Study seeks to locate, help women veterans: Post-traumatic stress disorder is its focus [Albuquerque Journal, N.M.]
Jan. 18--An unintended consequence of allowing women in the U.S. military to serve in combat has led a local psychologist to launch a four-year, $1 million research project centered on women with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
The bad news is that about 22 percent of female veterans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan develop PTSD, compared with 15 percent of combat veterans in general.
Even worse, said Diane T. Castillo, a psychologist with the New Mexico Veterans Affairs Health Care System, between 80 percent and 90 percent of the women veterans being treated at the local VA clinic list sexual trauma as the source of their PTSD. That's 10 times higher than the number of women who attribute their PTSD to combat trauma alone. About 20 percent report sexual trauma and at least one other source of trauma as causes of their PTSD.
With more than 20 years of research and a renewed, war-induced focus on posttraumatic stress disorder, medical practitioners are in near unanimous agreement about how to best treat the debilitating effects of PTSD.
The focus now, Castillo said, is finding the most efficient way of providing proven PTSD treatments to the burgeoning number of soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Castillo, coordinator for the Women's Stress Disorder Treatment Team at the New Mexico VA Health Care System, an adjunct assistant professor in UNM's Psychiatry Department and an associate professor in UNM's Psychology Department, has been treating PTSD patients for more than 20 years.
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Study seeks to locate, help women veterans
Monday, January 18, 2010
US soldier returns to Haiti to help, finds family
US soldier returns to Haiti to help, finds family
By KEVIN MAURER
The Associated Press
Monday, January 18, 2010; 12:00 PM
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Junior Florestal left Haiti when he was 13 for a better life in the United States. He long promised to return, but it took an earthquake to bring him back.
"I'd always wanted to come," the 33-year-old U.S. Army staff sergeant said Sunday. "But I didn't want to come in this way."
Florestal is one of at least three Haitian-American paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne Division helping get sorely needed food, water and supplies to survivors of the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that shattered this capital city last Tuesday. His unit learned it would leave the following day, giving Florestal hope he could both bring aid and track down dozens of relatives living in Port-au-Prince and in villages surrounding the capital.
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US soldier returns to Haiti to help, finds family
By KEVIN MAURER
The Associated Press
Monday, January 18, 2010; 12:00 PM
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Junior Florestal left Haiti when he was 13 for a better life in the United States. He long promised to return, but it took an earthquake to bring him back.
"I'd always wanted to come," the 33-year-old U.S. Army staff sergeant said Sunday. "But I didn't want to come in this way."
Florestal is one of at least three Haitian-American paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne Division helping get sorely needed food, water and supplies to survivors of the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that shattered this capital city last Tuesday. His unit learned it would leave the following day, giving Florestal hope he could both bring aid and track down dozens of relatives living in Port-au-Prince and in villages surrounding the capital.
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US soldier returns to Haiti to help, finds family
Retired U.S. Army communications specialist was in Haiti when quake hit
Haiti Quake Survivor: From Heaven to Hell and Back
Mary Winter
Copy Editor
Posted:
01/18/10
Filed Under:Woman Up, Haiti
Fernand Sajous starred this week in his own version of "The Road," a movie about a father-and-son's terrifying travels through a post-apocalyptic world. But two big differences: Sajous' hellish odyssey took place in Haiti, not Hollywood, and no scriptwriters were needed to beef up the story line.
Sajous, a 56-year-old retired U.S. Army communications specialist, was driving home from the airport in Port- au-Prince around 4:50 p.m. Tuesday when the crushing earthquake hit. The next 60 hours was a nightmarish, 200-mile road trip from the north side of the island to the south that he survived thanks to providence, luck, military training, his 2008 Isuzu pickup truck and his 9mm pistol.
"I just want to cry, but I can't even cry," Sajous told his daughter Thursday. In the previous 48 hours, he had pulled his mother from under the rubble of her home in a destroyed neighborhood in Port-au-Prince and had seen the quake's toll on his 45-year-old sister: a broken leg and a severe burn covering 60 percent of her face. Those traumas -- along with the astounding number of corpses and desperate people in the streets, the thugs Sajous had no doubt would kill him to get his truck, and the smell of decaying flesh -- shook Sajous to the core. He was exhausted and possibly in shock.
