New Englander? 'Moving a Nation Care' for our Vets Tour Kicks Off Thursday

In Boston, Philadelphia, or New York City? If so, hoping to see you as I hit the road at long last in support of my book, Moving a Nation to Care.

An extra bonus for those of you making the events? Actually getting a copy of my book! As mentioned late last month, there has been an unfortunate delay in books arriving from distributor warehouse to Amazon.com and bookstores. I apologize to everyone who has worked so hard on this project, working towards our May 1 arrival and push. I'm disappointed, too. Humble beginnings, thy name is Moving a Nation to Care! :o)

No matter, we move forward.

Everything else is looking fine and we are in place to begin. Books have already been shipped to events in Boston, Philly, and NYC; so, there's that extra incentive of getting your copy before everyone else if you come out. Please join me as we officially kick off the Moving a Nation to Care project -- get some resources, share your knowledge, and/or network with like-minded individuals in your area. I hope we can do some good together...

And about the photo. Barnes & Noble had asked for some photos, and I thought this one would be interesting. The B&W pic I'm holding was taken about 10 years ago. Join me this Thursday night (May 10) in Waltham, MA; next Wednesday night (May 16) in Philadelphia; or next Friday night (May 18) in New York City to see what a difference a decade makes! (Photo by Mike Rohde.)

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for New England press release...

[Download PDF of New England press release]


AUTHOR OF ‘MOVING A NATION TO CARE: POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AND AMERICA’S RETURNING TROOPS’ BEGINS NEW ENGLAND BOOK TOUR ON MAY 10

With stops in Boston, Philadelphia and New York, author Ilona Meagher takes her grassroots ‘Moving a Nation to Care’ project on the road.

Beginning her national book tour in the Boston area on May 10, 2007, author Ilona Meagher shares details on and resources for returning troops, military families and the communities that support them.

But the Moving a Nation to Care book tour is hoping to offer more than the typical book signing. “My hope is that this will be a shared discussion and learning experience on both ends,” Meagher says. “Rather than my standing at a podium and projecting out to those in attendance, I prefer to think of my stops as lively community gatherings.”

The author is inviting both seekers and sages to her events, hoping for an energetic exchange of ideas. Those in the community working directly with veterans and their families (private and VA counselors, nonprofit organizations, activists) are invited to share their resources, tell what successes they are having, and let area members in attendance know what more they need to keep doing their vital work. “I hope the flow of information moves in all directions,” Meagher says.

These valuable resources will be shared with those not able to attend on the Moving a Nation to Care website, a project that will take off this spring and summer at www.movinganationtocare.com. “It’s an empty canvass at the moment, but will become a richer resource as we pool our data, share what we know and what we’ve learned with one another.”

“Tackling post-traumatic stress disorder and ensuring a veteran’s successful reintegration following combat demand an active, engaged community,” Meagher says. “Let’s get moving on this together.”

May 2007 New England Signings
________________________________________
Boston (Waltham), MA
May 10, 2007 – 7:30 p.m.
Back Pages Books
368 Moody Street

________________________________________
Philadelphia, PA
May 16, 2007 – 6 p.m.
Robin’s Bookstore
108 S. 13th Street

________________________________________
New York, NY
May 18, 2007 – 7:30 p.m.
Barnes & Noble-Greenwich Village
396 Ave of the Americas @ 8th St.


Media Resources
________________________________________
Media Kit containing author bio, Moving a Nation to Care press release, clippings and reviews.

For information or to arrange an interview
________________________________________
Publisher
Ig Publishing
Robert Lasner
Ph/Fx: 718-797-0676
http://www.igpub.com
igpublishing@earthlink.net

===================

Thank you to BlueMassGroup.com for frontpaging a post announcing my trip out on Thursday:

(This issue is a big deal, touching on the fundamental decency with which we treat those who are willing to lay down their lives for their country. Thursday, May 10 at 7:30 pm at the Back Pages Book store in Waltham (368 Moody St.) - promoted by Charley on the MTA)

What ultimately happens to the thousands of American combat veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other readjustment challenges will be the responsibility of all of us acting as a community.

