IPFS
Save America's Veterans
Written by Melinda Pillsbury-foster Subject: Welfare: PoliticalSanta Barbara, CA -One woman, troubled by the abandonment of America's military and veterans is proposing a solution. Will she be heard? Dr. Larned is a neuropsychologist with over twenty years of experience working with serious head injuries in children and adults. Her career path was, in part, dictated by a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) when she was seven years old. The massive injury destroyed one–third of her brain leaving her unable to hear, walk or talk. Recovery was slow and agonizing and continued after she received her Ph. D. in psychology. Since then, she has made it her life mission to find successful treatments for head injuries and assisting others with serious neurological disorders. She understands the problem, perhaps better than those in charge of the present system.
Aware
of the plight of returning troops and veterans with severe head
injuries and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Dr. Larned refocused her
work to design a program, called the Reclaim Program for the
Treatment and Prevention of Head Injuries. She is proposing its
adoption by trauma and rehabilitation centers and the VA.
Defense
Secretary Robert Gates recently said in a speech that "health
care costs are eating the Defense Department alive." For
returning active duty troops and veterans the problem goes way beyond
considerations of the cost to the VA system. These veterans are
returning but the war is coming with them in ways none of us imagined
possible. An alarming percentage of America's military are returning
home with from Iraq and Afghanistan with Traumatic Brain Injuries and
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to a system of health which is sadly
lacking.
Andrew White, Eric Layne, Nicholas Endicott and Derek
Johnson, four West Virginia veterans, died in their sleep
in early 2008 and their deaths were reported as suicide. Baughman's
research suggests this was not the case. All were taking Seroquel (an
antipsychotic) Paxil (an antidepressant) and Klonopin (a
benzodiazepine). All were diagnosed with PTSD. All seemed
"normal" when they went to bed. Over medication, and
medication, which may not be called for, could be killing vets even
after they return from war.
By testing all technologies and advances in the fields of
neurofeedback and energy medicine, Dr. Larned has been able to
combine the most advanced and powerful systems in the world for head
injuries – and she is determined to see that American veterans have
the benefits of these technologies which are now in use in countries
around the world.
Mental
health care accounted for almost 40 per cent of all days spent in
hospitals by servicemen and women (one in seven troops are women)
last year, the report said. Of those hospitalizations, 5 per cent
lasted longer than 33 days. For most other conditions, fewer than 5
per cent of hospitalizations exceeded 12 days, the report said.
Larned went on to the horrific number of returning troops and
veterans who become statistics. At home, and on active duty,
tragically - a
record 6,000 last year – commit suicide, a number which shocks
all of us. National figures show, “veterans constitute about 20 per
cent of the 30,000 to 32,000 US deaths each year from suicide” and
“of an average of 18 veterans who commit suicide each day, about
five received care through the VA healthcare system. More than 60
percent of those five had diagnosed mental health conditions.” The
DoD/VA has announced an outreach program and is now promoting a
toll–free suicide hotline.
Along with suicide as a
serious problem, returning active duty military are experiencing
increasing levels of mental health problems, alcoholism and substance
abuse. In an interview last week, Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent
said “alcohol abuse is an indication of the stress, particularly
since active military are being redeployed at increasing rates.
Alcohol can tie into a lot of things, and we're just keeping a close
eye on it," Kent said.
The
rate of Marines, for instance, who screen positive for drug or
alcohol problems, increased 12 percent from 2005 to 2008, according
to available Marine Corps statistics.
“The
symptoms of head injuries, PTSD, mental health problems and substance
abuse can be treated very successfully with neurofeedback,” Larned
continued. “We cannot fail the troops and veterans who have put
their lives on the line to serve us and our country. It would be
unthinkable, especially since, by so doing, we can save the
Department of Veterans Affairs billions of dollars.”
In
September 2005, Dr. Louis Csoka, a retired Colonel and former head of
the Center for Enhanced Performance at the Military Academy,
announced that the Pentagon had approved and funded expansion of
these same centers to three Army bases for 2006. This expansion,
using Neurofeedback Peak Performance, was to be used to optimize
performance for officers prior to deployment to the Persian Gulf. The
program was expanded to ten more bases in 2007.(1)
Dr. Larned has kept up with the tremendous growth in this technology
around the world, where it is increasing displacing traditional
approaches, and the Reclaim Program for the Treatment and Prevention
of Head Injuries will use only the most advanced systems. Personnel
from VA facilities and bases in the US will receive training specific
for the treatment of TBI and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for
returning troops and active duty servicemen and women. Bases, medical
facilities and personnel in Germany, Afghanistan and Iraq will also
receive similar training beginning just months after the Reclaim
Program is approved.
Asked by a listener how much
could be saved by the VA, Larned replied, “The VA has estimated
that the total cost of long term care and treatment for veterans,
over a 30-year period, will be between one and two trillion dollars.
The savings for the VA are incalculable, but certainly will be in the
tens of billions. This dramatic cost savings is due largely to the
decreased need for expensive convalescent facilities, and a means to
reduce the drain on limited VA resources for ongoing treatment for
hundreds of thousands of veterans from the Persian Gulf wars and
earlier. Because of the Reclaim Program, veterans will be able to
receive successful treatment over a short period of time and remain
with their families where they belong.” And the overwhelming
majority of Americans agree with Dr. Larned's sentiments.
Source: Dr. Jonathan D. Cowan, Ph.D., Neurotek and Dr. Gary Ames, Ph.D., AlertFocus.com