Veterans Affairs faces triple the number of PTSD cases since 2002
52 minutes ago
OTTAWA - The number of former soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress has more than tripled since Canada first deployed troops to Afghanistan, say new figures released by Veterans Affairs Canada.
With the country's involvement in the war set to continue until 2011, the numbers are only expected to get worse.
The rising tide of psychiatric disorders among relatively young men and women is the biggest challenge facing the system of veterans' care, which until recently had been geared toward geriatric issues, said Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson.
"It is the challenge of the future," he said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Of the 10,252 (Veterans Affairs) clients with a psychiatric condition, 63 per cent have a (post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD) condition, said a briefing note prepared for Thompson last summer.
"Over the past five years, the number of clients with a psychiatric condition has tripled, increasing from 3,501 to 10,252; the number of clients with a PTSD condition has more than tripled, increasing from 1,802 to 6,504 as of March 31, 2007."
The statistics represent those who are no longer serving in uniform. The Defence Department keeps its own, separate tally of members suffering from stress injuries.
Figures obtained last summer by The Canadian Press show that of 1,300 Canadian Forces members who served in Afghanistan since 2005, 28 per cent had symptoms suggestive of one or more mental-health problems. The numbers are based on post-deployment screening.
Of those, just over six per cent were possibly suffering from PTSD and another five per cent showed symptoms of major depression.
Both National Defence and Veterans Affairs have faced repeated warnings during the last year about the looming mental-health crisis.
"Without an aggressive response, many veterans have the potential to harm themselves or others," Veterans Affairs staff wrote in a note to Thompson.
"The earlier the intervention, greater the chances of recovery."
The Conservatives responded in the 2007 federal budget with $9 million, allowing the veterans department to open five operational stress-injury clinics across the country. The new centres are in addition to the Defence Department's existing five stress clinics, which first began appearing in the late 1990s.
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Thursday, February 28, 2008
Under Secretary of VA Cooper Resigns
VA undersecretary to leave post
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 16:48:06 EST
WASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department says its undersecretary responsible for benefits is leaving.
The agency has been besieged by complaints about its backlog in claims, which have escalated partly because of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seeking assistance.
Daniel L. Cooper, a retired Navy vice admiral, departs April 1. A VA spokesman says Cooper is leaving for personal reasons.
By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 16:48:06 EST
WASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department says its undersecretary responsible for benefits is leaving.
The agency has been besieged by complaints about its backlog in claims, which have escalated partly because of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seeking assistance.
Daniel L. Cooper, a retired Navy vice admiral, departs April 1. A VA spokesman says Cooper is leaving for personal reasons.
GAO: Wounded care better, but more needed
GAO: Wounded care better, but more needed
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 16:17:42 EST
Government Accountability Office representatives praised the Army for some of the advances it has made over the past year but said there is still a long way to go in hiring legal representatives to help soldiers going through the disability retirement process.
Also, some treatment facilities lack as much as 40 percent of the staff they need to maintain a ratio of one legal counselor per 30 soldiers, said John Pendleton, GAO acting director of health care, on Wednesday at a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform national security subcommittee.
“The Army has made progress in the five months since our September hearing,” he said, referring to a previous GAO report showing that the Army’s Transition Units were only half-staffed. But one-third of the units still have staffing shortages, he said.
And, 2,500 wounded, sick or injured soldiers waiting to go through the evaluation process remain in their units — and not in the Warrior Transition Units designed to ensure they receive the administrative help they need, as well as allowing trained professionals to keep a close eye on them for medical or mental health needs, Pendleton said.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_armyprogress_woundedwarrior_022808w/
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 16:17:42 EST
Government Accountability Office representatives praised the Army for some of the advances it has made over the past year but said there is still a long way to go in hiring legal representatives to help soldiers going through the disability retirement process.
Also, some treatment facilities lack as much as 40 percent of the staff they need to maintain a ratio of one legal counselor per 30 soldiers, said John Pendleton, GAO acting director of health care, on Wednesday at a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform national security subcommittee.
“The Army has made progress in the five months since our September hearing,” he said, referring to a previous GAO report showing that the Army’s Transition Units were only half-staffed. But one-third of the units still have staffing shortages, he said.
