MilitaryHealth

Former Army sergeant and triple amputee Bryan Anderson offered a message of perseverance and courage at a recent event held in McLean, Va. Anderson, who received the Purple Heart for his injuries suffered during a deployment to Iraq, urged those in the audience to "experience life and have fun - you only live once."

OCEANSIDE, Calif. - The region's naval medical hospitals and clinics are distributing more fliers and posters reminding military service members and their families about preventing the spread of the flu amid international concerns about "swine flu."

WASHINGTON, April 27, 2009 - The Defense Department is monitoring the swine flu situation closely, with its primary focus on protecting the military population, a senior Pentagon official said today.

National Mental Health Month-Army Bulletin

USS Dubuque will not deploy this June due to a confirmed case of H1N1 virus onboard.

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.

He's Walter Reed's bionic man, a wounded warrior who walks on a pair of new battery-powered prosthetic legs outfitted with some of the most high-tech gizmos around.

With more and more veterans coming back from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder, North Coast Congressman Mike Thompson is trying to make sure they get the help they need. Thompson and Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., introduced legislation Thursday in the House that would require every soldier to have face-to-face mental health screening before being deployed on a combat mission, again upon their return and then every six months for the next two years. The bill is companion legislation to a measure introduced in the Senate by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

The Defense Department recently handed out contracts to three companies to design independent living systems for injured vets. They're supposed to help the wounded make the transition from hospitalization to home, and then provide long-term care. Two of the systems being developed, from Ingenium Care, LLC and Camris International, use a wireless network packed with touch screens, motion detectors and wearable, pre-programmed schedulers.

The Veterans Affairs Department has launched its new "Returning Veterans" Web site at http:// www.oefoif.va.gov to welcome home veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts with a social, veteran-centric Web site that focuses on their needs and questions, VA officials announced today.

The Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, launched last year by the Pentagon, is designed to ease the transition home for reservists.

MHS Blog, guest blogger Janice Hanson, PhD, associate professor of medicine, pediatrics and family medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.