VA Helps Launch Home Base Program for OEF/OIF Vets

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki joined the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to launch a new initiative to help returning Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injuries and their families.

"The coordination of the Department of Veterans Affairs' programs with those of other departments and agencies, philanthropic and volunteer organizations, and with world-class foundations and volunteer groups, is critically important," Secretary Shinseki said. "When those efforts include distinguished institutions such as the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital, veterans win."

PTSD is a recognized anxiety disorder that can follow seeing or experiencing an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury to which a person responds with intense fear, helplessness or horror, and is not uncommon in war. Feelings of fear, confusion or anger often subside, but if the feelings don't go away or get worse, a veteran may have PTSD.

"It takes a tremendous courage for a veteran to step forward and ask for help," says Dr. John A. Parrish, director of Home Base, who served as a medical officer in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. "In New England alone, thousands of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who may be in rough shape psychologically avoid treatment because of this stigma."

The VA is a world leader in the research, diagnosis and treatment of PTSD, providing specialized PTSD programs at its medical centers and clinics. In 1989, the Department created the National Center for PTSD, which promotes research, trains health care professionals and serves as an information resource for researchers and clinicians around the world.

"The hidden wounds of war are being addressed vigorously and comprehensively by VA," Shinseki said. "Our ability to increase mental health capacity to serve combat veterans continues to be a top priority."

VA Boston Healthcare System will work in coordination with MGH and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital to provide high-quality patient-centered care and implement a fully integrated system to enhance a comprehensive communication system between program components. They will work with MGH to establish an outreach clinic on the campus of MGH to assist in the coordination of care of OEF/OIF veterans seen at the MGH.

The program will work to:

• Provide diagnosis and clinical care for OEF/OIF veterans with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries
• Offer outreach and support services to families of affected veterans
• Conduct innovation research to deepen the understanding of these problems and develop better treatments for them
• Educate community health care providers about the diagnosis and treatment of these complex disorders

To read the VA's full press release, which contains information about the VA Boston Healthcare System, the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital, click here.

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