And, 2,500 wounded, sick or injured soldiers waiting to go through the evaluation process remain in their units — and not in the Warrior Transition Units designed to ensure they receive the administrative help they need, as well as allowing trained professionals to keep a close eye on them for medical or mental health needs, Pendleton said.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_armyprogress_woundedwarrior_022808w/
Christopher M. Simmance served in Iraq but VA didn't believe it
February 27th, 2008 1:21 pm
Thousands of veterans lose health benefits because of paperwork errors
By Lou Michel / Buffalo News
Christopher M. Simmance helped keep the peace as an American soldier in the Middle East, but when he returned home and later suffered a breakdown, he was turned away from the VA hospital because the government didn’t acknowledge his overseas duty.
Dana Cushing as a Marine served two tours of duty in Iraq and a third in east Africa, but when she returned home, she found herself labeled a “conscientious objector” and also was denied medical care by the government.
Simmance is one local veteran among roughly 2,000 across the country trying to get corrected incomplete or inadequate discharge papers. Cushing only recently got hers corrected after trying for a year. The result is that many now face a bureaucratic nightmare that prevents them from getting the health benefits they are entitled to receive.
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Thousands of veterans lose health benefits because of paperwork errors
By Lou Michel / Buffalo News
Christopher M. Simmance helped keep the peace as an American soldier in the Middle East, but when he returned home and later suffered a breakdown, he was turned away from the VA hospital because the government didn’t acknowledge his overseas duty.
Dana Cushing as a Marine served two tours of duty in Iraq and a third in east Africa, but when she returned home, she found herself labeled a “conscientious objector” and also was denied medical care by the government.
Simmance is one local veteran among roughly 2,000 across the country trying to get corrected incomplete or inadequate discharge papers. Cushing only recently got hers corrected after trying for a year. The result is that many now face a bureaucratic nightmare that prevents them from getting the health benefits they are entitled to receive.
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VA urged to give families mental health help
VA urged to give families mental health help
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 13:21:08 EST
A House subcommittee was urged Thursday to expand the Veterans Affairs Department’s authority to provide mental health counseling for the families of veterans, including National Guard and reserve members who have returned from combat.
Current law restricts VA to providing “limited services to immediate family members,” said Kristin Day, VA’s chief consultant for care management and social work service.
“The law provides, in general, that the immediate family members of a veteran being treated for a service-connected disability may receive counseling, education and training services,” Day told the House Veterans’ Affairs health subcommittee.
That leaves a lot of gaps for people who fall outside the military health care system, some critics say.
Todd Bowers, government affairs director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said that when he was wounded by a sniper’s bullet during his second tour in Iraq, his mother suffered.
“The incident that physically wounded me wounded my mother much worse,” said Bowers, a Marine Corps Reserve staff sergeant. “As she struggled to cope with the knowledge of my injury, my mother was more than alone. She was lost. She sought assistance through the only means she was aware of, the mental health counseling covered by her own health care.”
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_mentalhealth_veteransfamilies_02808w/
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 28, 2008 13:21:08 EST
A House subcommittee was urged Thursday to expand the Veterans Affairs Department’s authority to provide mental health counseling for the families of veterans, including National Guard and reserve members who have returned from combat.
Current law restricts VA to providing “limited services to immediate family members,” said Kristin Day, VA’s chief consultant for care management and social work service.
“The law provides, in general, that the immediate family members of a veteran being treated for a service-connected disability may receive counseling, education and training services,” Day told the House Veterans’ Affairs health subcommittee.
That leaves a lot of gaps for people who fall outside the military health care system, some critics say.
Todd Bowers, government affairs director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said that when he was wounded by a sniper’s bullet during his second tour in Iraq, his mother suffered.
“The incident that physically wounded me wounded my mother much worse,” said Bowers, a Marine Corps Reserve staff sergeant. “As she struggled to cope with the knowledge of my injury, my mother was more than alone. She was lost. She sought assistance through the only means she was aware of, the mental health counseling covered by her own health care.”
go here for the rest
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_mentalhealth_veteransfamilies_02808w/
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