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New Non-profit Focused on Tests, Treatments for TBI and PTSD

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By Debbie Gregory.

New nonprofit organization Cohen Veterans Bioscience is looking for ways to cut the time it takes for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress (PTS) research to transform into real-life treatments.

The goal of the company is to speed the discovery of first generation diagnostics, treatments, and cures for PTS and TBI by improving the scientific understanding of the basic biological mechanisms that set the stage for these conditions.

This is the latest endeavor supported by Steven Cohen to address the needs of our nation’s veterans. Cohen, the chairman and CEO of Point72 Asset Management, is a philanthropist who has financed other veterans mental health programs, including the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center for the Study of Post-Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury at NYU Langone Medical Center and the Cohen Military Family Clinic at NYU Langone.

About 1.7 million Americans experience head injuries each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Such injuries are not uncommon in the military; 327,299 troops were diagnosed with a TBI from 2000 to March 2015.

Additionally, more than 138,000 active-duty members who deployed in support of combat operations were diagnosed with PTSD from 2001 to 2015.

“Our veterans have come back from Iraq and Afghanistan facing PTS and TBI, and we owe it to them to find better diagnostic tools and treatments,” Cohen said. “PTS is often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed, and our service members don’t receive effective treatment as a result.”

Cohen Veterans Bioscience President and CEO, Dr. Magali Haas, said, “Despite significant investment by the National Institutes of Health and the Defense Department in basic science, there is still a huge unmet need for these individuals. There are only two approved medications for PTS and nothing for TBI. The fact that this gap exists despite these investments indicates that more work needs to be done.”

Haas says she hopes to shorten the development for diagnostics and treatments from the average 11 to 13 years to five years, and, for a diagnostic test, perhaps as little as three years.

“It is sometimes disheartening to hear it’s going to be another three, five, 10 years until we have that first-generation diagnostic test, but I think it’s actually going to be sooner than that because the investments are right,” Haas said.

“I’m proud of what we’ve done to address the mental health needs of our veterans. But we haven’t done nearly enough,” says Mr. Cohen. “With Dr. Haas’ leadership, Cohen Veterans Bioscience will advance the science and availability of new medical treatments and we will be able to help more veterans tomorrow than we did yesterday.”

Cohen Veterans Bioscience is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit

College Tuition for Starbucks Veteran Employees and Their Families

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By Debbie Gregory.

Starbucks is further demonstrating its good corporate citizenship by paying tribute to the families of their employees who have served in the U.S. Military.

The Coffeehouse giant is extending its college scholarship program to cover the spouses and children of veteran employees. In addition, it offers active military workers up to 80 hours of paid service leave.

In a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Arizona State University, the company offers all part- and full-time benefits eligible U.S. employees full tuition coverage for every year of college to earn a bachelor’s degree. Now, the partnership between ASU and Starbucks is being extended to spouses and children of Starbucks U.S. veteran employees. This is an opportunity for them to pick any of the more than 50 undergraduate majors the ASU online campus offers.

In 2013, Starbucks, along with the Schultz Family Foundation, pledged to join forces across the public, private and non-profit sectors to hire, honor and strengthen the military community and to spark a renewed spirit of responsibility for citizenship in America. Two years in, the company has hired more than 5000 veterans and military spouses, passing the halfway goal to hire 10,000 veterans and military spouses by 2018.

“We have a responsibility as a nation to honor our veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice, but it goes beyond saying thank you,” said Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.

Starbucks recognizes the value of a college education, and wants to put that goal in the grasp of its employees. So far, the existing Starbucks College Achievement Plan has been taken up by more than 4,000 employees.

The extension of the college plan to veterans’ families will affect up to 5,500 Starbucks employees who are veterans or the spouses of military members.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

The Tragic Connection Between ALS and Veterans

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By Debbie Gregory.

There’s something about military life that is putting our nation’s vets in harm’s way, and it’s not military action or a terrorist threat.

Lou Gehrig’s disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a horrifying disease that weakens muscles to the point of paralysis, and renders the sufferer unable to move or breathe without help.

Studies show that if you’ve served in the military, any branch, any war, or even if you served in a time of peace, veterans have a 60% higher risk of getting ALS than the general population, and no one seems to know why.

