Reintegration Issues Facing Reintegration Issues Facing Returning VeteransReturning Veterans

Caring for Veterans with Post-Deployment Caring for Veterans with Post-Deployment Health Concerns: Past, Present and FutureHealth Concerns: Past, Present and Future

Ron Teichman, MD, MPH, FACP, FACOEMAssociate Director – Clinical, Education and Risk

CommunicationWar Related Illness and Injury Study Center

VA New Jersey Health Care System – East Orange, NJ

We have learned…We have learned…

Veterans need help learning to access the VA system What services are available How to register VA not only for the seriously wounded Who can help

We have learned…We have learned…

The VA needs help understanding this cohort of Veterans Very consumer savvy population –

Think Nordstrom’s not K-Mart Print is out – texting, podcasting,

YouTube, Facebook are in

We have learned…We have learned… There is still a huge stigma attached

to asking for mental health evaluations and services Difficulties with concentration and memory are

common Young and beginning life and careers,

including law enforcement Tough to ask for help in the best of

circumstances Including a MH evaluation removes the

stigma

We have learned…We have learned…

New Veterans don’t know what they are entitled to and they don’t/won’t read large stacks of print material

They were given information at a time and in a setting that was not conducive to their receiving the information

They weren’t told via their media of choice

We have learned…We have learned… REINTEGRATION is a tremendous issue for

these Veterans and many are struggling mightily with it. Physical and mental health Support systems Communications Financial and employment issues Educational options Legal problems Driving difficulties

We have learned…We have learned… Our multi-disciplinary comprehensive

clinical evaluation, which focuses on the individual Veteran can be: Rehabilitative Normalizing Reassuring Therapeutic

The bottom line…The bottom line… The DoD spends a great deal of time and

effort on training these men and women to behave a certain way in order to survive in a combat theater. They are then returned to their civilian lives with no training on how to transition back into a setting where many of those same life saving behaviors, impulses and reflexes are inappropriate, illegal or even hazardous.

Think about driving skills… Think about walking down the street and

noticing people watching you… Think about being at work or school and

remaining focused on the same task for a protracted period of time without allowing peripheral events to distract you…

We do not come home from war. We come home with war.

Thank you