From Heaven to Hell and Back
Mary Winter
Copy Editor
Posted:
01/18/10
Filed Under:Woman Up, Haiti
Fernand Sajous starred this week in his own version of "The Road," a movie about a father-and-son's terrifying travels through a post-apocalyptic world. But two big differences: Sajous' hellish odyssey took place in Haiti, not Hollywood, and no scriptwriters were needed to beef up the story line.
Sajous, a 56-year-old retired U.S. Army communications specialist, was driving home from the airport in Port- au-Prince around 4:50 p.m. Tuesday when the crushing earthquake hit. The next 60 hours was a nightmarish, 200-mile road trip from the north side of the island to the south that he survived thanks to providence, luck, military training, his 2008 Isuzu pickup truck and his 9mm pistol.
"I just want to cry, but I can't even cry," Sajous told his daughter Thursday. In the previous 48 hours, he had pulled his mother from under the rubble of her home in a destroyed neighborhood in Port-au-Prince and had seen the quake's toll on his 45-year-old sister: a broken leg and a severe burn covering 60 percent of her face. Those traumas -- along with the astounding number of corpses and desperate people in the streets, the thugs Sajous had no doubt would kill him to get his truck, and the smell of decaying flesh -- shook Sajous to the core. He was exhausted and possibly in shock.
From Heaven to Hell and Back
Floridians welcomed to Texas by freezing temperatures
Florida Army National Guard Soldiers from the 2-124th Inf. Regt., arrive at Fort Hood Jan. 6. The 2-124th is part of the 53rd Inf. BCT from Florida that will train at North Fort Hood for the next two months. Chaplain candidate John Olagbemi (foreground) and Sgt. Maj. Ralph Hernandez, from the Hood Mobilization Brigade, welcome the Soldiers as they arrive at Robert Gray Army Airfield. Gloria Harris, Hood Mobilization Brigade
Floridians welcomed to Texas by freezing temperatures, mobilization brigade
By Gloria Harris, Hood Mobilization Brigade
January 14, 2010 News
Approximately 2,600 Florida Army National Guard Soldiers are at Fort Hood training for their upcoming deployment to Iraq and Kuwait.
The 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team arrived in waves as Texas temperatures plummeted last week. The first group, about 600 Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment from South Florida, stepped off airplanes Tuesday at Robert Gray Army Airfield. They were immediately followed by the 2nd Battalion, 124th Inf. Regt. from Central Florida; the 1st Battalion, 153rd Cavalry Regiment from the Florida Panhandle; the 2nd Battalion, 116th Field Artillery Regiment from Lakeland, Florida; and the 53rd Brigade Support Battalion, 53rd Special Troops Battalion and Headquarters and Headquarters Company.
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http://www.forthoodsentinel.com/story.php?id=2879
LT deployed to Afghanistan, hears of family in Haiti
Kirsty Wigglesworth / The Associated Press Lt. Ramses Brunache, attached to the 97th Military Police Battalion out of Fort Riley, Kansas, was born in Haiti and is trying to get redeployed to assist in the earthquake-torn country.
Haiti native in Afghan war wants chance to help
By Heidi Vogt - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jan 18, 2010 8:29:39 EST
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Haitian-American Lt. Ramses Brunache was supposed to be the one in danger in Afghanistan. Now his sister is dead, his homeland is broken and he’s trying to return to help save Haiti.
Brunache found out about Tuesday’s earthquake in a 3 a.m. phone call from his wife at the base where he’s stationed in dusty Kandahar province, the Taliban’s southern heartland. He’s been here since July as a communications officer with the 97th Military Police Battalion out of Fort Riley, Kansas.
“She told me something happened in Haiti and my sister is not going to make it,” he said.
