I am very concerned about the issues faced by veterans as they transition from soldier to citizen. In Ohio alone, there are over a million veterans and that number will continue to climb as more men and women return from Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations throughout the world. Many of these heroes are returning from multiple deployments with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury. These new and challenging injuries need original and long-term kinds of treatments – including the necessary support services and outreach efforts that help not only the veteran, but also the families and care givers of the veteran.
At a roundtable I held at the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center in Cleveland, I heard first hand the challenges faced by families caring for returning veterans. A young wife spoke about her difficulties in finding child care for her two young sons and getting time to take off work to drive her husband two hours to get the treatment he needs. She also spoke about the challenges they face together in coping with simple everyday tasks. Her husband, who suffers from PTSD and TBI, has tremendous difficulty remembering things and a car backfiring can send him into a severe panic.
These families make tremendous sacrifices and we must ensure they too get the assistance they deserve. Department of Defense and Department of Veterans’ Affairs cooperation in this effort is imperative. Resource sharing, collaboration, and information sharing between the two departments must remain integral parts of the transition. The seamless transition programs are getting better, but they are not where they need to be.
Efforts to educate family members on the diagnosis and plan of treatment for their loved one are important, but more must be done to provide them with the flexibility and resources needed to actually provide the care the veteran needs. We can’t continue to have transition programs that work, but remain unknown and underutilized. These programs must be accessible and flexible to meet the needs of the spouses, children, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers of these veterans. These primary caregivers are critical to the recovery and reintegration of our wounded warriors.
Lastly, I want to make sure that as DOD and Veterans’ Affairs move forward, our men and women serving in the Guard and Reserve and their families have the equal access to necessary support and transition assistance. As part of the Ohio National Guard’s Family Readiness Program, Ohio serves as one of 15 states currently participating in the Joint Family Support Assistance Program (JFSAP) pilot. The purpose of JFSAP is to connect all branches of service – Active Duty, Guard and Reserve military families with each other and with any support and resources they need from deployment to reintegration. We must make sure that no soldier or their family is able to slip through a crack and this type of collaboration and inclusion is an important first step.