Even if the VA had unlimited resources, research indicates that 60% of returning troops who recognize they have issues, will not seek help because of the stigma they feel society has towards PTSD. They will return home and live and work with us, as friends and colleagues. And how our society--our community--reacts to this challenge by either reinforcing the stigma or debunking it, will impact the gravity of this issue. So far history points to a tragic outcome with multigenerational consequences, unless we can become more enlightened.

This Thursday evening, May 10th, there will be a community event that will begin this process.

Institute of Medicine: 'Comprehensive Revision Needed' of Gov't PTSD-Compensation System

From McClatchy News:

The Department of Veterans Affairs must change the way it evaluates former soldiers for post-traumatic stress disorder if it hopes to eliminate the wide disparities across the country in how much it compensates those who have the disability, a new report has concluded. Released Tuesday by the highly regarded Institute of Medicine, the report says that the recent surge in cases of PTSD, coupled with ineffective VA rules, suggests that veterans could be getting disability payments that are too high or too low.

Saying that PTSD has become a "very significant public-health problem," one of the report's authors, Nancy Andreasen of the University of Iowa, concluded that a "comprehensive revision is needed" of the government's PTSD-compensation system. Among other things, the report calls for new testing procedures and new training regimens to ensure that government "raters," who decide on veterans' cases, do a better - and more uniform - job.

Knight Ridder, which McClatchy Newspapers bought last summer, reported in 2005 on the VA's unequal levels of disability compensation, particularly among more subjective conditions such as PTSD. The investigative report found that the size of the benefit varied widely by geography and mental problems had larger variations than physical ailments.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

The report was commissioned by the Veterans Administration.

Continuing:

The VA has come under fire in recent years for the way it handles disability compensation cases, including its inability to bring down a huge backlog of cases and reduce its high number of errors. Wide variations among the 57 regional offices that handle cases compound the delays and mistakes.

Among the more vexing problems are the wide swings in the amount of disability payments depending on a veteran's regional office. Veterans in some states get more money per month than those in other states. Currently, a veteran who's considered 100 percent disabled is eligible for a monthly payment of $2,471.

In its 2005 investigation, McClatchy found that the more subjective ailments had the largest disparities. For example, veterans with PTSD who were assigned to the Wilmington, Del., office were more likely to have the highest disability rating than their counterparts in Lincoln, Neb. In Delaware, 34 percent of those with PTSD had the highest rating; in Lincoln it was 10 percent, the investigation showed. The report was based on 2004 data.

Description of the Institute of Medicine report:

In recent years, the number of veterans seeking disability compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has spiked by almost 80 percent and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is currently providing more than $4 billion in compensation for the condition. The surge in claims by Vietnam War veterans and other former military personnel has revealed inconsistencies in how veterans are rated for PTSD disability and in compensation levels.

Against this backdrop, VA’s Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) asked the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council to convene a committee of experts to address several issues surrounding its administration of veterans’ compensation for PTSD. The resulting report, PTSD Compensation and Military Service, recommends ways to fix shortcomings in VA's program for evaluating and compensating veterans for service-connected PTSD and to restore confidence that the agency is compensating all veterans fairly. The report also addresses questions about how long after a traumatic event PTSD can arise and how to better manage PTSD claims related to sexual harassment or assault during military service.

Report summary.


 Related Posts

• VA Continues to Fall Behind in Claims Processing Time
  
• DoD, GAO Reports Show Lack of Resources, Personnel Slowing Necessary Veterans Health Care Changes
  
• New Report: VA Needs to Change 'One-Size-Fits-All' Approach to Evaluate, Rate PTSD

Study: 1-in-5 Iraq Vets Diagnosed with Migraines, Suffer Higher Rates of Depression and PTSD

From Health Day News (via WaPo):

Almost one in every five U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq is being diagnosed with migraines, and this group has nearly double the risk for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric troubles, a new study finds.