His wife lives in Atlanta and the only information she had at that point was from a text message saying that his sister, Immacula, and her three young daughters had been inside their house in Port-au-Prince when it collapsed. Her 12-year-old son was the only one who made it out.
Brunache went straight to the base’s Internet cafe and spent hours scouring news sites for details. He watched the death toll rise from hundreds to thousands from the magnitude-7.0 quake.
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Balad burn pit harmed troops living 1 mile away
Balad burn pit harmed troops living 1 mile away
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jan 18, 2010 16:10:11 EST
As Wendy McBreairty hiked up a 20-foot bluff in her hometown of Cheyenne, Wyo., her thigh muscles felt heavy, as if she had been climbing for hours.
She breathed deeply, trying to fill her lungs but, as usual, she felt as if she could not get enough of the clear, cold air. Fatigue overwhelmed her, just as it does every other day of her life.
The 32-year-old Air National Guard staff sergeant sat on a rock, leaned toward the setting sun, and pondered her future.
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Balad burn pit harmed troops living 1 mile away
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jan 18, 2010 16:10:11 EST
As Wendy McBreairty hiked up a 20-foot bluff in her hometown of Cheyenne, Wyo., her thigh muscles felt heavy, as if she had been climbing for hours.
She breathed deeply, trying to fill her lungs but, as usual, she felt as if she could not get enough of the clear, cold air. Fatigue overwhelmed her, just as it does every other day of her life.
The 32-year-old Air National Guard staff sergeant sat on a rock, leaned toward the setting sun, and pondered her future.
read more here
Balad burn pit harmed troops living 1 mile away
Haiti Relief Workers Risk Their Minds, Experts Say
How do I know these things?
Experience mostly and too many years of studying it. It is also one of the things crisis workers train for the most. When you respond to a crisis, usually you are responding to take care of the caregivers and this is done for a reason. If they fall apart, the people they trained to help will not be helped the next time. The responders need to be cared for because of all they encounter with survivors.
Each time I go to a conference or training session, we focus on responders knowing they will be drained of everything they have and no amount of training can prepare them for everything. We end up getting drained as well and some of us burn out but we are dealing with a totally different type of person. We are dealing with the caregivers instead of the victim/survivors. Some Chaplains do train to work with the survivors as well with each one following where they are called to be. This is done because we finally understand the price paid by the responders to disasters caused by nature and traumatic events caused by man.
No matter where we come from or language we speak, no matter what our income is or the color of our skin, we are all humans and our bodies, our minds, all work the same way with the same basic needs. We are all human and it is the basis for the outpouring of aid for the people of Haiti. We all see the human face of all they are going thru and most of us, well, we know how we would feel if we were going thru the same.
My greatest concern is for the responders, especially the men and women in the military after what they are carrying with them from Iraq and Afghanistan. For many, it will be healing but for too many they are not prepared for what is to come on this humanitarian mission.
What is very heartening about this report is that the media acknowledge this considering the days of reporting on the people of Haiti, they found time to report on this aspect few ever see.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
With humanitarian missions into Haiti, they will carry memories of combat with them
Experience mostly and too many years of studying it. It is also one of the things crisis workers train for the most. When you respond to a crisis, usually you are responding to take care of the caregivers and this is done for a reason. If they fall apart, the people they trained to help will not be helped the next time. The responders need to be cared for because of all they encounter with survivors.
Each time I go to a conference or training session, we focus on responders knowing they will be drained of everything they have and no amount of training can prepare them for everything. We end up getting drained as well and some of us burn out but we are dealing with a totally different type of person. We are dealing with the caregivers instead of the victim/survivors. Some Chaplains do train to work with the survivors as well with each one following where they are called to be. This is done because we finally understand the price paid by the responders to disasters caused by nature and traumatic events caused by man.
No matter where we come from or language we speak, no matter what our income is or the color of our skin, we are all humans and our bodies, our minds, all work the same way with the same basic needs. We are all human and it is the basis for the outpouring of aid for the people of Haiti. We all see the human face of all they are going thru and most of us, well, we know how we would feel if we were going thru the same.
