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Photos New PTSD Clinic uses virtual reality Dr. Alan Maiers (left), the assistant chief of the Warrior Resiliancy Program at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, simulates a virtual reality city patrol Aug. 26 for Maj. Monty Baker, the Warrior Resiliancy Program director of research. The virtual reality program is designed to treat servicemembers who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder after returning from combat operations. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Amber Bressler) Download HiRes Wilford Hall opens new PTSD Clinic Posted 9/17/2009 Email story Print story by Linda Frost 59th Medical Wing Public Affairs 9/17/2009 - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Wilford Hall Medical Center has a new clinic to treat patients who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. The PTSD Clinic offers evidence-based treatments and a virtual reality program to help Airmen returning from combat operations. PTSD is an anxiety disorder which can occur after a person has been through a traumatic event, according to the National Center for PTSD. "We want to provide the highest quality care possible for patients experiencing PTSD," said Col. (Dr.) Gerald Talcott, 59th Medical Wing Mental Health Squadron commander. As part of the Outpatient Mental Health Clinic, the PTSD Clinic was created in response to the increasing number of service and family members with PTSD. It is timely in that it coincides with the establishment of the Air Force's new Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy, a pilot program initiated at eight Air Force bases. The Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy, using a computer-simulated Virtual Iraq and Virtual Afghanistan, allows Airmen to interact and recreate a traumatic scene and recall sights, sounds, smells, thoughts and feelings. Still in its preliminary stages, the clinic staff started seeing patients Aug. 3, and is led by Dr. Kellie Crowe, staff psychologist. "We are very excited about providing evidence-based treat

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany - A KC-135 is profiled as it is converted into a flying hospital, transporting soldiers from Iraq & Afhganistan.

A mental health clinic has opened at Bagram Air Base that is modeled after a program successfully used in Iraq, officials say. Called the Bagram Freedom Restoration Center, the clinic houses servicemembers for several days during a structured program. Servicemembers come from across Afghanistan, according to Capt. Don Hawkins, officer in charge of the clinic.

Performance-based continuation boards, the Navy's latest end-strength shaping effort, are scheduled to kick off this September and will determine if a sailor is going to be recommended for continuation in service or forced to retire.

1/23/2009 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Air Force Personnel Center officials here will begin to transfer health treatment records of retired and separated active, Guard and Reserve Airmen to the Department of Veterans Affairs Feb. 1.

Fort Eustis and other Army bases will soon take steps to prevent suicides by tackling stress and depression.

2/26/2009 - SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) -- Almost 56,000 Soldiers, Marines, Sailors since October 2001 have been aeromedically evacuated supporting expeditionary operations by the total force team of active-duty, Reserve and Guard Airmen.

Feturing TAPS offers peer-based support, crisis care, casualty casework assistance and grief and trauma resources, all free. Unlike most programs offered through the military, TAPS provides ongoing help to anyone grieving the death of a loved one in the military, regardless of the relationship to the deceased, where they live, or the circumstances of the death.

Patients seeking help for facial paralysis have a new treatment option available now offered by doctors at Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

The pilot for a new, jointly-developed DoD-VA disability evaluation system (DES), set to expand from five to 22 military bases by May, does much of what proponents hoped it would. It allows more injured or ill service members to win higher disability ratings, to see VA payments start faster and, through greater transparency in the process, to feel they have been treated more fairly by government.

LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- A resource sharing agreement between the Nix Health Care System in San Antonio and Wilford Hall Medical Center doctors here will provide increased services to bariatric patients.

Four soldiers serving in Contingency Operating Base Adder, Iraq, with the New Hampshire National Guard earned a special distinction last week when they became their company's first all-female medical evacuation crew.

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, July 24, 2009 - Army Spc. Amanda Cleveland is a self-described simple girl who is "not into drama." But it's tough for an Army medic to avoid dramatic situations, especially during a deployment to Iraq.

Basebook, a Web-based application linked via the popular social networking site Facebook, lets members post when and where they've served, and search for others.

The Army has ordered its network managers to give soldiers access to social media sites like Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter, Danger Room has learned. That move

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan - Most U.S. Navy medical personnel in the Pacific - military and civilian - will be banned from smoking or chewing tobacco anywhere during duty hours and while in uniform, in accordance with a recent Navy instruction.

The recent global swine flu outbreak has underscored the critical need for good surveillance and access to rapid epidemiological data. The US military, starting with early monitoring efforts in the 1970s, has developed a broad-based influenza monitoring

BREMERTON, Wash. (NNS) -- A baby recently born eight weeks early at Naval Hospital Bremerton (NHB) was delivered by staff members who implemented the new DoD patient safety strategy of TeamSTEPPS, a teamwork-based program designed to improve patient safety.

LANDSTUHL, Germany - The Defense Department is studying whether to build an Army hospital and supporting facilities on Ramstein Air Base to replace the 56-year-old Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

Doctor uses music's healing power PBS special titled "Healthy Minds," a 13-part educational series in its second season on New York's WLIW 21. The show will focus on how soldiers deal with post traumatic stress disorder and how military and medical personnel are helping alleviate it. The program will focus on music, and how it helps patients come to terms with their war memories and experiences. The doctor's poetry, another element inspired by her therapeutic sessions, will also be featured on the program.