Soldiers and civilians join Red Sox Foundation for PTSD and TBI

SOLDIERS, CIVILIANS ‘RUN HOME’ TO SUPPORT PTSD, TBI TREATMENT
STORY BY KELLY SOUZA
U.S. ARMY
RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE

Soldiers and civilians from Natick Soldier Systems Center stand together at Fenway Park before the Run-Walk to Home Base, May 20, 2012. About a dozen active duty Soldiers and civilians from NSSC in Natick Mass., joined the nearly 2,000 runners and walkers who participated in the Red Sox Run-Walk to Home Base. The Run-Walk to Home Base is a unique 9k run and three-mile walk which helps raise awareness and support for PTSD and TBI.
(Photo by David Kamm, NSRDEC)

BOSTON (May 21, 2012) — It was a beautiful Sunday morning, the kind of day where the sun is saying so long to spring and heating up for summer. Fans eagerly crowded into Fenway Park adorned with team shirts and carrying supportive signs.

But, fans were not there to cheer on the Red Sox that morning.

Instead, they were supporting runners and walkers as they crossed Fenway Park’s famous home plate. About a dozen active duty Soldiers and civilians from Natick Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass., joined the nearly 2,000 runners and walkers who participated in the Red Sox Run-Walk to Home Base, May 20, 2012.

The Run-Walk to Home Base is a unique 9k fundraising run and three-mile walk which helps raise money for the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program. Participants begin at Fenway, wind through a scenic route of Boston and then end back at the Park with a timed finish in front of the Green Monster and a photo opportunity crossing home plate.

Dr. Naomi Simon is a psychiatrist and the chief medical officer for the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program. She said that the program is a joint collaboration between these two organizations that provides clinical care and support services to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and families affected by combat- or deployment-related stress and traumatic brain injury, regardless of their financial situations. This makes the dollars raised from the Run-Walk to Home Base vital.

“The Run-Walk to Home Base has been a major philanthropic sustaining force for the Home Base Program,” Simon said. “Almost all of our services are paid for through philanthropic efforts like the Run to Home Base. This program is critical in giving families a place to seek care, regardless of their ability to pay for it.”

The Home Base program also provides community education and research to improve the understanding and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury — the so called “invisible wounds of war.”
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DOD-VA finally link health records of the troops

DOD, VA to Launch Joint Electronic Health Record System
By Cheryl Pellerin and Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
American Forces Press Service

NORTH CHICAGO, Ill., May 21, 2012 – The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments have joined in a unique effort to combine their health records in what will become the world’s largest electronic system by 2017, the secretaries of both departments announced here today.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki briefed reporters after a tour of the Capt. James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center, the nation's first fully integrated DOD-VA medical facility treating service members, veterans, military retirees and dependents.

“Over the past two days, as many of you know, world leaders have gathered in Chicago to affirm our commitment to finishing the job right in Afghanistan,” Panetta said. “This afternoon, Secretary Shinseki and I are coming together to affirm what in many ways is an equally important commitment: to care for and honor those who have protected our nation by serving it in uniform.”

The center -- named for retired Navy captain and former NASA astronaut Jim Lovell, who was in the audience today -- amounts to a proving ground for the DOD-VA joint operating concept. It incorporates facilities, services and resources from the North Chicago VA Medical Center and the Naval Health Clinic Great Lakes.
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Wounded veterans demand action from VA on 125 days wait

This is what happens when a nation does not go to war with them!

In S.F., wounded veterans demand action from VA
Demian Bulwa
Tuesday, May 22, 2012

More than 200 veterans, from an old man who stormed Normandy to a young man who invaded Baghdad, came together Monday in San Francisco with a common purpose: getting the government to pay for their wounds.

A severe backlog of disability claims, which hit Northern Californians especially hard, prompted Reps. Jackie Speier and Barbara Lee to hold a public forum at the War Memorial Veterans Building, where they demanded better service from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The event was part scolding and part workshop. VA officials stationed claims representatives at seven tables, where they met with some of the more than 200 people who signed up in an attempt to get their cases completed.

As of Monday, 65 percent of all disability claims from veterans nationwide - a total of 566,000 - had been pending for at least 125 days. The delays have been especially long in the Northern California regional office in Oakland, where agency auditors have also found accuracy problems.
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Senators promise answers on VA medication deaths

Senators promise answers on I-Team report
Steve Daniels

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Both of North Carolina's senators promise action after an ABC11 I-Team report on the deaths of U.S. troops blamed on "fatal drug intoxication."

"We will look into this in great detail - work with the military and the VA - to understand better the decisions that were made," said Senator Richard Burr - a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.

The I-Team investigation uncovered cases where troops survived combat only to die at home while undergoing treatment for Post-traumatic stress disorder.

Stan and Shirley White told ABC11 that's how they lost their son Andrew.

"He died because of his PTSD, because of what he saw in the war zone. The medication is what killed him. We consider him as being a casualty of war," offered Stan White.
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Another non-combat death for Fort Riley

Riley soldier’s death ruled accidental
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday May 21, 2012
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Riley County police say a Fort Riley soldier’s death at his Manhattan home apparently was caused by an accidental drug overdose.

Twenty-four-year-old Derek H. Holgersen was found dead at his apartment on Friday.

Riley County police Capt. Kurt Moldrup announced Monday that preliminary autopsy reports indicate Holgersen died from an accidental drug overdose.

Moldrup says another tenant found Holgersen’s body.