Veterans and Shelter Animals Meet With Pets2Vets

By LINDA LOMBARDI For The Associated Press
WASHINGTON December 21, 2009 (AP)

Dave Sharpe was troubled by thoughts he couldn’t share after he returned from serving in Iraq. “I found myself waking up in the middle of the night, punching holes in walls, kicking and beating the refrigerator door,” he said.  Then one day, the former Air Force senior airman went with a friend to a local pit bull rescue and took home a puppy, Cheyenne. Next time he found himself kicking something, “I saw this puppy, cocking her head, looking up at me, like, what are you doing?”  Finally, Sharpe had someone he could open up to. “I froze, I put down my drink, I picked her up and laid with her in my bed,” he said. “I cried and I told her the whole story. I didn’t feel judged.”  The experience inspired Sharpe, of Arlington, Va., to start Pets2Vets, a group that pairs veterans with homeless pets by arranging adoptions of shelter animals. It has made two or three matches a week since its start in October. One of the goals of Pets2Vets is to raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder. Sharpe says that while a few groups provide veterans with service dogs, many PTSD and traumatic brain injury patients don’t qualify for these programs. Even when they do, because of the stigma still attached to psychological problems, they may hesitate to apply.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=9392828

http://www.pets2vets.org/

Veterans turning to poetry to heal their war wounds

By David Allen, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, December 21, 2009

When Army Spc. Matt Ping returned to the States after 16 months isolated in the mountains of northeast Afghanistan, he felt cut off from his new surroundings.  And the nightmares scared him.  “I was having these intense bad dreams at night, mixing my childhood memories with Afghanistan — like machine-gun towers set upon the roof on my grandmother’s house,” he said.  But he was reluctant to seek traditional therapy from a Department of Veterans Affairs facility.  “It’s all prescription-based — Ambien and Zoloft solve everything,” he said. “I didn’t want that.”  Instead, he turned to poetry to help him deal with the haunting memories.  Roseanne Singer, a “poetry as therapy” writer at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., said the written word is an important tool in treating combat veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. The therapy gets physically and mentally wounded servicemembers at Walter Reed to express themselves and deal with their feelings through writing.  Singer offers free poetry workshops at the hospital’s Mologne House, a halfway house between acute care and going home.  Singer is part of a broader group of writers and artists who work with active-duty servicemembers and discharged military veterans.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66798

DoD and VA Discuss Environmental Exposure Challenges

Wednesday, December 23, 2009
By Peter Graves | FHP&R Strategic Communications

On Nov. 13, an assembly of some of the top physicians, epidemiologists, and researchers from across the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and even the United Kingdom Ministry of Defense gathered in a day long workshop to discuss the challenges of environmental exposures within the Iraqi and Afghan theaters of operation, and what was being done to address them.  The workshop was sponsored and led by the DoD-VA Deployment Health Working Group, a chartered interagency committee charged with fostering enhanced cooperation regarding the health of service members, both active and separated. This workshop was organized because many veterans have returned from duty stations in the Middle East complaining of possible health effects associated with exposure to chemicals, particulate matter, smoke, and dust. The overall purpose of the workshop was to improve communication and cooperation among DoD and VA scientists, who are responsible for health studies and other responses to environmental exposures in theater.  Although working-group members and a number of guest scientists reflected on a wide variety of exposures within Iraq, Afghanistan, and across the globe, the discussion was focused primarily on three high-profile cases within the Iraqi theater of operations. These are the 2003 exposures to sodium dichromate at the Qarmat Ali Water Treatment Plant; the 2003 Mishraq State sulfur fires; and exposures to smoke from the burn pit at Joint Base Balad. For each of these three exposure incidents, presentations were provided on the environmental investigation and on the completed and ongoing medical surveillance studies.  Participant presentations were geared towards explaining exposure situations as they are currently understood, and educating the group on various interagency resources and databases which can be utilized for additional health studies to determine the potential for long-term health effects.

http://www.health.mil/Press/Release.aspx?ID=1083

Congress raps DOD-VA health integration failures

By Peter Buxbaum
Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Congressional lawmakers have slammed the sluggish progress of those charged with making the electronic health records of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs interoperable.  The criticism came in a report accompanying the Defense appropriations bill signed by President Obama on Monday. Both departments “have common functions that should result in the development of common technology solutions and architecture,” the report said.  “Unfortunately, it appears that both departments are not sufficiently coordinating their efforts.”  The report identified lab work, pharmacy orders, digital radiology transmittal, third-party collections, and patient appointment scheduling as areas which should involve joint business processes.  The lawmakers recognized that both departments “are continuing to work on interoperability between their current systems and improving the transmittal of medical records from one system to another. However, there is significant concern that the necessary efforts being made to jointly develop the required future systems are inadequate.”  In November 2008, DoD and VA announced they would be migrating their electronic health systems to a common service-oriented architecture in order to enhance the interoperability of their outpatient clinical data and to develop joint capabilities.

