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Once the tears, the hugs, the kisses and warm homecoming embraces have subsided, many soldiers are faced with a new struggle: re-entry into civilian life.
“It’s a huge adjustment,” said Lt.Col. David L. Smith, the fulltime chaplain for the Nebraska Air and Army National Guard. “You go from watching your back and your buddies’ back 24/7 to not doing that any more.”
The emotional roller coaster many soldiers find themselves trapped on often goes unnoticed by civilian health care providers.
The Center for Continuing Education (CCE) at UNMC and the Nebraska-Western Iowa Healthcare System Department of Veterans Affairs have teamed to change that.
On March 8, the CCE is sponsoring a daylong conference, “After Our War: Mental Health Challenges — Returning from a War Zone,” aimed at educating civilian health care providers about the issues soldiers and their families face.
“It’s very difficult for our folks who have deployed to go from the war front to the home front, it’s a huge adjustment,” Smith said.
As part of his job, Smith travels the state working with soldiers, airmen and their families on issues that arise before, during and after deployment.
Often though, it’s when the soldier returns from deployment that he or she experiences the most stress.
Some soldiers describe being hypersensitive to their surroundings, depressed, apathetic or angry and don’t seek treatment for fear of being seen as weak or disabled, said conference director, Ahsan Naseem, M.D., assistant chief, mental health and behavioral services and director of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Clinic, Veterans Administration Medical Center-Lincoln division.
“We want to educate providers to know what to ask, what to look for and how to manage these issues so that they can provide the most effective treatment for our troops,” Dr. Naseem said.
A study published a year ago in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that nearly one-third of veterans returning from the war in Iraq sought mental health services in their first year home.
And 12 percent of those soldiers were diagnosed with a mental health problem. The article concluded that further study is needed to ensure adequate resources are available to meet the mental health needs of returning veterans, a notion both Smith and Dr. Naseem readily agree with.
“This is an issue that is not going to go away,” Smith said. “The issue of providing quality mental health care will become increasingly important as more veterans return from war.”
The “After Our War” conference is being held in the Eppley Science Hall amphitheater at UNMC and will also be telecast to 10 sites across the state via the telehealth network. Those sites include: Chadron, Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney, Lincoln, Norfolk, North Platte, O’Neill, Scottsbluff and Wayne.
Other presenters include: Praveen Fernandes, M.D., medical director of the mental health clinic; Christopher Heaney, PsD., staff clinical psychologist; and S. Pirzada Sattar, M.D., medical director of the substance use disorders program. All are with the Omaha Veterans Administration Medical Center.
The deadline to pre-register is March 1, but participants can register the day of the conference based on space availability. All physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, emergency medical personnel, social workers, psychologists and chaplains are encouraged to attend.
The cost is $50 and includes a continental breakfast, lunch and continuing education credit. For more information contact Joan Husted at 559-6235 or via e-mail at jhusted@unmc.edu.