Help available for soldiers, veterans, families
posted by Kate Santich on December, 17 2009 6:55 PM
Seminole Behavioral Healthcare is offering free mental-health and substance-abuse counseling to military personnel and their families who work or reside in Seminole County and have been impacted by deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq.
The nonprofit organization recently received a grant of nearly $50,000 to provide the services, which will cover individual, couple and family therapy; drug and alcohol abuse; post-traumatic stress disorder and counseling for children of military personnel. Also, in January, the agency will launch a support group for family members of deployed or deploying soldiers.
The number of sessions covered will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
“We see a great need for it,” says Jim Berko, president and CEO of Seminole Behavioral Healthcare. “We became aware of the issues when people who had been in Afghanistan started returning to our area. … There is a lot of post-traumatic stress.”
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Help available for soldiers, veterans, families
Friday, December 18, 2009
By all accounts he was a good soldier, then committed suicide
Families are franticly searching for ways to help but find little hope as they watch someone they love get to the point they can find no hope things will get better tomorrow. How can they? When the men and women serving in the military come back home, families go from euphoria when they believe all is well now they're home to believing they have just entered into hell with a stranger causing all kinds of problems in the house and they have no clue how to cope or what to do to help. As a matter of fact, too many families don't understand they need help in the first place. They end up blaming the veteran simply because they don't know what they are dealing with.
Their lives fall apart and the veteran, well, he or she is left to hang onto whatever hope they can that tomorrow will bring a better day, some miracle will arrive in time to save them, or, the day they will "get over it" finally arrive. It won't come unless they get help to heal. The other problem is, too often either help does not come because the family does not know where to find it or no matter what they do, they cannot get the help that is supposed to be there waiting.
More often than not even when the veterans do receive help, it is in the form of pills and not therapy. So we here the military and the VA get it, came up with suicide prevention programs along with a list of "new programs" that will take care of the problem, but as evidence has shown, their programs have not worked enough to stop the rate of suicides and attempted suicides from rising. Too often an official will say that "we're saving lives" and then we believe they finally got it only to find out months later, what they've done has left a gaping wound left over few are able to recover from.
Pvt. Greg Tilton ran out of reasons to stay alive and we have ourselves to blame for this. Not his family and not Tilton himself, but the rest of us because they never received what they needed to recover from what was asked of him. When we talk about casualties as a price of war, Tilton and his family should also be found among them, but they won't be.
Their lives fall apart and the veteran, well, he or she is left to hang onto whatever hope they can that tomorrow will bring a better day, some miracle will arrive in time to save them, or, the day they will "get over it" finally arrive. It won't come unless they get help to heal. The other problem is, too often either help does not come because the family does not know where to find it or no matter what they do, they cannot get the help that is supposed to be there waiting.
More often than not even when the veterans do receive help, it is in the form of pills and not therapy. So we here the military and the VA get it, came up with suicide prevention programs along with a list of "new programs" that will take care of the problem, but as evidence has shown, their programs have not worked enough to stop the rate of suicides and attempted suicides from rising. Too often an official will say that "we're saving lives" and then we believe they finally got it only to find out months later, what they've done has left a gaping wound left over few are able to recover from.
Pvt. Greg Tilton ran out of reasons to stay alive and we have ourselves to blame for this. Not his family and not Tilton himself, but the rest of us because they never received what they needed to recover from what was asked of him. When we talk about casualties as a price of war, Tilton and his family should also be found among them, but they won't be.
Family Seeks Answers From Army After Son Commits Suicide
Thursday, December 17, 2009 5:43 PM
WORTHINGTON, Ohio — After losing their son to suicide, one family was urging the U.S. military and other families to take action before more lives are lost, 10TV's Cara Connelly reported.
On the day before Thanksgiving, Army Private Greg Tilton, a Worthington native, shot and killed himself in his apartment near Fort Riley, Kan.
Tilton, 20, had recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.
"By all accounts he was a good soldier - he was an excellent soldier," Tilton's father Tim Tilton said.
The family has a box full of medals to prove it.
Tilton's father said his son was a sensitive young man, who told his parents he shot and killed an 11-year-old suicide bomber while on duty in Iraq.
Tim Tilton said that violence took a tool on his son and his mental health.
"There is a huge disconnect; he had a counseling session in Iraq but when he returned, up until the day he died, he never had another one," Tim Tilton said.
Tilton's wife Molly was calling 911 for help after she said he began having a flashback to Iraq, but authorities did not arrive in time.
"We don't need any more of our soldiers doing what my son did. He was in such a dark place and not in his right mind when this happened," Tim Tilton said.
Suicides among members of the military are expected to set a record this year, Connelly reported.
The Army said one in five soldiers returns home from war suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The Tilton's said the military needs more counselors and are urging military families to speak out and demand help.
read more here
Family Seeks Answers From Army After Son Commits Suicide
Burn pits could cause long-term damage to troops
We should be asking if the burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan could replace Agent Orange for Vietnam Vets, still being linked to more illnesses and Gulf War Syndrome for the Gulf War vets still leaving many without answers. It's bad enough they risk their lives with the "usual dangers" of war when bullets try to hit them and bombs try to blow them up. When you factor in things that were not delivered by enemy hands, but instead from the military itself, there are no excuses to not take care of what results from it.
