HEALING & SUPPORT
Reach Out to the Wounded
Your Caring Support Can Make The Difference
Resources for Helping Wounded Soldiers
Military Sites Offering Assistance
Traumatic Brain Injury
Stress Resulting from Trauma
Veterans, Share Your Stories
Due to remarkable developments in technology, and the speed in treating soldiers in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, many more soldiers are surviving what would have been deadly injuries in previous wars. In many cases, the injuries are so severe that the soldiers can no longer see active duty. These wounds, seen and unseen, are outside the experience and comprehension of citizens not directly affected by these conflicts. Our fallen soldiers have sacrificed their lives; these wounded heroes will sacrifice for a lifetime.
Usually, there is an extended healing process, as well as frightening uncertainties related to the injury and the eventual outcome for the patient. The spouse, parent and sometimes siblings may have to quit jobs, school and daily life as they knew it to care for the soldier. They are uprooted from their communities, often facing transfers to multiple facilities, sometimes to several cities around the country, making it very difficult to hold a steady job or gather a support network. And yet, as with anyone facing a crisis, they need help with everyday activities, such as rides to appointments, assistance with in-home care, meals and childcare. Once home, they need more – sometimes just simple things like someone to cut the grass. In some cases, the recovering soldiers need jobs. And in every case, they need to feel appreciated. Considering the magnitude of this disruption to their lives, these soldiers and families need our emotional and practical support – today and for many years to come.
In his call to America on the 2007 National Memorial Day Concert Gen. Colin Powell, said:
“Your caring support can make the difference in whether someone succumbs to the darkness of isolation and dejection or embraces with new resolve their continued recovery to reach new potential. Don’t be reluctant to reach out and offer tangible aid and support to the sons and daughters of America who are returning home from the battlefields to our neighborhoods. Volunteering to do practical things especially helps in a long recuperation. Or simply be a caring presence where you become a sanctuary of understanding and encouragement. Anointing them with friendship blesses and supports each of them in ways that make for a better America.”
Resources for Helping Wounded Soldiers and their Families
Although much more needs to be done to support our wounded soldiers and their families, many organizations are making a valiant effort to address their concerns. If you are in need of support or would like to contribute to the effort yourself, here are worthy organizations that can help.
Wounded Warrior Project
The Wounded Warrior Project serves wounded, active duty serviceman and their families as the soldiers are rehabilitated and adjust to civilian life.
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross offers many opportunities for volunteers to help military families or work at a military hospital. Local chapters help volunteers find rewarding activities that fit their schedules. The Red Cross needs people of all skill levels and provides training, if needed.
VA Voluntary Service
The Department of Veterans Affairs Volunteer Service (VAS), one of the largest centralized volunteer programs in the federal government, was founded in 1946 to assist veterans while they are cared for by VA health care facilities. VAS volunteers assist patients by augmenting staff with end-of-life care programs, foster care, community-based volunteer programs, hospital wards, nursing homes and outreach centers. The VAS website offers many ways to join the effort.
DAV Charitable Service Trust
This trust supports physical and psychological rehabilitation programs, meets the special needs of veterans with specific disabilities – such as amputation and blindness – and aids and shelters homeless veterans.
DAV Transition Service Program
This program helps service men and women make the all-important transition back to civilian life. DAV representatives conduct or participate in pre-discharge transition assistance briefings, review service medical records and confer with rating specialists, physicians and others. They also assist in completion of applications and prosecution of benefits claims.
Yellow Ribbon Fund
Long-term rehabilitation at any hospital is not easy. Yellow Ribbon Fund volunteers arrange opportunities for injured soldiers at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval Hospital and their families to enjoy the local community, taking them to sporting events and other outings. In addition, the mentoring and internship program gives veterans a chance to learn job skills at a local company or technical institution.
Operation Second Chance
Operation Second Chance provides support for soldiers and Marines at Walter Reed and assists them when they transition back to duty or to civilian life. This includes aiding in rehabilitation and recovery, assisting in the modification of housing to accommodate disabled veterans and helping families in any way needed.
Soldiers’ Angels
Soldiers’Angels programs include special teams that conduct a wide a variety of wounded, deployed and family support activities. Each team is dedicated to meeting a specific need above and beyond the adoption commitment of letters and care packages. An “Angel” may join as many teams as desired.
Fisher House Foundation
Supporting America's military in their time of need, Fisher House Foundation provides a “home away from home” that enables family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful time – during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury. Fisher House helps families of patients receiving care at major military and VA medical centers throughout the country and overseas.
Operation Hero Miles
Through this simple program, travelers can donate their frequent flyer miles to give family members of wounded service men and women free plane tickets to visit their loved ones recovering at military hospitals across the country.
