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ORANGE COUNTY, NY PUSHING FOR VETERANS CENTER
--
"I'd rather sit down and talk with some other
vets
than with a shrink at the VA hospital."
At his Middletown home, Army Spc. Rob
Loria plays a keyboard
with his right hand in December 2004. The soldier lost his left
arm from a roadside bomb during a mission in Iraq.
(photo: TH-R/DOMINICK FIORILLE)
Story here...
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/
pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070109/NEWS/701090319
Story below:
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Diana says Orange County needs vet
clinic
Letter notes 'alarming rate' of veterans with
PTSD
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
Goshen — They first opened in the wake of the
Vietnam War — small counseling offices to help traumatized vets grapple
with the mental scars of combat.
Now, as the number of young men and women returning from Iraq with
psychological wounds rises, these federally funded vet centers — an
intimate link in the chain of veteran health services — are getting
renewed attention.
Orange County Executive Ed Diana has asked the federal government to
open one in his county. There are 207 such centers around the country,
but the closest one for the more than 820 Iraq veterans living in Orange
County is in White Plains.
In a letter last month to a regional director for the Veteran Affairs
health-care system, Diana cited the growing number of Orange County
veterans and the "alarming rate" of post-traumatic stress disorder among
Iraq vets in general — said to be as high as 30 percent.
Local vets applaud the idea of an additional vet center.
Some have crossed the Hudson to the Veterans Affairs hospital in Castle
Point for counseling. But a vet center in Orange County would be closer
for many, and it would connect them with the sort of counselors many
prefer: fellow vets.
"Personally, I'd rather sit down and talk with some other vets than with
a shrink at the VA hospital," said Chris DiNapoli, a Marine vet who
served in Iraq and lives in Monroe.
His friend, Rob Loria, who lost an arm in Iraq, went to Castle Point for
PTSD treatment for more than a year, first meeting one-on-one with a
counselor and then taking part in a weekly group discussion. At least a
dozen Orange County vets were in his group, he said.
"You come back from a conflict like that, and you don't have a lot of
people to talk to," said Loria, who lives in Middletown and studies
business at SUNY-Orange.
In this area, those suffering the most severe PTSD symptoms can seek
inpatient treatment through the VA, which has 21 beds set aside for that
purpose in Montrose and Castle Point.
But vet centers, which typically have three to five workers, are
appropriate for those with milder cases. The White Plains site has five
employees — including a psychologist, a social worker and a counselor —
and sees about 30 new veterans a month, said Roger Paulmeno, the team
leader.
"It's a little more of a relaxed setting," said Al Giordano, a Warwick
resident who helped create the Wounded Warrior Project in 2002 to help
injured service members. "Very positive reviews from the veterans."
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Larry Scott
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