My greatest concern is for the responders, especially the men and women in the military after what they are carrying with them from Iraq and Afghanistan. For many, it will be healing but for too many they are not prepared for what is to come on this humanitarian mission.
What is very heartening about this report is that the media acknowledge this considering the days of reporting on the people of Haiti, they found time to report on this aspect few ever see.
Haiti Relief Workers Risk Their Minds, Experts Say
Even Aid Workers May Be At Risk for Mental Issues After Witnessing Destruction
By LAUREN COX
ABC News Medical Unit
Jan. 18, 2010
As more medical and rescue teams arrive in Haiti , mental health experts say these volunteers and soldiers may be risking not just their safety, but the sanctity of their own minds in the earthquake-shattered capital Port-au-Prince.
Stefano Zannini, head of mission Doctors Without Borders said the streets of Haiti are crowded with people looking for help. "They're trying to find their families or their friends. I can see thousands of them walking the stress asking for help." At night, they sleep on the streets covered with blankets or plastic bags.
As of Friday, Zannini expected more people would be pulled from the rubble alive. But as the citizens of Haiti search for family members, for food or for medical care, the government of Haiti has already sent trucks around the city to pick up dead bodies.
read more here
Haiti Relief Workers Risk Their Minds, Experts Say
Wrongly convicted GI likely to get $7.5 million
Wrongly convicted GI likely to get $7.5 million
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jan 18, 2010 11:20:11 EST
MANHATTAN, Kan. — A former Fort Riley soldier who served 10 years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit will receive a $7.5 million settlement, if the defendants approve the proposal.
Eddie James Lowery was convicted in 1982 of raping an Ogden woman. He served 10 years in prison before DNA testing proved he did not commit the crime. He was paroled in 1991.
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Wrongly convicted GI likely to get 7.5 million
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jan 18, 2010 11:20:11 EST
MANHATTAN, Kan. — A former Fort Riley soldier who served 10 years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit will receive a $7.5 million settlement, if the defendants approve the proposal.
Eddie James Lowery was convicted in 1982 of raping an Ogden woman. He served 10 years in prison before DNA testing proved he did not commit the crime. He was paroled in 1991.
go here for more
Wrongly convicted GI likely to get 7.5 million
Police need help:Road rage leaves two year old girl shot
2-year-old girl shot in Tacoma road rage incident
By KOMO Staff
TACOMA, Wash. - A 2-year-old girl was shot in the leg during a road rage incident Sunday afternoon in southeast Tacoma.
Emergency personnel were called to the 600 block of E. 56th Street after 2 p.m., said Tacoma Fire Department spokesperson Jolene Davis.
Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum said the driver of a black Ford Explorer became embroiled in a road rage incident with another vehicle that had a family inside.
go here for more
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/81934212.html
By KOMO Staff
TACOMA, Wash. - A 2-year-old girl was shot in the leg during a road rage incident Sunday afternoon in southeast Tacoma.
Emergency personnel were called to the 600 block of E. 56th Street after 2 p.m., said Tacoma Fire Department spokesperson Jolene Davis.
Tacoma police spokesman Mark Fulghum said the driver of a black Ford Explorer became embroiled in a road rage incident with another vehicle that had a family inside.
go here for more
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/81934212.html
Local church to cops: 'We have your back'
Here is something every community should do as well.
Local church to cops: 'We have your back'
By Ray Lane
MILL CREEK, Wash. - A Snohomish County church dedicated its Sunday service to those who serve. It was a chance to honor the fallen officers - and salute those who are still on the streets.
The Rev. Dan Kellogg of Gold Creek Community Church says he got the idea after he learned that the morale of officers in his own congregation was low.
The killing of five police officers and a sheriff's deputy in a span of less than two months had taken its toll - so many funerals, so much heartbreak.
"There's this atmosphere where there's a target painted on officers' backs," Rev. Kellogg said. "And it just seems like we should not have that in our community. This should not be, and we can do something about it."
read more here
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/81937947.html
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