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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

As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, more and more of our service men and women are experiencing both physical and emotional wounds. The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine and the Tug McGraw Foundation know that the pace at which scientific advancements are made can be accelerated through increased civilian/military partnerships. With the support of co-chairs Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Country United is a two-day event comprised of the Partnership for Military Medicine Symposium and the Country United Gala taking place on November 6 & 7, 2009 in Washington, DC. The symposium will highlight discoveries in military medicine and foster collaborations among military and civilian partners to further advance research and clinical care. The Country United Gala will recognize the efforts of medical researchers, clinicians, and educators, as well as friends of military medicine.

The Army has documented that the survival rate in ongoing conflicts is over 90%, the highest recorded in modern combat. This survival rate is the product of numerous innovations such as improvements in protective equipment, improvements in evacuation, improvements in the training of combat medics, and innovations in the medical equipment and techniques available at all levels of care from self/buddy aid, through field care given by medics and into hospital care delivered in theater and in the U.S.

n April, the 3rd Infantry Division (ID) expanded its use of the Army's battlefield electronic medical recording (EMR) system, Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care (MC4), to two more garrison aid stations at Fort Stewart, Ga. The 1st Battalion, 64th Armor and 26 Brigade Support Battalion joined the Special Troops Battalion Aid Station at Fort Stewart and the 603rd Aviation Support Battalion at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga., as the first group of 21 garrison aid stations led by the 3rd ID to discontinue the use of paper medical records.

This week marks the sixth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, and there is a growing awareness of the stresses faced by Iraq veterans, families and the Army, which along with the Marine Corps, has borne the weight of the war.

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.

Working together toward the same end-strengthening the health care capacity and crisis response capabilities of African nations to ultimately empower Africans to improve their health and security-was the theme of a conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Military Health System that introduced the new U.S. Africa Command surgeon to an array of partners from the military, Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the African Union.

TUESDAY, Dec. 9 (HealthDay News) -- A decade-long study into post-traumatic stress disorder among combat veterans and their identical twins has yielded critical information on the root causes of this devastating condition. The researchers found that both genetic and environmental factors increase the risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The work, to be presented Tuesday at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology annual meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., was sponsored by both the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health and the Veterans Administration.

Smoking and other tobacco use is common in the military, presenting a major health risk to the men and women in uniform. Indeed, tobacco use rates within the Department of Defense (DoD) exceed those of the general population by two percent. So this November 20, as we observe the Great American Smokeout established by the American Cancer Society, the Military Health System (MHS) encourages service members and their families to make a commitment to quitting smoking.

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) commissioned the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report to evaluate the potential long-term consequences of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The study readily identified the lack of literature on blast-related TBI and the long-term effects of TBI when blast injury is a contributing factor. The five recommendations are listed in the article.

Michael Kilpatrick, M.D. , Director of Strategic Communications for the Military Health System visits NNMC Bethesda "As we left Bethesda from a visit that was anticipated to be for "giving," I realized that once again I had "received." The fortitude and determination of a young Marine had rekindled my resolve to make certain the Military Health System always delivers on this obligation. The energy and enthusiasm of the hospital staff assured me the MHS has skills and compassion to do "the right thing."

Too many veterans' disability claims take more than a year to process, the Veterans Affairs Department's inspector general said. An audit showed that a year ago, 11,000 veterans had claims pending more than a year. It said the agency awarded retroactive payments totaling about $43 million for about a third of them. Of that total, it says about $14 million was unnecessarily delayed. Among the worst cases, the inspector general said, was one involving a veteran who was owed nearly $65,000 for a delayed claim, and another in which a veteran waited more than two years for payment, the inspector general said. The report said the veterans agency had made progress in reducing handling claims, but that delays still created too much of a financial burden for veterans.

Maj. Gen. Patricia D. Horoho, RN, the new chief of the Army Nurse Corps, has ambitious plans to transform Army nursing using lessons learned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the best of military nursing research, and the latest advances in the nursing profession.

For years, the Army has treated the stresses related to combat by treating the soldier, but the vision of a Resiliency Campus, which is in the process of becoming a reality, will devote an entire city block on Fort Hood to spiritual fitness, physical wellness and mental health that will not just treat the soldiers, but their entire families.

Bringing ideas and experience aplenty from the West Coast to the nation's capital, TRICARE's new deputy director can quickly and easily sum up TRICARE's importance to America's uniformed service members, retirees and their families. "When you join the military you're promised a comprehensive health care benefit," said Navy Rear Adm. Christine Hunter, the new deputy director of the TRICARE Management Activity. "We want to ensure it is available in all locations and over all the periods of life."

A group of researchers at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children have erased brain cells in mice that store fearful memories, holding out the hope that terrifying memories in humans may one day be erased before causing conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder. While the sights and sounds of a terrifying blast or crash would stay intact, the memory of the fear it caused could conceivably be erased, the researchers suggest. Their work appears today in the journal Science.

A new study of US veterans suggests that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and metabolic syndrome, the group of symptoms that increases heart disease and diabetes risk, may be linked. Dr Pia S. Heppner of the Veterans Affairs San Diego Health System in La Jolla and her colleagues found that the more severe a person's PTSD symptoms, the more likely they were to also have the metabolic syndrome. Evidence is mounting that exposure to trauma can worsen physical health, including increasing heart disease risk, Heppner and her team note in the journal BMC Medicine.

The Defense Department is deeply committed to providing the best care possible for military members with post-traumatic stress disorder, despite the determination that the disorder does not meet the criteria for the Purple Heart, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said yesterday.

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The Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs are making "great strides" in the ability to electronically share the medical records of troops and former troops under their care who are transitioning between the health care systems of the two departments.