http://govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=72793

Students produce documentary about veterans

By Richard Macris
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Updated: Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The “War At Home” is the sequel to the documentary “The Vermont Fallen.” It started when a large group of student veterans returned from Iraq and Afghanistan and wanted to help fellow students by telling about their experiences, according to Prof. William Estill of the communications department.  “At the time, Norwich student veterans were returning to school in larger numbers than ever before,” said Estill. “Many readjustment issues affect many aspects of their lives.”  Students, thanks to their experience in “Vermont Fallen,” approached this documentary differently.  “Second semester we just finished editing the ‘Vermont Fallen’ and we were looking to start a new project along the lines of ‘Vermont Fallen’ but a little bit of a different story,” said Jordan Lewis, 21, a junior communications major from Covington, La.  Students and Estill ask veterans questions about their experiences overseas and back home.  “It’s basically a discussion that when it goes well is a subject’s conversations with themselves,” said Estill. “They want to really help our students get into the right mind set for deployment.”  “War at Home” is made so veterans will open up to each other more.  “I think it will help veterans open up and talk to each other more. I feel like it’s going to help them by watching it,” said Suzzanne Whitaker, a 20-year-old sophomore from Chelmsford, Mass. “It will help them realize that people have the same problems that they do.”  Veterans are interviewed for two to four hours. Interviews can start out a little rocky, but trust is built throughout the interview.  Veterans find out about the documentary through word of mouth from other veterans. All the veterans know that “we are going to be fair” and they can only share what they want to share, according to Estill.

http://www.norwichguidon.com/campus-news/students-produce-documentary-about-veterans-1.858438

The Battle Inside

Justin Savage | December 14, 2009

Every day in the news we are bombarded with stories and pictures of operations that continue in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Yet despite the heavy media coverage of our troops in combat, a large piece of the picture is often overlooked.  Who’s watching after troops return, once we’re home, while we’re struggling or focused on trying to take the next natural steps in our lives? As it turns out, the battle isn’t over when we leave the battlefield. Many Veterans and active duty troops alike, struggle with the return to civilian life.  While problems can be mild and manageable–nothing more than a little difficulty getting back into the swing of things–in many cases they can be debilitating. Recent studies show that over a third of Veterans are diagnosed with a combat stress-related behavioral health issue like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or major depression. Of those diagnosed, nearly half won’t seek any help – and half of those that do seek help don’t receive adequate care. The consequences of untreated behavioral health problems like PTSD can be grave. Compared to civilians, veterans living with PTSD are two times more likely to divorce, three times more likely to be unemployed and four times more likely to commit suicide.  Deployment-related mental health issues are challenging to address from a warrior’s perspective and from the standpoint of those currently trying to solve this problem. Stigma is always a concern, and common symptoms like avoidance can keep returning troops from asking for help, or in some cases even leaving the house.  Among those who are able to overcome the initial hurdles to seeking care, many are ultimately thwarted by logistical concerns like long drives to the nearest Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital or justifying time away from job and family commitments.  And for those who can make it to a VA Hospital, they are often met with waiting rooms or waiting lists, keeping some months away from an appointment to see a mental health professional.  Veterans and the current system need new tools to meet the mental health epidemic among our troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://www.vetsprevail.com/
http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,207493,00.html

Letter for Korean War Veterans

Week of December 21, 2009

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak will send a letter of appreciation to 100,000 foreign Korea War veterans next year on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. Lee’s letter will be sent to Korean War veterans’ associations of the 21 participating nations. The government is also preparing to hold war anniversary events in 20 nations.

http://www.military.com/military-report/letter-for-korean-war-veterans?ESRC=miltrep.nl
http://www.koreanwarcenter.org/index.php
http://www.rt66.com/~korteng/SmallArms/
http://eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Digital_Documents/korea/koreawar.html

COMMITTEE UNANIMOUSLY APPROVES NOMINEE TO LEAD VA HEALTH CARE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs unanimously approved the nomination of Dr. Robert A. Petzel to be Under Secretary for Health of the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Committee Chairman Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii) issued the following statement after the vote:

“Dr. Petzel has won the confidence of the Committee, and stands ready to provide new leadership for the nation’s largest health care system.  I urge the Senate to confirm Dr. Petzel before we adjourn this month.”

Last week, Akaka chaired a hearing to review Dr. Petzel’s nomination.  Dr. Petzel is currently VA’s Acting Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Health, and has served as a VA Network Director and as a Chief of Staff of a VA Medical Center.  As Under Secretary for Health, Dr. Petzel would lead a growing health care system with hundreds of points of care, millions of patients, and VA’s mental health care, medical education, research and rehabilitative operations.  The nomination now moves to the Senate floor for a final confirmation vote.

-END-

December 16, 2009

http://veterans.senate.gov/press-releases.cfm?action=release.display&release_id=710c4b77-57c6-4275-bd6d-b572179a700a