Lou Gehrig’s disease was discovered in 1869, almost 150 years ago. But according to the ALS Association, the prognosis for anyone diagnosed with the disease is the same as it was then.  ALS damages neurons, paralyzing muscles as it spreads, becoming lethal in two to five years as breathing becomes compromised. The mind remains untouched.

The disease was recently brought to public conscientiousness, thanks to the worldwide success of the ALS bucket challenge.

“We don’t know what about service could lead to increased risk of the disease in veterans,” said Patrick Wildman, vice president of public policy for the ALS Association. “It could be a variety of factors from head trauma and excessive physical activity to exposures. It also could be a combination of a genetic predisposition with an environmental trigger.”

The Mayo Clinic guesses that reasons for the connection “may include exposure to certain metals or chemicals, traumatic injuries, viral infections and intense exertion” but says that “exactly what about military service may trigger the development of ALS is uncertain.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs considers ALS a full service-related disease. That’s a blessing for veterans and their families, who can’t imagine how they would cope with the expenses.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Uber and Lyft Offer Free Rides to Job-Seeking Vets

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By Debbie Gregory.

Arch rivals in the ride-sharing space, Uber and Lyft have put their differences aside for a good cause. Both companies have announced that they will offer free rides to homeless veterans trying to get to work opportunities.

This gesture could offer struggling veterans a little help where it’s really needed.

“We have heard time and again that transportation to and from work and job interviews is often a significant hurdle for homeless veterans trying to find work,” Air Force Col. Nicole Malachowski, the executive director of Joining Forces, said in a statement.

While Lyft has yet to offer any specific details on how it’ll be handling the ride program, Uber is promising that over the next year it’ll work with five veterans organizations affiliated with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program to provide around 10,000 free rides to jobs, interviews, and other employment events.

Uber estimates it will contribute 10,000 rides at an average ride of $10 to $12 — or $125,000 during the next year — to provide transportation for veterans to jobs, interviews and other employment events, said Kristin Carvell, a company spokesperson.

Uber also has pledged to onboard 50,000 service members, veterans and military spouses as partner drivers on the Uber platform.

Getting the homeless off the streets and into housing has been a major goal for the Department of Veterans Affairs. By using a voucher system that subsidizes most or all of the rent, the VA is seeing a lot of success. Once housing has been secured, the VA then works to provide the veterans with counseling, health care and other benefits.

VA spending on homelessness jumped from about $376 million in 2009 to about $1.5 billion last year, according to estimates by the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Altavita and R.A.W.- A Winning Combo!

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By Debbie Gregory

It’s often said, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” At MilitaryConnection.com, we are proud to know the great folks at Altavita. Altavita is Southern California’s premier not-for-profit continuing care retirement community.

When Altavita Marketing was organizing a 5K charity run/walk, they asked Military Connection’s CEO Debbie Gregory to recommend a deserving non-profit that could benefit from the race proceeds. It just so happens that we are also lucky enough to know the great folks at Rebuilding America’s Warriors (R.A.W.)

As it turns out, this was a perfect match.

The 5K took place on Saturday, November 14th at the Altavita Continuing Care Retirement Community in Riverside, CA. It was a huge success, with more than 100 participants taking part, and a great day for all. Age was no factor, as the oldest participant, 84 years young, and the youngest participant, four years old, could both attest to!

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Former Major League Baseball player and broadcaster Ron Fairly was the announcer for the day’s activities, which also featured prizes and raffles. At the end of the event, when everyone had finished the race, they sat down to a delicious pancake and sausage feast. Awards were handed out, with runner 449, grandson of an Altavita resident couple, winning the race.

Altavita is meeting the needs of a new generation of mature adults. With a broader commitment, a spirit of inclusion, and a culture of greater diversity, they seek to enrich the lives of the people they serve and strengthen the community. While guided by its mission, vision and values to serve mature adults,  Altavita demonstrates their commitment to those who serve through act of wonderful corporate citizenship.

This was on point when Altavita presented R.A.W.’s founder, Maggie Lockridge, with a check for $5,158. The donation will assist the non-profit organization’s mission to provide reconstructive surgeries on a national basis to our wounded and disfigured warriors, the brave men and women who carry scars as a result of shrapnel, burn and artillery wounds.

