THIS WAR VETERAN WROTE A CHILDREN’S BOOK TO EXPLAIN HIS PTSD TO HIS DAUGHTERS
BABBLE
SARAH COTTRELL
There has been an ongoing national movement to break the taboo of mental illness, particularly Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 11-20% of veterans who have served in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have experienced PTSD. But it’s a tough subject for many people to talk about. That’s why one Kansas father and veteran, Seth Kastle, decided to write a children’s book about his experience with PTSD, as a creative way to explain the condition to his daughters.
Kastle was deployed in 2002 and spent time in Afghanistan and Iraq before returning home to Kansas in 2004. He tells Babble, “When I returned home and began the reintegration process, it was difficult, but I didn’t understand why.” He began to struggle with PTSD, but didn’t know it at the time. It would take several years of struggling in the dark before he realized he needed help, Kastle explains, “The resources that are in place for returning service members didn’t exist then, I didn’t even know what PTSD was.”
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Former homeless veteran gets new smile thanks to Indianapolis dentist
FOX 59 News
BY BRIAN BONDUS
FEBRUARY 23, 2017
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Veteran Lewis Morris used to not have a lot to smile about, but now he says he can't keep his mouth shut.
"They gave me that perfect smile...I can’t help myself. Life is good," Morris said.
In November, the mayor and other community members came together to get Morris back into the home his family built decades ago. Morris had been living on the street prior to that and often slept on the front porch and in the backyard of that house on 2300 block of Arsenal Avenue.
“I got a key! I can get in," Morris said. "They did me a favor... took me out of the backyard and put me inside."
And the favors keep coming to Morris. Tillery Family Dental saw the story in November and wanted to make Morris the recipient of their annual, "Perfect Smile for the Holidays," project.
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Diagnosis mistakes for veterans: 12 million happen a year
WLOS News
by Jennifer Emert
Wednesday, February 22nd 2017
A study by VA Dr. Hardeep Singh shows more than 12 million VA and private patients are misdiagnosed a year. Singh's research blames it on doctors not getting enough time to be face to face with their patients or their medical records. The average exam time has gone from 40 minutes to 20 minutes.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Making up for past mistakes has been a focus of the Veterans Health Administration.
Overall, there's been an improvement. But, from the front lines, from several veterans' perspectives, sometimes it is a battle to get the right diagnosis.
The Charles George VA Medical Center's rating is great, recently receiving five stars. But that’s based on the VA's data on inpatient treatment.
One mountain veteran is telling a different story, a story that lasted a year and ended up with him leaving the system.
“I feel like I'm fighting more of a battle back here than I have over there,” Chad Thomas said.
At 26, Thomas fought on Iraq's front lines. He was deployed to Iraq in 2004-05 as an airborne infantryman, assigned to the 525th Military Intelligence Brigade.
“Anytime there was a convoy, that was my job,” Thomas said.
From his Humvee gunner's post, he protected soldiers in and out of Bagdad's airport. Twelve years later, Thomas' battle has gone from the war room to an exam room.
“That's usually what I see happening, when there's an infection, I usually have all this other stuff,” Thomas said.
He's waging war on an infection that six months ago was much larger, blackening the skin.
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Colorado man missing in Japan
NBC 9 News Colorado
February 22, 2017
KUSA - Rescuers and volunteers are searching for a Colorado man who disappeared while skiing Happo-one in Nagano, Japan.
Cpt. Mathew Healy, Army Reserves, is an OEF Veteran with combat medic experience according to family members. He along with his wife and 2 children have been living in Japan for 2 years as a part of his wife’s Air Force assignment in Okinawa.
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UPDATE
Missing Army veteran found safe in hospital after two-day search
FOX 5 News
BY CHRISTY SIMERAL AND SHARON CHEN
February 22, 2017
SAN DIEGO -- After a two-day search for a missing boater thought to be lost at sea, a U.S. Coast Guard official ended its search Wednesday night after the decorated Army veteran from Orange County was found safe.
Garrett Ferguson
A nurse at Scripps Mercy Hospital in Hillcrest saw a FOX 5 News report on the search for 36-year-old Garrett Ferguson of Huntington Beach and called police to say he was at the hospital.
Lifeguards and Coast Guard personnel scanned the ocean and shorelines around Mission Bay for a second day Wednesday in search of the Huntington Beach man, who was believed to have gone missing during a sea outing on a small motorboat.
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