Among Vietnam vets with post-traumatic stress disorder who sought mental health care, less than a third went to the VA. Sixty-eight percent of those veterans got care elsewhere.
Conference at Fort Monroe touts medical resources for vets
By Kate Wiltrout
The Virginian-Pilot
© March 27, 2008
FORT MONROE
It took one sobering statistic to bring together 200 social service workers at a regional conference Wednesday.
Thirty-seven percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have sought medical care from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
So, where are the other 63 percent?
This is the question Harold Kudler, a physician and VA mental health services manager, asked the group at the Virginia is for Heroes regional conference.
Almost 800,000 veterans of tours in Iraq and Afghanistan are eligible for services through the VA, he said, and more than 40 percent of those who actually use those services – 120,949 – have reported possible mental health problems.
Kudler warned this “silent majority” of recent combat veterans may turn to other sources for help – churches, family doctors, community service boards – that need to be prepared to assist them.
This reality is what brought together local and state mental health providers, pastoral counselors and educators.
The VA is the federal agency dedicated to serving veterans, and it provides health care to 5.5 million vets – about one in five who are eligible. But the government already knows that young combat veterans might be suffering in silence, or self-medicating with alcohol and drugs. They might show up in jail or at a homeless shelter. Or their children might start getting into trouble at school.
“There should be no wrong door to which Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans or their families can come for help,” Kudler said .
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http://hamptonroads.com/2008/03/conference-fort-monroe-touts-medical-resources-vets
There have been hundreds of reports on PTSD each and every month. I've read most of them. Within them I find glimmers of hope the government is finally getting it, people are moving past the stigma of it and the military brass is finally addressing it. Yet all these glimmers fade when I get emails or talk to veterans who have fallen through into the valley of despair.
Two nights ago, it was two phone calls from people about someone they love with PTSD. It was not a matter of them not wanting care, but a matter of them not being taken care of. Both are Vietnam Veterans. One other Vietnam veteran I've been helping has no place to go, very little income, unable to work because of PTSD and his claim has been tied up, so he is also getting very little psychiatric help. He is getting no human help from his community.
Reading an article like this makes me want to scream about the fact we, in polite society, are doing so little.
In these years, I've talked to members of the clergy and watch their eyes glaze over when trying to get them to understand their duty is to these veterans as members of the human race. They cannot understand the toll on the veteran, their family or the far reaching affects on the community in general. They simply don't want to take the time to understand.
Last year I presented the documentary When I Came Home at the church I worked for. The turnout was embarrassing. I had invited a past National Commander of the DAV and a representative of Orange County Veterans Services to attend to answer questions I would not be able to answer. Very few members of the church attended. The Pastors did not and most of the elders did not, yet when there was a different kind of function during the week, it drew large groups of people. People couldn't be bothered to attend even though the event was free and lunch was provided. Pretty sickening when you get right down to it.
It isn't that no one cares. I also met with a group of Chaplains training at a local hospital. They asked me to speak to them because they wanted to know more about PTSD so that they could pastor to the patients with better understanding. These Chaplains were committed to addressing the needs of everyone. They wanted to know the causes and the signs to watch for, not just for veterans but for the community fully understanding that PTSD comes from all kinds of trauma.
Kudler warned this “silent majority” of recent combat veterans may turn to other sources for help – churches, family doctors, community service boards – that need to be prepared to assist them.
This is the same thing I've been trying to get through to people for years. With the VA overwhelmed with the demand for services as it is, they are not able to meet that demand. It will take years for the additional funding Congress finally allocated to increase the resources needed for long term care, but they have operated as if they have time to waste instead of taking care of the veterans today. There has to be room for the veterans in our own communities. There will not be unless we make room for them in our hearts.
We can point fingers all we want and say it's the Republican leaderships fault nothing was done to address this years ago, but we have a history of not providing for the veterans we send into combat. We didn't take care of Vietnam veterans even though we saw the need and now we are compounding this atrocity by pushing them aside to make room for the newest generation of combat veterans. The VA says there just isn't enough room for all of them to be taken care of.
Until there is, and we have to make sure the VA and the Congress move the damn mountains out of the way, we need to make sure the local clergy, service organizations founded to "take care of veterans" are all up to speed on the wounds they bring home. We cannot simply say that we have parades and build monuments for them while we do not do all humanly possible to actually take care of them. This isn't just the government's job to do. This is a job we all need to do.
I've been screaming about the fact so many can turn out for protests against the occupation of Iraq and in support of the occupation, but we cannot turn out in the thousands to address the fact that we are losing 120 veterans every week due to suicide, families are falling apart and wounded warriors are ending up homeless.
I am begging you again to call your pastor, minister, priest, rabbi or whatever to make sure they get involved and do something about addressing this. Time is being wasted while they want to only serve at the pulpit. Their duty is to humanity and they fail to acknowledge this. They speak of how the Holy people of God did this and that, tell you that you need to do the same but they are not.
While Chaplains are out in the communities to reach out to all of "God's children" there are not enough to go around. This demands the actions of everyone to really make a difference for the veterans today!
Chaplain 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
