WRIISC NJ Mission Statement
Our mission is to serve veterans with deployment related health concerns and symptoms. Program goals are outlined according to the center’s three central components- Clinical, Research, Education/Risk Communication.
Clinical
Provide veterans with deployment related health problems and concerns comprehensive clinical evaluations and recommendations for further evaluation and management of these conditions and issues;
Provide clinical support services to VA primary care providers who are seeing veterans with complex, difficult to diagnose medical symptoms which they believe may be deployment related;
Utilize the knowledge gained from our clinical activities to develop enhanced methods to evaluate, diagnose and treat veterans with complex, difficult to diagnose medical symptoms which they believe may be deployment related;
Serve as a model program for veterans with deployment related health concerns, utilizing a multi-disciplinary team providing evidence-based recommendations, while delivering clinical services in a compassionate, respectful and reassuring atmosphere in which veterans are empowered to be an active part of their evaluation team and treatment regimen;
Provide input and clinical support to the risk communication and research branches of the WRIISC.
Research
Employ a cooperative, multidisciplinary approach that brings together research teams with wide ranges of expertise to focus on the problems of unexplained post-deployment illnesses.
Advance available knowledge about the causes of and treatments for medical problems that arise after military deployments.
Use research funding and the WRIISC post-doctoral fellowship program to bring new scientific talent into the group and mentor this new faculty to obtain independent funding.
Continue the research process culminating in publication of data in the medical and scientific literature.
Education/Risk Communication
Evaluate and disseminate deployment related health information through effective communication, research and training.
Develop and organize informative seminars and lectures for health care providers, WRIISC patients, faculty and staff.
Provide innovative methods of developing and improving on questionnaires to evaluate the implementation of diagnostic guidelines and clinical treatment recommendations.
Develop new avenues of communication for patients with deployment related health issues, provide better ways to assess real and perceived health risks, create and use innovative interventions to improve the coping and self-efficacy skills of these veterans.