"Any health-care provider who is evaluating a combat veteran for headaches should perform a mental health screen to ensure that comorbid psychiatric conditions are being identified and treated," said study author Maj. Jay C. Erickson, M.D., a neurologist at Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis, in Tacoma, Wash.

Click on 'Article Link' below tags for more...

Continuing:

[It is] the first such study conducted in a military population, [and] "it is also the first study to look at the link between migraine and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)," Erickson said.

In the study, Erickson's team analyzed questionnaires filled out by almost 2,200 U.S. Army soldiers within 90 days of their return from a year of combat duty in Iraq. Most of the veterans "did have significant exposure to combat situations" while serving in Iraq, Erickson noted.

According to the researchers, 19 percent of the veterans were found to suffer from migraine headaches, 32 percent tested positive for depression, 22 percent met the standard for PTSD, and 13 percent tested positive for anxiety.

Half of the soldiers who suffered from migraines were also clinically depressed, compared to just 27 percent of those without the painful headaches, the researchers reported. And 39 percent of migraine sufferers were also deemed to have PTSD, compared to just 18 percent of soldiers without migraines. Anxiety disorders were also higher among migraine-prone veterans (22 percent) compared to those without the headaches (10 percent). ...

It's also difficult to assess whether the pain of migraine helps trigger depression and anxiety in returning soldiers, or whether these types of psychological ills help spur migraines. ...

Erickson believes the new findings should serve as a wake-up call to military and civilian doctors to look a bit further whenever they spot migraines in a patient, because those headaches could point to psychological troubles, as well.

"That's the main recommendation here," he said.

 Related Posts

• Study: Asthma-PTSD Link Found
  
• Texas A&M Researchers Set to Study Biological Components of PTSD
  
• Charlie Rose Explores Fear, Stress and the Brain
  
• Study: Specific Brain Chemical Appears to Influence Individual Resiliency and Stress Reaction
  
• Study: Specific Brain Chemical Appears to Influence Individual Resiliency and Stress Reaction
  
• Drug May Ease Combat PTSD Nightmare Incidence
  
• Study: 'Prolonged Exposure' Therapy Superior Treatment for Female PTSD
  
• Combat and PTSD: Study Gets Underway at Waco VAMC
  
• JAMA's Iraq Combat Mental Health Study: A Review
  
• Combat Stress: A Look Back at the New England Medical Journal Study
  
• A Sample of the Latest PTSD Study Results
  
• Neuroscience Study: Prefrontal Cortex Hyperactivity in Brain Associated with Learned Fear, PTSD
  
• Study: Common PTSD Med Guanfacine As Effective As Placebo
  
• Study: Vets' View on Combat Injury Effects PTSD
  
• Study: Higher Memory, Attention Lapses for OIF Vets

Saturday Seattle Community Event Features Iraq Vet and Poet Brian Turner

Received this invite from a member of Soldier's Heart-Seattle:

On May 5, 2007, the Voices in Wartime education project is sponsoring a poetry reading by Iraq veteran Brian Turner, author of the collection “Here, Bullet”, some very powerful poems! [Read more on Turner and other OEF/OIF vet artists.]

When: Saturday, May 05, 2007, 7 p.m.
Where: Seattle Town Hall, 119 Eighth Ave., Seattle, WA 98101
Tickets: $15.00 at Brown Paper Tickets
Information: 206-632-7587

As part of the event we’ll have a “fishbowl” on stage with:

• Brian Turner
• Voices in Wartime leader Andy Himes
• Poet Emily Warn
• John Roth, a young Iraq war veteran and writer
• A Seattle city council member
• Local community college students
• A young Laotian refugee

The idea is that these folks will have an open discussion of how war has affected them, and the audience can question them freely in a give-and-take atmosphere. Our hope is that this kind of sharing of powerful emotions around war will spark more community involvement.

Five words: Wish I could be there. For more information download a flyer, or visit the event page. A big ^5 to the event organizers!