Thursday, December 3, 2009

West Virginia Launches Statewide PTSD Program

Full Article at: New Program Launched to Help Veterans With Injuries, Illnesses

Updated Thursday, December 3, 2009; 08:03 AM
Story by Sarah Lieu

"A new program is being launched in West Virginia to help veterans who suffer from traumatic brain injuries or post traumatic stress disorder.

It's being coordinated by the West Virginia Division of Veterans Affairs and is the first of its kind in the nation to operate on a statewide level.

"Post traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries are kind of the illnesses of this war," said Mike Lyons with the West Virginia Division of Veterans Affairs, referring to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There is a growing tide of combat veterans coming home with these unseen scars. That's why the agency is hiring four social workers to find those veterans particularly in rural West Virginia.

State lawmakers approved the money in the last legislative session after hearing about the growing need for help.

The social workers in the program will be placed in each area of the state -- Martinsburg, Beckley, Clarksburg and the Charleston and Huntington area.

It's expected to start in January.

Iraq war changed soldier accused in slayings according to his wife

Full Article at: Wife: Iraq war changed soldier accused in slayings

By MARY ESCH (AP) – 37 minutes ago

ALBANY, N.Y. — "Relatives of a Fort Drum soldier accused of stabbing his two Army buddies to death said Thursday that he told them he saw his best friend "blown to pieces" in Iraq and came back a changed man: abusive, violent, sleepless, edgy and plagued by flashbacks.

Spc. Joshua Hunter, a military policeman, was expected to be arraigned on second-degree murder charges Friday morning, three days after the bodies of Waide James, 20, and Diego Valbuena, 23, were found in their apartment just outside Fort Drum, about 140 miles northwest of Albany. Hunter and the two victims served in Iraq at the same time in the same battalion.

They all were based at the wind-swept Army post near the Canadian border, home of the much-deployed 10th Mountain Division, and shared an off-base apartment.

Hunter's wife, Emily Hunter, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that her husband was outgoing before he went to war, but when he returned stateside, he was an emotional wreck.

"He wasn't in any good mental shape at all," Emily Hunter said. "I tried to get him to go to therapy. They prescribed him medicine and stuff, but it just wasn't enough."

She said he saw a therapist at Fort Drum because of his volatile emotions and violent outbursts.

"He'd just burst into tears; spouts of anger or sadness," she said. "There'd be one emotion but it would be really deep, just extremely happy or extremely sad. His emotions were always on the rocks."

"He'd take his rage out on the wall, or throw something," she said.

While he wasn't violent toward his buddies, he was toward her, she said, adding that she went to the hospital a couple of times for treatment of an injured arm and thumb."

El Paso VA's Clinic Opens Doors To Females

Full Article at: El Paso Veteran's Clinic Opens Doors To Females

"Female veterans in the borderland now have a medical clinic of their own. The new women’s clinic at the El Paso VA recently opened its doors inside the William Beaumont Army Medical Center.

The clinic is run by women for women. It's hoped the added privacy will convince more female vets to seek medical care. There are currently more than 13,000 female vets in the borderland.

“We have to have a little more attention. There are other health issues that we have to take care of, " said Rubina Garrison. Garrison is back in El Paso after serving 21 years in the Navy. She's just one of hundreds of female veterans lining up to be seen by female doctors and nurses at the new women's clinic.

The demand for appointments at the new clinic is so high, appointments are already extending into March."