USA Cares teams with other organizations to get the job done
RADCLIFF, KY. - Vermont National Guard Solder, Stephen Larkin of Brookfield, VT was deployed with his unit, HHC 2nd Battalion, part of Task Force Green Mountain to Iraq in 2006. During that time he received back injuries while guarding the Iraq/Kuwait border at camp Navistar. Stephen has also been diagnosed with post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).
Upon medical release from Iraq, Stephen was sent to Ft. Gordon, Georgia for his first round of surgery. He remained there on medical hold for 6 months until released to Veterans Administration care in White River Junction, Vermont. Stephen had one of his vertebra replaced with titanium plate and he has lost feeling in his left side. He was unable to return to work as a result of these injuries. Prior to deployment, Stephen worked as an information specialist and maintenance technician at the Randolph Rest area off I-89.
The Larkin's financial situation has deteriorated as they struggle to live on his VA disability check. His wife, Susan, is also unable to work due to her own health issues. While they struggle to keep their bills paid, they hit rock bottom when the septic system on their property failed completely earlier this year.
Fearing that the state could condemn their home, they discussed their situation with Vermont National Guard Family Assistance Center Specialist, Joyce Cloutier. Joyce immediately brought in Amy-Jayne McCabe, Northeast Regional Manager for USA Cares: A leading non-profit organization providing post-9/11 veterans and military families with financial support and other critical resources.
The Larkin's need was greater than USA Cares could tackle on its own. Part of what USA Cares does very well is to find additional resources for military families when a need is to too great. So Joyce and Amy-Jayne partnered with other organizations such as Rebuilding Together, The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Unmet Needs, and Operation Homefront. The Ethan Allen Chapter of AUSA, Veteran Love and Appreciation, Weed Concrete out of Newport, New Hampshire, Dimmick Septic out of Randolph and the Vermont State Veteran's Assistance office are others who also stepped up for this family. They all came together sharing their money and resources; each offering a portion of the total of nearly $15,000 needed to make a difference in the life of a Soldier who has given so much and asked for so little in return.
"One of the reasons I believe that the Army Community Covenant, a part of the Army’s Soldier Family Action Plan, recognized USA Cares as a source of military family financial assistance is because we partner with other organizations and have dedicated personnel who don’t stop working for veterans until the job gets done' said Bill Nelson, Executive Director of USA Cares.
About USA Cares and Share A Minute
USA Cares is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that helps military families bear the burdens of service with financial and advocacy support. Its mission: to assist wounded warriors and their families, to prevent home foreclosures and evictions and to help with basic needs during financial crisis. Share A Minute asks Americans to donate $25 to represent one minute of a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine’s full 525,000 minute tour of duty. In its five and one-half years of operation, USA Cares has responded to over 11,000 requests for assistance, saved 465 military family homes from foreclosure or eviction thus sparing over 1,000 children from uncertainty. Families anywhere in America can apply for assistance through the USA Cares web site, http://www.usacares.org/, or by calling 1-800-773-0387. For more information on USA Cares contact jrevell@usacares.org.
For more information please contact:
John Revell, Communications and Public Relations Manager
USA Cares
800.773.0387
270.352.5451
www.usacares.org
Showing posts with label caring casualty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label caring casualty. Show all posts
Monday, September 8, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Caring Casualties - The Undecorated Spouse
There’s a largely unreported and unrecognized casualty group associated with the war on terror: The military family.
These are the caring casualties. They are just as wounded as the service members themselves. They face the same struggles as those who serve, but receive less recognition or acknowledgement of their plight. They’re fighting to have their wounded warriors healed while dealing with threats to their homes and a struggling economy, and they’re trying to take care of their families – many with little to no support. It’s completely understandable that they are passionately fatigued. Life is put on hold as surely as if they also were wounded. Now imagine if the wounded didn’t know they were hurt but had all the symptoms.
A recent RAND Study said there may be 300,000 returning service members who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and possibly 320,000 more suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury. Of those, half are undiagnosed, and of those diagnosed only half receive treatment.
Without a doubt the service member needs to get to treatment. There’s an argument that the caring casualties should receive treatment, too. With some compassion and understanding we can make changes in the lives of our returning veterans and their families, showing our unconditional dedication and willingness to take care of them.
Treatment can’t wait. These warriors aren’t getting the help they need because in many cases, they don’t know they need assistance, or worse, they are in denial, unable or unwilling to ask for help. This places the burden on their families.
Service members go home and try to pick up where they left off, a life that’s been in stasis. Relationships and work performance become difficult, made even more so when the causes are viewed as whining or feigning an injury to avoid work or duty or passion and compassion. It wasn’t anything the family did or didn’t do. It’s because the service member was exposed to events and circumstances outside understandable comprehension, because they have seen images that may never fade.
There are hundreds if not thousands of books written that attempt to bring home the savage nature of war, but at the personal level, each individual is unique and each family faces a particular set of challenges that can’t be specifically treated. Each of these individuals has to be treated. The RAND study said that the cost to America of non-treatment of those affected is measured in the billions of dollars. And this is only a measure of dollars, not of the toll on marriages and children, not of the tragedy of alcohol abuse or even suicide.
We have to take dramatic steps, including creating a national dialogue among health care providers, the government and the service members and their families to address Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The stigma of this wound must be removed. America has a rich history of finding innovative solutions to complex problems, and this is one of those times.
Roger Stradley
Founder, USA Cares
These are the caring casualties. They are just as wounded as the service members themselves. They face the same struggles as those who serve, but receive less recognition or acknowledgement of their plight. They’re fighting to have their wounded warriors healed while dealing with threats to their homes and a struggling economy, and they’re trying to take care of their families – many with little to no support. It’s completely understandable that they are passionately fatigued. Life is put on hold as surely as if they also were wounded. Now imagine if the wounded didn’t know they were hurt but had all the symptoms.
A recent RAND Study said there may be 300,000 returning service members who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and possibly 320,000 more suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury. Of those, half are undiagnosed, and of those diagnosed only half receive treatment.
Without a doubt the service member needs to get to treatment. There’s an argument that the caring casualties should receive treatment, too. With some compassion and understanding we can make changes in the lives of our returning veterans and their families, showing our unconditional dedication and willingness to take care of them.
Treatment can’t wait. These warriors aren’t getting the help they need because in many cases, they don’t know they need assistance, or worse, they are in denial, unable or unwilling to ask for help. This places the burden on their families.
Service members go home and try to pick up where they left off, a life that’s been in stasis. Relationships and work performance become difficult, made even more so when the causes are viewed as whining or feigning an injury to avoid work or duty or passion and compassion. It wasn’t anything the family did or didn’t do. It’s because the service member was exposed to events and circumstances outside understandable comprehension, because they have seen images that may never fade.
There are hundreds if not thousands of books written that attempt to bring home the savage nature of war, but at the personal level, each individual is unique and each family faces a particular set of challenges that can’t be specifically treated. Each of these individuals has to be treated. The RAND study said that the cost to America of non-treatment of those affected is measured in the billions of dollars. And this is only a measure of dollars, not of the toll on marriages and children, not of the tragedy of alcohol abuse or even suicide.
We have to take dramatic steps, including creating a national dialogue among health care providers, the government and the service members and their families to address Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The stigma of this wound must be removed. America has a rich history of finding innovative solutions to complex problems, and this is one of those times.
Roger Stradley
Founder, USA Cares
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