Warrior Treatment Today

I've been asked to explain our Warrior Treatment Today program with USA Cares. Our new website, due to be launched 1 August will have it there, but I can also put it here along with more information and our 1st Quarterly Report so you can see the extraordinary things we are doing for these Veterans.

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WARRIOR TREATMENT TODAY

Bridging Gaps to PTSD/TBI Treatment for Veterans

Warrior Treatment Today is a USA Cares program designed to bridge the gap between personal financial demands and the need to receive treatment. Specifically, our program seeks to remove the financial barrier that exists for many service members who suffer from PTSD and/or TBI, but cannot afford to leave their employment for treatment. National Guard and Reserve personnel are particularly vulnerable to this barrier as they resume their civilian lives upon return from deployment. Should they be referred for treatment of a significant duration, they have to not only keep their jobs, but also acquire the dollars necessary to continue to meet their financial obligations.

USA Cares will take on the responsibility for paying essential household bills (rent/mortgage/utilities/car payment) while the service member is attending residential type PTSD/TBI treatment. In so doing, USA Cares will facilitate attendance to mandated/recommended treatment programs by removing the financial obstacles many face today. The recent Rand study suggests over 300,000 suffer from PTSD/TBI, with fewer than half of these cases actually identified. Thus, the magnitude of the problem is significant. We believe any program that will help diagnosed service members attend necessary treatment is of great value and deserves our full support.

Due to the potential size of the PTSD/TBI treatment problem, no one sector can be expected to adequately cope with the problem. A public – private sector partnership is essential if this problem is to be resolved. Military treatment facilities, the VA hospitals and clinics, and respected civilian hospitals must all work together to even begin to make a dent in the caseload. USA Cares has teamed up with a Houston hospital, TIRR Memorial Herman, a leading rehabilitation facility, to provide care to TBI-type sufferers. A fellow member of the Coalition for Iraq-Afghanistan Veterans, TIRR Foundation collaborated with TIRR Memorial Hermann to create the Project Victory program. Project Victory provides treatment for military personnel, and veterans of recent military service, who served in Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom, and who have screened positively for, or have been diagnosed with, post concussive symptoms or traumatic brain injury while in combat or stateside. As good as the Project Victory program is, a financial barrier to an 8 to 10 week treatment program remains for many would-be attendees. University Behavioral Health of El Paso, Texas has also joined with USA Cares as a provider of PTSD/TBI treatment to the military. The basic structure of the Warrior Treatment Today Program is outlined below:

Stage 1: Identification and Verification

Scenario ONE: Service members seeking support will come to USA Cares in our traditional manner via the World Wide Web and complete a simple application that details how we can contact them, and the nature of the problem or issue. The client will be contacted by our Staff, who will discuss the requirements and needs of the family. Should the issue of PTSD/TBI be revealed by the client, the case will be passed to our Advocacy Center who will suggest screening (if it has not been done) and provide references to locate screening facilities. The goal is to not let the family plunge into financial crisis.

Scenario TWO: A service member is referred for residential PTSD/TBI treatment by competent medical authority (VA in the case of veterans, Title 32 Guard, and inactive Reserve). He may have gone for screening as a result of Scenario ONE, or any other number of ways. At the time of referral to residential treatment, the service member must be made aware of USA Cares and our program to help with finances while at treatment. (Lacking the ability to support the family due to absence from work for an extended period, the referral will likely not be accepted/executed). The service member applies to USA Cares under our Warrior Treatment Today program which includes the below general guidelines:

Qualifying Elements:

· Injury is connected to service in Iraq or Afghanistan

· Service member has been diagnosed by competent medical authorities, either military or civilian

· Employment and income loss is not covered by medical or unemployment insurance

· Family will be in danger of losing their home if they don’t receive assistance

· Service member has been accepted into qualifying treatment center for recovery and rehabilitation

Stage II: Determining Requirements & Gaining Approval

· USA Cares will assist in housing, food, utilities and transportation related costs as required

· USA Cares will require documentation that supports the need

· Food costs will be developed along the required amounts from the USDA, which an example says that a family of four requires about $518 a month

· Case will be reviewed and approved by a USA Cares Virtual Committee

Stage III: Implementation and Assistance

· Approved cases are moved to accounting where each month the approved amounts are paid directly to the provider

· Incremental assistance can be extended out over the period of treatment not to exceed 180 days.

