Paying tribute to veterans (11/11/04) 152 as of 9/30/04

Paying tribute to veterans
VA medical centers focus on returning troops
By Joanne Huist Smith

Dayton Daily News

DAYTON | Most days, Carlotta Webb wears hospital scrubs to work as a nurse in the cardiology unit at the Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center. But the 57-year-old grandmother, a major in the Air Force Reserve Nurse Corps, also helps injured soldiers get closer to home as a chief nurse with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base's 445th Airlift Wing.

She will spend Thanksgiving getting sick and wounded soldiers stateside for additional medical care.

"I think there is nothing more worthwhile than to care for the troops serving our country," Webb said. "They come out of Iraq, not recovered, but stabilized. Someone has to get them from Point A to Point B."

Some of the injured, recently transported from the war zone, will get rehabilitation at a veterans medical center. As the nation pays tribute to its veterans today, an estimated 1,200 active duty troops nationally have been treated at VA medical centers since August 2003. That didn't happen in previous conflicts.

"The goal is to get returning soldiers as close to home as possible," said Jill Manske director of social work services for the Veterans' Health Administration in Washington. "Returning troops might get their acute care at a military hospital, then come to a VA for physical therapy."

As of Oct. 23, about 8,150 troops had been wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Most were 30 or younger.

Another 402 have been wounded since 2001 in Operation Enduring Freedom, which includes Afghanistan, Philippines, Pakistan, the Persian Gulf, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere.

"We didn't do a good job for our returning Vietnam veterans. VA Secretary Anthony Principi wants to do things differently this time," Manske said.

The VA and the Pentagon are discussing ways to further this relationship, by opening up medical services at VA centers to active military who are seriously ill or injured no matter where their ailment occurred.

"We want to put our resources where they are needed the most," Manske said.

About 134 people who served in Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom have requested services at the Dayton VA Medical Center.

"We have the capability to provide rehabilitation or to care for those individuals," Lawrence Tucker, spokesman for the Dayton VA Medical Center said. "We want to help them have a seamless transition so they don't get caught up in the paperwork of two government agencies."

The VA staff is adjusting to a younger clientele, with more traumatic injuries.

Body armor has changed the type of injury VA medical centers must be prepared to treat. The torso is better protected, but extremities are still vulnerable.

About 152 amputations — caused by injuries in Iraq — have been performed at all U.S. Army hospitals as of Sept. 30, an Army spokesman said.

"We're trying to train our staff, Manske said. ''They're skilled physicians used to dealing with amputees, but not traumatic amputees."

And, these veterans have high expectations for recovery.

"We have to respond to injuries in a different way. These amputees don't want to just be able to walk. They want to run and play basketball. A lot want to remain on active duty."

Returning troops also are asking for mental health services.

"Stress is a perfectly normal reaction to an abnormal situation," Tucker said. "Being under fire is not normal. We're here to help. This group of veterans seems willing to accept that."