and recovery efforts continue at the site of the plant, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
The explosion rocked the rural Texas town Wednesday night, flattening buildings for blocks around the fertilizer plant. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.
Of the individuals confirmed dead, five were volunteer firefighters, four were emergency medical technicians, and four were civilians, according to the mayor of West, Tommy Musko.
Crews have searched the plant, a nearby nursing home, and a nearby apartment building that were all severely damaged. All 144 people inside the nursing home made it out alive, according to mayor.
read more here
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