· The Family Resource Coordinator will maintain contact with the client throughout the case length

In the future, USA Cares is working to involve other top flight civilian hospitals in the program. Working with our partner, Mercy Flights, we can transport an invisibly wounded warrior anywhere in the US at no cost to the service member. We envision a network of such hospitals all working to treat the enormous caseload that PTSD and TBI represent from today’s war. Bound together by information technology that can quickly handle referrals and locate treatment centers, this program is exportable to any state. We believe that a number of states will consider this opportunity to give their state’s military the treatment they deserve while not endangering their financial future. This program is being initiated in Texas using facilities in Houston, El Paso, and, hopefully, Dallas. The Texas program will serve as a model for other states. No American service member and their family should have to choose between paying the bills and getting treatment. USA Cares plans to see that they don’t.

Roger

1st Sgt. John Blair of Calhoun.

This past Wednesday, I was traveling north on Interstate 75 outside of Calhoun Georgia when we noticed that there was no traffic going south. A highway patrol car came over the hill lights flashing but still no other traffic.

Then the first Georgia State Patrol came over the hill, followed by another and another. I don't know how many law enforcement cars there were, perhaps a fifty or more, then there was a large contingent of motorcycle patrolmen, and then the Patriot Guard. I knew then, it was a soldier's funeral we were watching traveling south.

1st Sgt. John Blair was by all accounts a soldier's soldier. He was killed in Afghanistan last week by an RPG.

Traffic on our side of the road were pulling over, some just slowing not knowing what to do. I was proud of my nation, or at least the men and women that day that took the time to honor this man. I found this from the web, but it says a lot about this man.

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey issued a statement in in honor of Blair on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Text of Gingrey's remarks:

Madame Speaker, I rise to honor an American hero and patriot who gave his life in defense of our nation while serving with the Georgia National Guard in Afghanistan. First Sergeant John Blair from Calhoun, Georgia and my 11th Congressional District was killed in action on June 20, 2009, when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle during an hour and a half long firefight with enemy forces after the convoy which he was leading was ambushed.

Eye-witness accounts from soldiers serving alongside Sergeant Blair credit his actions with saving the lives of many of his fellow soldiers during the ambush, and as a credit to his leadership, his men kept their cool and did their jobs, even after their commanding officer fell. Blair has been described as a true leader – both for the American troops who served with him, as well as for the 1st Brigade of the Afghan National Army’s 203rd Corps who he was in charge of mentoring. I want to quote a couple of lines that were written about Sergeant Blair in the military publication, Stars and Stripes: “Blair was their leader. He was tough, unrelenting. He cursed and reprimanded and gained not just their respect, but their fondness during the months of training for their deployment in Afghanistan. He could be harsh, but was fair and imparted to his men a sense of their potential.”

So, why do I rewrite this? USA Cares has been here for six years now, helping military families, and it is easy sometimes get caught up in the day to day work we do, but then when you see first hand the courage and the sacrifice, well I just thought it should be observed for what it is, a tribute to another fallen soldier.

Roger

If you would like to know more about the 1SG, visit this site: http://www.calhountimes.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Long+processional+follows+body+of+fallen+Calhoun+soldier+from+airport%20&id=2852958

Kevin Dupont

I don’t know Kevin, I never met him. I never met his wife Lisa either. I wish I had.

Kevin was a Marine, got out and ended up in the Massachusetts National Guard. I am not going to try to tell his life story, but I am going to share what I read about this man.

He died today. He was injured in an IED attack on March 8^th in Afghanistan.

I learned about him from a friend and began following Lisa and Kevin on CaringBridge (a web site that allows families to share the status of those who are ill or injured) and when you see that there were over 32,000 posts in the guestbook you starting sensing the love and concern that not only family members had, but strangers as well.

There were men and women who wrote from Afghanistan not only wishing him well, but keeping him posted on how the fight was going, and if you read through the guest book, you see every state in the union represented, every branch of service and every kind of friend of Kevin who stopped what they were doing and spent some time with Lisa and her story. You see a post from a Marine stationed on the USS Eisenhower, somewhere at sea, somewhere at war.

A former commander shared that as a platoon leader he set the example for his soldiers every day, and always led the way, never side stepping a mission, no matter how tough. “He was eager to do right” says more than any other words can say about a soldier.

Lisa, herself a National Guardsman, has shown us the face of courage, compassion and commitment. We are all honored by her sharing each day, and sometimes the posts she left were well after midnight, revealing the true nature of not only Kevin but of his “Hero” Lisa.

Hundreds of posts are now coming in as the word spreads of his passing, and while he will be listed as one more casualty of a war far away from our minds and far away from the front pages of today’s news, I know that I am a privileged member of a fan club of this remarkable and unforgettable family.

Lisa, you are amazing. God Bless you and your entire family. Kevin, God Speed, and as one post said, “End of Mission”, but we know that you are already starting the next.

We have all heard the phrase, "We will never forget you" and with the story and life of Kevin Dupont, how could you?

Respectfully,

Roger

3 JUN 09 5050

Good morning from rainy Radcliff Kentucky! We are all excited about lots of things, but at the same time, I am sad that tomorrow is the last day of 5050. 

