Finding Help in Unexpected Places

When treating veterans for mental disabilities, common remedies are medication or therapy sessions. What many people do not realize is that there are many other ways to help individuals who are dealing with disabilities like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Holistic health is an extremely broad field that focuses on the individual and what works best for them. The methods used by those in personal development is exactly what I am referring to. These different forms vary depending on what gives the individual peace and relaxation, but they include meditation, physical activities/exercise, eating habits, and other activities that benefits the individual.

The Horses and Heroes program falls right under this category. Ten veterans who are a part of this program make the trip from the Wilkes-Barre Veterans Affairs Medical Center to Painted Acres Farm in Greenfield Twp. to work with their horses. Through working with the animals, the veterans not only help the horses with grooming, bathing, and bonding but the horses also help them.

Horses are very therapeutic animals that are very in touch with human emotions and body language. These animals are like mirrors to the individuals who are around them. If you have a bad attitude they will give you attitude right back, or if you are anxious they will be anxious as well. It is this responsive quality that make them the perfect candidates to help veterans.

While they improve, horses also mirror those new emotions and body language enabling veterans to visualize their progress which makes this program so successful. This is just one alternative way of holistic methods. Different things will work better for different people but the important thing is to find what works best for you. Every individual gets stressed out, so they also need a way to unwind, some take to yoga, fishing, or spending time with animals. It is important we provided veterans with holistic health options!

Fight to End Homelessness

Individuals who are homeless either for the long-term or periodically experience ‘chronic homelessness.’ When individuals experience long-term homelessness or are in and out of homelessness that is referred to as chronic homelessness. There are about 57,000 (9%) homeless veterans in the United States. Service men and women who have put their lives on the line for us are now without food and shelter.

Veterans often become homeless because of post traumatic stress disorder, physical disabilities, mental anguish, and other unfortunate effects the service has on people. Leaving military life is difficult and leads some vets to addictions like alcohol or other drugs. The transition from active to non-active is scary. The sudden absence of routine for means vets have to learn a new way to live. For some, the transition to civilian life is insurmountable. The structure and routine that they once lived is now gone, along with individuals that understood exactly what they have done.

These outcomes can have an overwhelming effect on veterans, making it harder for them to find civilian jobs and cope with the stress and toll of the military. This phenomenon is due to a multitude of reasons, including different work culture, a lack of understanding the military, and the assumption that vets are not able to do the work because of acquired disabilities.

When preparing to get out of the military, you must go through multiple steps to prepare for civilian life, like resume writing classes. Those that have served have probably more hands on knowledge than any civilian employee, yet they are still being judged because employers do not or not willing to understand.

This must change. 47% of veterans feel unprepared for their transition to civilian jobs. 77% of employers believe they should explain their job experiences in the military more so they can understand better the relevancies for a civilian hire. By hiring veterans a corporation could benefit from the $140 billion per year the United States spends education and training for those that served.

In order to help fight veteran homelessness employers need to give to our country’s veterans more of a chance. Taking the time to understand military resumes more fully would enable employers to create more diverse and deserving staffs. In addition to employers doing their part, veterans should definitely explain how their experiences in the military make them eligible for a particular job. Actions from both sides will give veterans a much deserved chance at getting hired and it being a more fulfilling job!

http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2014/05/28/veterans-find-military-service-leg-job-market/9695191/

Be Aware

As the Fourth of July approaches, plans of barbequing, celebrating with friends and family are one everyone’s minds, and watching fireworks. We assume every aspect of this celebration of Freedom is always joyous, but is it?

For some veterans Independence Day is a time when their Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) leaves them the most vulnerable. The abrupt explosions of bottle rockets and other backyard fireworks can trigger a veteran’s PTSD symptoms, which can last minutes, hours, and even days after.

Not only does this mentally and physically exhaust individuals; it can also be embarrassing for them. They are fully aware of their safety but these noises can cause them to react in a way as if they were still in combat. At the unexpected sound of fireworks sufferers of combat related to PTSC may get low to the ground, look for cover, or even seclude themselves.

It is important to note that this is not a call to end the festivities; veterans do not want that. This is a celebration of our country gaining freedom and we should always celebrate that.

Instead, this is a call to be more mindful of the time and place you use fireworks. This awareness should occur any time of the year. If you know of any veterans in your area potentially benefitting from a warning, share that you will be setting fireworks off ahead of time.

Veterans often do not mind big planned firework events, because they are able to prepare for them. It is the sudden and unexpected pops and bangs which can trigger the flashback and other PTSD symptoms.