Hire Vets First – REALifelines
REALifelines is dedicated to helping injured veterans return to fulfilling, productive civilian lives. The organization has created a network of resources to address the professional and educational goals of veterans while they deal with the realities of rehabilitation and recovery.
Operation Education – University of Idaho
The University of Idaho has launched Operation Education Scholarship, a program designed to help veterans who are severely and permanently wounded as a result of service since September 11, 2001. The spouses of wounded veterans also will be eligible for the scholarship. It is the first such program in the nation.
USO
The USO offers many ways for you to get involved personally or as a company by volunteering and contributing. With troops stationed all over the world and in need of support, the USO provides a means to have a direct and positive impact on their lives.
Heroes to Hometowns
Heroes to Hometown welcomes back service members who can no longer serve in the military because of injuries sustained, helping them to reintegrate with support from national and state networks, such as American Legion State Adjutants, and coordination of resources.
Sentinels of Freedom
Sentinels of Freedom gives injured veterans the gift of time – helping them readjust to civilian life and their new physical challenges while finding life paths that best suit their abilities, interests and needs. Recipients receiving assistance with housing, transportation, employment and education and are connected to a team of caring volunteers who provide guidance, mentoring and friendship during a four-year program.
Department of Veterans Affairs
If you're a veteran or volunteer looking for a VA facility in your area, visit the
Department of Veterans Affairs website’s Facilities Locator & Directory.
Hope for the Warriors™
The mission of Hope for the Warriors™ is to enhance the quality of life for U.S. service members and their families nationwide who have been adversely affected by injuries or death in the line of duty – with particularly attention to the short- and long-term care of the severely injured. Fundraising projects include the Run for the Warriors and Team Wounded Warrior. Special programs include Spouses’ Scholarships, A Warrior’s Wish™, Hope-N-Comfort Bears, Wounded Warrior Barracks/Spouses Support Group and Warrior House transitional, adapted living quarters and Immediate Needs Grants for transportation and other necessities. 
Military Sites Offering Assistance
Military Severely Injured Center
This one-stop website lists employees interested in helping severely injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and provides a toolbox for veterans seeking employment, including resume creation, a skills translator, salary calculator and job fair information. It also provides links to additional transition, rehabilitation and employment resources.
Army Wounded Warrior Program (AW2)
This program provides support and advice for severely wounded, ill and injured soldiers and their families during medical treatment, rehabilitation and transition. Advocates cut through red tape to navigate federal, state and private benefit systems and link soldiers to selected financial, educational, employment, legal and medical resources.
The Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund
The Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund provides financial grants and other assistance to wounded Marines, sailors and their families.
America Supports You
American Supports You provides a variety of resources for Americans wanting to show support for our military — whether by sending a care package, donating airline miles, contributing to scholarship funds or supporting wounded servicemen and women. The site lists more than 150 non-profit organizations dedicated to helping our troops and their families.
Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injury has become a hallmark injury of the current conflicts, affecting at least 30 percent of the wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. To learn about traumatic brain injury visit:
Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center
The mission of the DVBIC is to serve active duty military, their dependents and veterans with TBD through state-of-the-art medical care, innovative clinical research initiatives and educational programs.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
The NINDS traumatic brain injury information page defines TBI and discusses treatment, prognosis and current research. It also provides links to a number of organizations that can help.
Stress Resulting from Trauma
Another long-term issue for many soldiers returning from the home front is the struggle with post-traumatic stress. Symptoms include depression, nightmares and other sleep troubles, panic attacks, flashbacks, alcohol and drug abuse, and marital difficulties. There are a growing number of resources nationwide that address this concern.
To learn about post-traumatic stress, visit:
National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
NCPTSD aims to advance the clinical care and social welfare of U.S. Veterans through research, education and training on PTSD and stress-related disorders.
VA Vet Center Home Page (Readjustment Counseling Service)
On this website, visitors can enter a zip code and find the nearest VA Vet Center where treatment for veterans and their families is available free of charge.
National Institute of Mental Health
NIMH is the world’s largest scientific organization dedicated to research on the understanding, treatment and prevention of mental disorders and the promotion of mental health. This website explains the signs, symptoms and treatment for PTSD and where to get help.
Veterans, Share Your Story
For those who have been affected by the wounds of war, sharing their stories can be painful, especially because they feel isolated from those who do not experience the ramifications of war on a daily basis. Yet sharing these experiences can also have a powerful healing affect and can help the wider population understand the severe challenges the wounded and their families face. The Veterans, Share Your Stories section of this website offers help in voicing painful memories.
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