We have much to  be thankful for when you consider others. I am corresponding or at least part of a Caringbridge for a wounded soldier who is fighting for his life. He has been in the hospital for months, and his wife keeps us posted on his progress which took a turn for the worst two days ago, to the point where the doctors asked her if she thought they should continue to keep up the fight. What a quesiton to be asked. My heart goes out to her and the family and my prayers are for "Kevin". 

To all of you, thanks again, and we will be in touch. I promise. 

Regards and see you tomorrow,

Roger 

2 JUN 09 5050

Two days to go, and then we are off on new adventures. As I said earlier, while frustrating, it is not dissappointing. We are learning about the potential of mobile giving and expanding our understanding of what happens. 

I would ask that each of you take a few seconds and send Jen Fox a note about things that worked and didn't work, and we can learn from that.

But it goes without saying that all your hard work and efforts are appreciated, and for the families that we are helping the payoff is knowing that we are leaving them better off than when they found us. With your help, we can keep doing the good work.

Thanks,

Roger 

1 JUN 09 5050

June 1st already, as you can see Illinois is really doing well. As I know we all did, we hoped that there would be a much better result at this point, but I think as "we" educate our fellow American's about mobile giving, and certainly raising $500,000 by Alicia Keys on American Idol showed us what was possible, I am still strenghtened by the fact that we do have four or five states where folks made an effort.

We have three more days and the campaign will be closed, and I would like to schedule a conference call with all of you and discuss lessons learned and what you found to work or not work. We will be sending out a scheduling email soon.

Thank you so much for your hard work,

Roger 

Mark Wills Cares!

Nashville, TN             Mark Wills announced today that a portion of every sale of his next album “2^nd Time Around” in stores June 16^th will benefit military families through USA Cares and has created a free USA Cares music sampler at www.markwills.com. Just log on to the website, view the pop up window which will allow you to receive three music downloads and an interview with Mark and Dennis Miller talking about their role with USA Cares.  The talented musician has received many acclamations since his debut on the country music scene, including being named as the top new male vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in 1999. Wills followed that up with the hit single, “19 Somethin’” and his new single “Entertaining Angels” is climbing the charts. 

Mark has seen the faces of our military men and women in Iraq, Afghanistan, at home and in the Walter Reed Army Hospital. He knows that military service is more than just a job, it’s a lifetime commitment. Mark also knows that sometimes, the price of service is doubly paid by those who are invisibly wounded with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (or PTSD). Having seen firsthand the good work that Radcliff, Kentucky based USA Cares is doing for these families as they go through rehabilitative care, he knew he had to do more than just add a celebrity voice. 

In their Warrior Treatment Today program, USA Cares provides financial resources to veterans who are reluctant to seek PTSD treatment due to their obligation to provide for their families. The program is already underway in several states, most notably in Texas, where over 6,000 Veterans have been screened and diagnosed with PTSD.  A recent news article noted that the VA has identified as many as 338,000 Veterans who could be suffering with PTSD nationwide. 

During a recent interview by Dennis Miller on his national radio show on Westwood One, Mark revealed his personal experience with the disorder. “When my dad came home from Vietnam, he was different and there is no doubt in my mind that he was suffering from PTSD, we just didn’t know what it was back then.” He went on to say, “Today, that National Guardsman who works at Home Depot on Monday, can find himself in combat the next week, and you just can’t expect that when he comes home that everything will be just  fine and he can go back to working at Home Depot.” 

USA Cares Board of Director, Ron Steptoe, himself a West Point Graduate, is currently devoting time and effort on a national scale to help establish a basic foundation for understanding PTSD and to help limit the enormous emotional and physical toll that accompanies those who suffer from it and their families when it’s symptoms are misunderstood and untreated. From his offices in Washington DC, Steptoe added, “Having a person of Mark’s stature, considering his repeated visits to Iraq and Afghanistan, seeing firsthand what these men and women are facing and then wanting to share his time and talent with those of us who are working to make sure they don’t have to suffer twice is a credit to Mark, his family and his industry.”

 In addition to a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the album, Mark has also put a USA Cares insert inside the case that tells the buyer about USA Cares and asks them to do one more thing; use their cell phone to text the word “TROOPS” to 90999 which will cause a onetime charge to their cell phone bill of $5, which will go directly to USA Cares. Wills said, “The idea of allowing my fans to help make a difference in a Veteran’s life by simply picking up their cell phone is not only cutting edge technology, it is a way that we as Americans can make our voices heard too, and that we take care of our own. So I am going to remind my fans, in audiences and one at a time, to pull out their cell phone and let’s make a difference together!” adding, “And don’t forget to reply with “YES” when prompted!”.