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Everyone is looking forward to Altavita 5K Run for R.A.W. 2016!

The Importance of the Jason Simcakoski PROMISE Act

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By Debbie Gregory.

Legislation currently moving through Congress would honor Marine Jason Simcakoski and change how VA medical centers handle patient pain management and prescription pain killer distribution.

The Jason Simcakoski PROMISE Act is named for the Wisconsin veteran who died after receiving a toxic cocktail of pain medications through the Tomah, WI VA Medical Center.

The legislation is getting bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.

Simcakoski died Aug. 30, 2014, in the hospital’s short-stay mental health unit. He had taken 13 prescribed medications, including several that cause respiratory depression, in a 24-hour period. Not only did the staff fail to properly prescribe the medications, they blundered the medical response when Simcakoski was found unresponsive in his bed.

Representative Ron Kind of La Crosse, WI said that America needs to keep its promise to take care of our veterans. “Two million of our veterans [are] now coming home from deployments in Iraq, & Afghanistan. Most of them are bringing home with them a lot of physical and mental needs. ”

The legislation has the support of veterans groups such as the Disabled American Veterans, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Paralyzed Veterans of America.

The Jason Simcakoski PROMISE Act focuses on updating pain management guidelines, strengthening provider education and training, improving patient advocacy, and authorizing a new commission to examine alternative treatments.

Simcakoski served in the Marines from 1998-2002 and suffered a head injury. Anxiety attacks led him to seek care at the Tomah VA, where his family said he struggled for over four years with no improvement, despite the long list of medications.

At the legislative hearing, Jason’s father, Marvin Simcakoski, said, “The Jason Simcakoski PROMISE Act is an important piece of history. Helping our veterans get the best care possible is the ultimate goal. The guidelines in the Jason Simcakoski PROMISE Act will help the VA give our veterans and service men and women the best health care they deserve. Our family doesn’t want to see what happened to our son Jason happen to another veteran our service person. Our family is proud to support this bill.”

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Iraq/Afghanistan Vets Seek Out Their Own Connections

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By Debbie Gregory.

Younger veterans are looking for community connections that fit their needs, not the needs of older veterans.

These young vets often feel disconnected from legacy groups like the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion. The timing couldn’t be worse, as legacy groups are desperate to bolster their numbers to make up for an aging membership that has significantly declined over the years.

Both the VFW and American Legion say Vietnam-era veterans make up the largest portion of their membership. Only about 15 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are eligible to join the VFW have done so.

Today’s returning service members, the Facebook/Twitter/Snapchat/Instagram generation, are gravitating toward groups such as Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, The Mission Continues, and Team Rubicon.

Younger veterans say the traditional organizations differ in many ways from groups that appeal to them, including the types of advocacy they do and their ways of communication: “snail mail” versus email.

But over the years, the VFW and American Legion have built up political clout in D.C., and they need to be able to “pass the torch” in order to maintain the ground they have gained.

“We have some posts that are experiencing great success in recruiting younger veterans,” says VFW Communications Manager Randi Law. For example, a VFW post in Denver has veteran yoga classes and is hosting veteran art exhibits. “Many of our posts… recognize that the younger generation doesn’t want to sit in a dingy environment swapping war stories. They want to be engaged and continue working for their community.”

“These up-and-coming veterans’ groups are extremely important, but I think that in a lot of ways and for a lot of reasons they turn to the local VFW for the support they need,” Law says. “We’ve been around a long time, so we offer a solid support system in thousands of communities across America.”

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

 

VITAL Puts Psychologists on Campuses for Student Veterans

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By Debbie Gregory.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has deployed a contingent of mental health helpers to dozens of college campuses across the country to assist student veterans.

The program, Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership, (VITAL) is designed to make it easier for student veterans to get help transitioning from the military to the classroom.

While veterans and military service members arrive on campus with a wealth of knowledge, strengths, and experiences typically not seen within the traditional student population, they may also arrive with unique challenges. Many student veterans report difficulty adjusting to school after deployment, difficulty managing military versus civilian roles and identity, and difficulty relating to non-veterans.

