Vietnam veteran shares help for PTSD at VA

Vietnam Veteran: 'The VA has helped me through it and saved my sanity'
Fox Illinois
by Rachel Droze
Thursday, June 14th 2018

DECATUR, Ill. (WRSP) — About 200 people came out for a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday to celebrate the Decatur Community Based Outpatient Clinic, which moved from the east side of the city to the west side.

Decorated war hero James Hurd, who risked his life serving in the jungles of Vietnam, made the ceremonial cut.

"I went through several bad times over there,” Hurd said.

Hurd's introduction triggered his PTSD.

"Any reminder of [Vietnam] brings tears to my eyes 50 years later,” Hurd said.

In addition to helping with Hurd’s physical ailments, the VA clinics in Decatur and Danville also help with his mental health.

“I suffer from Post Traumatic Syndrome as a lot of Vietnam infantry veterans do,” Hurd said. "After 50 years I can deal with it, but the VA has helped me through it and saved my sanity.”
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Doctor asked ER patient "are you dead"

This is not a regular hospital. The patient was having a mental health crisis and panic attack. Now, stop and think how some lawmakers think that veterans deserve to be treated like this under "Choice"

‘Are you dead sir?’ doctor asks patient in video that led to her removal from Los Gatos hospital
Mercury News
By JUDY PETERSON
PUBLISHED: June 15, 2018

“He collapsed on the grass outside the weight room,” Eitelgeorge said. “When we went outside he tried to get up but fell back down.” That’s when Eitelgeorge called 911 and “they (paramedics) took him away.”

A video of a doctor speaking harshly to an emergency room patient and asking if he’s dead has led to her removal from the work schedule at El Camino Hospital Los Gatos, a hospital spokeswoman said.

"Keegstra then pulls Bardwell’s arm and again tells him to sit up. Bardwell says he can’t get up and can’t inhale either. “He can’t inhale. Wow! He must be dead. Are you dead sir,” Keegstra asks. At one point Keegstra uttered an expletive."

The video shows the doctor, Beth Keegstra, mocking 20-year-old Samuel Bardwell, a newly-enrolled student at West Valley College in Saratoga who was brought to the hospital’s emergency room after becoming ill during a basketball practice.

Keegstra tells Bardwell, “I’m sorry sir, you were the least sick of all the people who are here who are dying. There, so you picked your head up. Now don’t try to tell me you can’t move. C’mon, sit up.”
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Smokey Point Behavioral Hospital Extra Mile Treats PTSD

Health care program for military, families is only 1 in state
Herald Net
By Stephanie Davey
Saturday, June 16, 2018

The hospital won’t turn a veteran away who might not have access to health care, Crockett said. If the person is homeless, they would be connected with Veteran Affairs offices in Seattle, and get help finding a place to stay.

SMOKEY POINT — People have traveled from as far as Okinawa, Japan to receive care here in Snohomish County.

The Smokey Point Behavioral Hospital now has a unit specializing in mental health care for those in the military. There’s no other program like it in the state.

The Extra Mile Military Care center opened in February, and earlier this month was dedicated in honor of retired Army Master Sgt. Leroy Petry. The ceremony was on the 74th anniversary of D-Day.

The hospital has been open for one year.

Veterans, current service members and their families can all use the program. All its staff have some sort of connection to the military, whether they’re a veteran themselves or they’ve worked closely with the community, said Matt Crockett, Smokey Point Behavioral Hospital CEO.

The program follows guidelines from the U.S. Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs. Practitioners use evidence-based care to treat disorders such as addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Canada faces "epidemic" of suicides among people who have PTSD

Senate passes bill to create PTSD strategy, sponsor hopes it curbs suicides
CTV News Canada
Rachel Aiello, Ottawa News Bureau Online Producer
June 14, 2018

Under the bill, Federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor has to call a conference between her federal defence, veterans affairs, and public safety counterparts, alongside other stakeholders, within a year of the bill becoming law. Six months from then, the health minister has to report to Parliament with the official plan.

Hundreds of police patrol Parliament Hill before protest

OTTAWA – In 18 months, Canada is set to have its first federal plan to address post-traumatic stress disorder, after a private member's bill passed the Senate Thursday.

Bill C-211, sponsored by Conservative B.C. MP Todd Doherty, aims to curb what he calls an "epidemic" of suicides among people who have PTSD.

The bill requires the federal government to work alongside the provinces and territories, and members of the medical community, to create a federal framework to fully address post-traumatic stress disorder, from recognizing symptoms to treatment.

While the framework will apply generally, Doherty's inspiration for the bill was the paramedics, police officers, nurses, firefighters, military members, corrections officers, and RCMP who deal with PTSD as a result of their jobs.

"It is bittersweet. Today is a good day, but there are a lot of men and women that have lost their lives, and today we send a message that we, collectively, we are going to fight for those who fight for us," Doherty said.

He said numerous lives have been lost since his bill was first introduced, but in the last week alone, he's aware of four first responders who died by suicide.
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Two Wyandotte County Sheriff's Deputies Killed

Second sheriff's deputy dies following shooting in Kansas
CBS News
June 16, 2018

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- A second sheriff's deputy has died after being shot while an inmate was being transported to a Kansas City courthouse. Kansas City, Kansas, police confirmed that 44-year-old Deputy Theresa King died early Saturday from injuries suffered when an inmate overpowered the two deputies.

The shooting happened Friday as an unidentified inmate was being moved. Police said it is possible that King and the other slain deputy, 35-year-old Patrick Rohrer, were shot with their own firearm, but police gave no other details.

Investigators said the inmate may have grabbed a weapon from one of the deputies during a struggle after he got out of a van transporting him late Friday morning. The inmate was shackled and in handcuffs, CBS affiliate KCTV reported.

Both officers were with the Wyandotte County Sheriff's Department. King had 13 years of service and Rohrer had been with the department for seven years.
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