So please be courteous to your neighbors this weekend. Doing this allows you to enjoy the Fourth of July the way you want and gives veterans the chance to as well. It not only gives us a ability to celebrate our freedom, but gives us the opportunity to honor those who serve and have served.

Veterans Become Forefront of 2016 Primary Strategy

With the 2016 election season heating up, many presidential hopefuls are shifting their focus toward the issues facing our men and woman in uniform.

According to the Daily Beast, veterans account for over 8% of New Hampshire’s population. Such disproportionate impact means the Granite State’s delegates will likely be awarded to the candidate best articulating solutions to the many problems our veterans face.

Several presidential hopefuls have embarked upon the journey of the many VFWs in New Hampshire. Such as veteran Senator Lindsey Graham and former Chairman of the Senate Committee on the VA Senator Bernie Sanders. However, one GOP candidate is taking his military message beyond New Hampshire.

Stumping for veterans issues has become a must in South Carolina. The Palmetto State is home to 8 military bases and a tremendous voting block of veterans. Rick Perry, the three time governor from Texas, is taking his pro-military message to the voters of South Carolina. For Perry, caring for veterans is both a public and private policy.

Perry’s life was forever changed when Marcus Luttrell, a distinguished veteran and author of the bestselling memoir Lone Survivor, arrived on the doorstep of the governor’s mansion in need of assistance. Luttrell explained to the Perry family that he was hurting and required guidance.

Rick and Anita Perry immediately took the former soldier under their wing. He lived with the first couple of Texas for extended periods of time, becoming an adopted member of the family. In fact their bond grew so strong Rick was recently named the Godfather of Luttreall’s children.

Regardless of your thoughts on the current Republican and Democratic fields, Put Vets First is pleased that lawmakers with track records of supporting veterans, such as Sanders and Perry, are hoisting the issues affecting our military to the forefront of the 2016 presidential debate. We are excited to see candidates’ future efforts to help fight for those who bravely fought for us.

Helping Vets

Every military man or woman experiences different things, has a different job, and serves in different branches. However, they have one thing in common. They will become a veterans. Those in the military receive a multitude of benefits, but what happens after they are done serving? In many cases their service is lost, leaving them with problems from just feeling lost to PTSD.

This past week multiple articles that I came across were about helping our country’s veterans. These people took action upon learning that veterans are neglected after they are done serving our country.

One group of veterans created an Instagram to reach out to former soldiers suffering from suicidal thoughts and actions. Special Forces veteran Johnny Primo realized the need for suicide prevention among veterans when someone posted a goodbye post on Instagram reading, “Very few people know the truth…I want this in everyone’s memory.” Primo tried to help this veteran but could not get to them in time.

As a direct result from that experience Primo and fellow veteran Casey Gray created an Instagram page with their contact information in order to reach veterans who feel alone. They began the hash tag 22toomany, and within hours of creating this Instagram page began saving many lives.

When the VA receives calls from veterans with suicidal thoughts they give them a number and have them hang up and call someone else. You would think the Department of Veterans Affairs would know not to direct someone with suicidal thoughts to hang up. They are working on transferring instead of hanging up, but that will not be put into action until November or December. 

The VA is making veterans wait five or six months in order to stay on the line with them, stay on with them to know that they are not alone, stay on to keep them safe. Instead, when a veteran calls the VA they are directed to hang up and call someone else, wasting time for them to get help.

Why is it that volunteers like Primo and Gray can give veterans direct help while an organization like the VA pays people to just stand idly by?  Thankfully other people are doing the VA’s job for them.

Lauren

Circle of Friends for American Veterans

Program Coordinator

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-veteran-suicide-prevention-network-built-by-veterans/ 

Veterans' Hearing Update

 

 

On June 10, the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations conducted a hearing concerning the mismanagement of veterans’ mental health services and prescriptions.  Directed by subcommittee chairman and Veterans’ Bill of Rights (VBOR) affirmer Congressman Mike Coffman of Colorado, the hearing posed questions regarding the Veterans’ Health Administration’s (VHA) approach to Major Depressive Disorders, chronic pain and prescription abuse, and veterans taking their own lives.  The five-member panel of officials and experts included Dr. Carolyn Clancy, the VA Interim Under Secretary for Health, and Randall Williamson, Director for Health Care Issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

As Mr. Williamson reminded the subcommittee, the VHA is on the GAO’s High-Risk List, a list of government programs and issue areas left particularly vulnerable due to “fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement.”  This comes as no surprise to those following the administration’s scandals over the past year, including the revelation that at least thirty-five veterans–some kept off official waiting lists–died waiting for care from the Phoenix VA medical center.  (This news was enough to force VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign from the cabinet, but led to only three VHA employees losing their job, according to a New York Times article this April.)