Military: Burn pits could cause long-term damage to troops
By Adam Levine, CNN Pentagon Producer
December 18, 2009
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Pentagon health officials had said troops faced no long-term effects from burn pits
Military now says some troops exposed could be susceptible to long-term effects
Service members have complained of chronic bronchitis, asthma, sleep apnea
DoD and VA expanding investigations into the pits
Washington (CNN) -- The military is backing off its previous position and acknowledging that some troops exposed to the burning of refuse on military bases could be susceptible to long-term health effects.
Since the issue first arose two years ago, Pentagon health officials have insisted that, based on its analysis, troops who were near burn pits at Joint Base Balad in Iraq -- the largest base in that country -- faced no long-term health hazards. That covered most of the troops who passed through the base.
The Department of Defense found that the burn pits, which are used instead of incinerators on some bases and outposts in Iraq and Afghanistan, could cause effects in the short term -- including irritated eyes and upper respiratory system problems -- that can lead to persistent coughing. But the department said "it is less clear what other longer-term health effects [there] may be."
But one of the top military health officials, Dr. Craig Postlewaite, signaled in a recent interview with the Salt Lake Tribune that certain troops, who have other medical conditions, may be at risk for long-term effects.
read more here
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/12/18/military.burn.pits/
Wounded troops and families feted for holiday at Haley VA
Wounded troops and families feted for holiday at Haley VA
By Robbyn Mitchell, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, December 18, 2009
TAMPA
The din rose higher and higher as more than 300 guests talked and chowed down on turkey, but Craig Remsburg was determined to speak his piece Thursday night.
"I just want to thank you for all you're doing for us," Remsburg said as he shook the hand of Bob Silah, the chairman of Operation Helping Hand. "This is all so wonderful."
The father of an Army Ranger in a coma, Remsburg was in awe of how the Tampa community came out in force to honor his son and nearly 30 other injured or wounded military personnel at Operation Helping Hand's monthly dinner at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center's Spinal Cord Injury Center.
People were listening to Christmas music and talking between forkfuls of turkey , mashed potatoes, bread, yams and fried plantains.
Santa Claus sat smilingly near the front of the room, welcoming children. The Tampa Bay Lightning's Thunderbug flitted from table to table working the littlest dinner guests into a frenzy with mimicry and gags.
Silah said the group had raised $12,000 during the dinner, the bulk — $8,000 — coming from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office clay pigeon shoot out.
read more here
Wounded troops and families feted for holiday at Haley VA
By Robbyn Mitchell, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Friday, December 18, 2009
TAMPA
The din rose higher and higher as more than 300 guests talked and chowed down on turkey, but Craig Remsburg was determined to speak his piece Thursday night.
"I just want to thank you for all you're doing for us," Remsburg said as he shook the hand of Bob Silah, the chairman of Operation Helping Hand. "This is all so wonderful."
The father of an Army Ranger in a coma, Remsburg was in awe of how the Tampa community came out in force to honor his son and nearly 30 other injured or wounded military personnel at Operation Helping Hand's monthly dinner at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center's Spinal Cord Injury Center.
People were listening to Christmas music and talking between forkfuls of turkey , mashed potatoes, bread, yams and fried plantains.
Santa Claus sat smilingly near the front of the room, welcoming children. The Tampa Bay Lightning's Thunderbug flitted from table to table working the littlest dinner guests into a frenzy with mimicry and gags.
Silah said the group had raised $12,000 during the dinner, the bulk — $8,000 — coming from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office clay pigeon shoot out.
read more here
Wounded troops and families feted for holiday at Haley VA
Thursday, December 17, 2009
U.S. troops admit abusing prescription drugs
U.S. troops admit abusing prescription drugs
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — About one in four soldiers admit abusing prescription drugs, most of them pain relievers, in a one-year period, according to a Pentagon health survey released Wednesday.
The study, which surveyed more than 28,500 U.S. troops last year, showed that about 20% of Marines had also abused prescription drugs, mostly painkillers, in that same period.
The findings show the continued toll on the military from fighting wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. Those wars have required troops to serve multiple combat deployments.
"We are aware that more prescription drugs are being used today for pain management and behavioral health issues," Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, director of the Army Suicide Prevention Task Force, said Wednesday. "These areas of substance abuse along with increased use of alcohol concern us."
read more here
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-12-16-milhealth_N.htm
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — About one in four soldiers admit abusing prescription drugs, most of them pain relievers, in a one-year period, according to a Pentagon health survey released Wednesday.
The study, which surveyed more than 28,500 U.S. troops last year, showed that about 20% of Marines had also abused prescription drugs, mostly painkillers, in that same period.
The findings show the continued toll on the military from fighting wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. Those wars have required troops to serve multiple combat deployments.
"We are aware that more prescription drugs are being used today for pain management and behavioral health issues," Brig. Gen. Colleen McGuire, director of the Army Suicide Prevention Task Force, said Wednesday. "These areas of substance abuse along with increased use of alcohol concern us."
read more here
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-12-16-milhealth_N.htm
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