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St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Illinois' mental screening of vets gains admiration
02/18/08 WASHINGTON — Barely off the ground, Illinois' first-in-the-nation program to In late January, Illinois began using state money to set up mandatory screening "We should be doing it nationwide, and we should be paying for it at the Last week, Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., called on Congress to adopt full mandatory In so doing, Hare cited Illinois' efforts at the state level as showing the Since the program was started two weeks ago, 860 veterans and family members Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq veteran who is executive director of Iraq and "She's doing things we ought to be doing at the federal level," Rieckhoff says. Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, "Part of the cost of war should be treating our warriors," Filner says. While mandatory screening helps in some instances, other veterans don't FLASHBACK TO IRAQ The story of Staff Sgt. Scott Snyder, a member of the Illinois National Guard Snyder spent 10 years in the Army, then joined the National Guard and He settled into a good job as a diesel technician with the Department of "On the surface everything appeared pretty normal," Snyder says. "I had no idea He found out on the evening of March 24, 2007. It was a quiet night, and he and Two minutes into the movie, everything changed. Suddenly he was back in Iraq, standing in the city of Balad with his M-16 in That lasted 25 horrifying minutes. For the next 15 minutes, he tried to get his Since that episode, Snyder, 40, had put his family through an ordeal with his He ended up at Fort Knox for an intense 30-day evaluation program. And later, "Nobody knew what to do with me," he says. A few days ago, hoping for help, Snyder called the new hot line. The clinical Now, Snyder is in the state's program, optimistic that he has seen the worst of Screening for traumatic brain injuries is currently available to all Illinois "We hoped that Illinois veterans, their family members and friends would use
help returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans deal with mental health issues is
drawing intense interest from legislators who would like to see the country as
a whole take similar steps.
of all returning National Guard and Reserve troops for post-traumatic stress
disorder and traumatic brain injury, and also established a 24-hour hot line
for veterans having trouble readjusting.
federal level," says Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who is exploring what
aspects of the $8 million Illinois program can be implemented at the federal
level. "These are ticking time bombs. We've got suicides, homicides, domestic
violence."
funding for veterans' health care — making it a legal requirement in the
federal budget, like Social Security and Medicare.
unmet needs among veterans, and as pointing the way toward the type of programs that can succeed.
have come forward to get help, says Jessica Woodward, spokeswoman for the
Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs.
Afghanistan Veterans of America, the largest organization for veterans of those
wars, says the program put in place by Illinois Veterans Affairs Director Tammy
Duckworth stands apart — but shouldn't.
"We need mandatory screening for traumatic brain injury across the board. I
think she's being honest with her state — you either pay now or you pay later.
The Vietnam generation taught us that with stunning clarity."
says Illinois bears watching for what it can offer to avert "a national
tragedy" in the making, with hundreds of thousands of combat veterans being
inadequately diagnosed and treated for mental health problems after combat.
Screening everyone as Illinois is doing avoids situations where soldiers forgo
mental health checks to avoid the "stigma," he says.
experience problems until much later, which is where the hot line can be key.
and until last year a recruiter for the Army National Guard, suggests the gaps
the Illinois program already is filling.
volunteered for Iraq. After taking part in the initial invasion of Iraq and
fighting for 17 months, Snyder returned home to Moline, Ill., in July 2004 and
quickly readjusted to civilian life — or so he thought.
Defense and into his family role as a husband and father of three.
what was in store for me."
his wife were looking forward to some hot wings and a war movie.
his right hand and, inexplicably, a croquet mallet in his left hand, watching
blue and white missiles come into view and explode, one after another. He was
dying, and Iraq was something "I was supposed to relive, before passing over
completely to the other side."
wife to admit that he had died, only to hear her insist he was home and alive.
He didn't believe her any more than she believed him.
bizarre behavior, which included one night in May when he was "running around
the house trying to find my guns, of which I didn't have any at home." Police
arrested him that night.
he was told he had post-traumatic stress disorder, but the term meant nothing
to him. Local National Guard officials couldn't do much to help him, either, he
says, adding that he felt he got caught up in "a lack of resources, red tape
and bureaucracy."
psychologist with whom he spoke answered his questions in ways he could
understand, he says. She walked him through his condition and then startled him
by calling back a day later to continue the conversation, he adds.
his condition, and regretting that he didn't get this kind of help earlier
because it could have saved him "a year of red tape and grief."
veterans, Woodward says, and the first demobilization events with mandatory
screening for the Illinois National Guard will take place at the end of the
month, with another set for March.
this program — and they are," she said.