Congressman Coffman, highlighting the VHA’s ten different programs dealing with prescription abuse and suicide with little to no communication between them, asked “who will stand up and make a change?”  This unfocused effort is compounded by the lack of a system that allows the direct transfer of suicidal callers to a hotline for help, a change that though simple, will not be available to veterans calling the VHA until November or December of this year according to Dr. Clancy.

Dr. Clancy expressed appreciation to the room for the passage of the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act, a law requiring annual third-party evaluations of the VA’s mental health care programs.  She was quick to add that of the twenty-two veterans who commit suicide daily, seventeen are not receiving mental health assistance from the VA.  She cited reducing the stigma surrounding Major Depressive Disorders and building relationships with veterans on trust and privacy as the focus of the VHA’s mental health goals. 

One onlooker, unsatisfied by Dr. Clancy’s responses, shouted “that is not enough!”  The man continued to yell over the panel amidst Chariman Coffman crying “out of order” and banging his gavel.  Later in the proceeding, Congressman and Doctor Dan Benishek of Michigan, an affirmer of the VBOR, stated he agreed with the outburst, continuing the subcommittee’s stream of criticism directed at the department.

Ranking Member Ann McLane Kuster of New Hampshire pointed out that over fifty percent of veterans enrolled in VA medical care experience chronic pain, and that this has led to nothing short of an “opioid abuse epidemic.”  She emphasized alternatives to long-term opioid therapy and questioned whether a higher level of informed consent should be expected from veterans before prescribing highly-addictive pain medications.  Dr. Clancy countered that many veterans come under VA care already dependent upon mismanaged prescriptions.  However, the Interim Under Secretary dodged the larger question at hand: Why does the VHA continue to treat opioid painkillers as a fix-all for the pain veterans experience?  As VBOR affirmer Congresswoman Kathleen Rice of New York stated later in the proceeding, “To be on opioids is to be trapped in a system of poor function and poor pain control.”  But the answer is shorter than that, and was stated by Coffman in the hearing.  “Drugs are a shortcut,” he opined.  And, much like falsifying wait times and failing to negotiate for third-party medical services, the Veterans’ Health Administration has trouble turning down shortcuts.

A Call to Action

Washington D.C. is riddled with partisanship and inaction. However, the Circle of Friends for American Veterans (COFAV) believes veterans’ issues transcend the left-right paradigm. Founded in 1993, the Circle of Friends for American Veterans continues to serve Americans in uniform.

The Circle of Friends for American Veterans

Initially a veterans' homeless shelter, COFAV transformed into a 501(c)3 educational organization affecting debates in Congress and educating the public about veterans’ issues.

COFAV, provides GIs with timely answers, pushes veterans’ issues to the forefront of Congress’s agenda, reforms the VA, and serves as a voice for our men and women in uniform.

Recent revelations of VA waste, spiking suicide rates among veterans returning home from war, and homelessness burdening military communities illustrate the need for Congress to act.

Despite public outcry, a moral obligation, and repeated “congressional inquires” Washington has done little to resolve issues facing veterans. Fortunately, America’s system of federalism empowers state and local governments to combat such problems.

Purple Legislators, Blue Mayors, and Red States

Over the past few years, purple legislators have drafted reform bills, which were signed into law by blue mayors in deeply red states. Salt Lake City, New Orleans, and Phoenix hold the proud distinction of zero percent homelessness among their city’s veterans community.

Such cooperation demonstrates the power of bipartisanship and the effectiveness of solving problems when party identification is thrust aside. These local governments sent a strong message to Washington i.e., reform will only follow a determined and bipartisan legislature.

A Challenge to Washington

The Circle of Friends for American Veterans challenges the 114^th Congress to look towards the laboratories of democracy as an instruction manual to combat homelessness.  Combating ISIS, military intervention in the Middle East, and the Global War on Terror are hot-buttoned issues in today’s Capitol. However, it is unethical and immoral to discuss further military action when current veterans are mistreated by an unaccountable government and an inactive congress.

The legislature must draft bills to aid our nation’s returning soldiers. A vote for war is not merely a vote for the duration of combat; rather, it is a lifelong commitment to those who are sent into harm’s way to defend our freedoms.

While Congress is easily blamed, we must also shift some burden onto ourselves as the American people. Members of the armed forces are not distant troops in foreign lands. They are our parents, siblings, and significant others. Our Representatives work for us, and action will only come when constituents demand it.

To the American people, call your Congressperson and demand change. If change fails to come, hire a new Representative in November. Our constitution creates a government that works for the people, not a citizenry that works for the government!

Drew Becker

Program Coordinator

Circle of Friends for American Veterans