2011-12-12 - Two point two million troops have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so far. As they return home the demand for veterans health services is increasing and will continue to climb for decades to come. WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports..Jacob Levitt is one of the more than 43 thousand soldiers wounded since the start of what's known as the " Global War on Terror" ..
Levitt, a US Army Infantry sergeant was hurt during his second tour in Iraq in 2006. He sustained what became the signature wound of the Iraq War a traumatic brain injury.
Not all the wounded have physical scars. Thomas Doherty joined the US Army when he turned 21. He did a year long tour in Iraq, where he was assigned to protect VIPs. He was based near the US Embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone. It was hit almost daily by barrages of rocket and mortor fire.
When Doherty returned home to Brockton Massachusetts, his family and friends told him he had changed. At first he brushed the comments aside, but then slowly began to realize they were right.
The V-A, the Department of Veterans Affairs operates a nationwide system of hospitals and health clinics that cares for millions of military veterans. Doherty and Levitt were both admitted to a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder treatment program at the V-A Medical Center in Northampton Massachusetts The 25 bed unit is one of only five in-patient Post Traumatic Stress Disorder programs in the county. The unit's staff psychologist, Scott Cornelius, foresees demand for the program growing.
According to the VA's national center for PTSD, the occurrence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans may be as high as 20 percent. Dr. Steven Kessler, acting chief of mental health at the VA hospital in Northampton says the VA is treating perhaps half of the veterans who likely need mental health care. read more>>>
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