“VITAL focuses on supporting veterans to address any issues or barriers — internal or external — so they may meet their educational goals and be successful in school,” says Kai Chitaphong, VITAL’s national director. “All of our VITAL coordinators are licensed clinical psychologists or social workers who, depending on the student veteran’s preference, can provide clinical counseling on campus or refer them to our closest VA medical center or community-based outpatient clinic for care.”

Giving schools tools they can use to truly welcome and support our returning service members is one way to repay that debt we owe our veterans, by making sure we are providing our veterans and military families with an education worthy of their exceptional talents and experience.

The program has grown from five locations its first year in 2011 to more than 100 colleges and universities, 23 medical centers and 16 Veterans Integrated Services Network locations.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Advocate Jan Scruggs Spearheads D.C. memorial for OEF/OIF Vets

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By Debbie Gregory.

Veterans from all eras and conflicts are coming together to launch an effort to honor the 2.5 million troops who have been to the war zones since 2001. They want to give veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan a place to gather and reflect on war’s toll, and reunite with battle buddies.

The idea is to give Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom vets a national monument that honors their service, according to Jan Scruggs.

Scruggs, a United States Army veteran, is a man who gets things done. He served in the Vietnam War, and later founded the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which built the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

“There would be no [Vietnam Veterans] Wall without Jan Scruggs,” former defense secretary Chuck Hagel said. “He came up with the whole concept of, first of all, honoring Vietnam veterans, and then had the courage . . . to make it happen.”

Scruggs believes it will take between seven and 12 years to establish the memorial — from working with legislative allies to developing an architecture plan.

“We have to memorialize the troops, remember those serving, certainly remember those who gave their lives,” Scruggs said, identifying the 6,800 who’ve lost their lives in the last 14 years.

Scruggs and other military leaders have begun advising the newly minted nonprofit Global War on Terror Memorial Foundation. Director Andrew Brennan and his team of 11 board members (eight of them OEF/OIF veterans) have the singular mission of creating this memorial.

“We are global war on terror veterans ourselves, and we’re not a big, national nonprofit, we don’t have our hands in any other movement, we just want to do this one, worthwhile thing for this cause,” said Brennan, who deployed to Afghanistan in 2010.

Scruggs said the initiative will have some “recognizable names” within military leadership also backing it.

“I think that those who’ve served in Afghanistan and Iraq should know there’s a lot of us ready to work on this, and we’re going to get it done,” Scruggs said.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.

Shipping HolidayPackages To Military Servicemembers

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By Debbie Gregory.

As the shipping deadlines for this year’s holiday season approach, we wanted to remind you that time is running out to get those holiday gifts in the mail.

For mail addressed to/from APO/FPO/DPO AE zips 090-098 (except 093); AA zips 340; AP zips 962-966, the Priority Express Mail Military Service deadline is December 17th .
For First-Class and Priority Mail letters, cards and packages, the deadline is December 10th .
For mail addressed to/from APO/FPO/DPO AE ZIP 093, the deadlines have already passed.
For Domestic Mail (For Ships in Port and Personnel on Shore Duty in the U.S. mailing to U.S. destinations-not including APO/FPO) First-Class Mail and regular Priority Mail deadlines are December 20th, and Priority Express Mail is December 23rd.

The deadline has already passed for International First-Class Packages and Priority Mail addressed to Africa and Central and South.

International First-Class Packages and Priority Mail addressed to Asia/Pacific Rim; Australia/New Zealand; Canada; Caribbean; Mexico, Europe; and the Middle East should be mailed no later than December 9th.

Priority Express Mail Military Service (PEMMS) is available from selected military post offices. If mailing to an APO/FPO/DPO address, check with your local post office to determine if PEMMS service is available and specific delivery service standards.

Space Available Mail (SAM) refers to parcels mailed to APO/FPO addresses at parcel post rates first transported domestically by surface, then to overseas destinations by air on a space available basis. The maximum weight and size limits are 15 pounds and 60 inches in length and girth combined. From overseas locations, items mailed at Standard Post rates are sent to CONUS by air on a space available basis. The maximum weight and size limits are 70 pounds and 130 inches in length and girth combined.

Do not attempt to mail alcohol, switchblade knives, pornography, controlled substances, and explosive or incendiary devices. They are prohibited.

Military Connection salutes and proudly serves veterans and service members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Guard and Reserve,  and their families.


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