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CENTRAL NEW YORK PLANS ONE-STOP CENTER TO HELP

VETERANS REINTEGRATE AFTER DEPLOYMENT --

"They can get referrals for mental health processing,

for teachers in the classroom, children's programs

and marriage enrichment all in one place at one time."

 

 

Story here... http://www.9wsyr.com/news/
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Story below:

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Planning For Veterans Homecoming In CNY

Syracuse (WSYR-TV)

 

Is Central New York ready for the coming wave of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan?

15,000 Fort Drum troops, 1,500 guard members, and an unknown number of others now on active duty will all need some services. Some will need a lot of help, so will their families.

Wednesday, in Syracuse, some groundwork was laid for a better homecoming.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are producing a unique kind of combat veteran.

Thousands of soldiers are and will be, coming home after serving longer and multiple tours of duty.

Deborah Stellfox, with Fort Drum Family Readiness, says, “As you know, deployments are now 15 months. My husband, personally, has done four tours, combat tours, and a lot of the 10th Mountain families, that's true of as well. As they retire, they're going to need services in the area they retire to, depending on the county and the community.”

Deborah and others who advise Congressman Jim Walsh on veterans affairs, met today to plan a better way to help the newest vets and their families.

James Cody, with the Syracuse VA Medical Center, says, “As I speak, we have requests in for, and these requests will be met, for additional people because we're getting more and more people coming, so we need more case managers, we need speech pathologists, we need psychiatrists.

“We're seeing it all. We’re seeing PTSD, we're seeing some traumatic brain injury, certainly a lot of rehabilitation, but it's all according to who settles in this area and what their injuries are.”

But beyond the wounded, disabled vets who'll depend on the Syracuse VA for their health care, this group says there's a need for a new, one-stop location for a host of other services.

Stellfox says, “They can get referrals for mental health processing, for teachers in the classroom, children's programs, marriage enrichment, all in one place at one time, including volunteers who may want to help disabled veterans with mowing their lawns, with maintaining their homes, that sort of thing.”

The location for this one-stop, central point of entry for veterans’ services hasn't been determined yet.

But it would be in the greater Syracuse area, complementing a similar community-based center in Watertown that already services Fort Drum.

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Larry Scott  --