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NEUROTRAUMA
Streaming
Media
Defense
& Veterans Brain Injury Center
The Department of Defense
and the Department of Veterans Affairs have collaborated to develop an integrated
disease management system for traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. Their mission
is to serve active duty military, their dependents and veterans with TBI through
state-of-the-art medical care, innovative clinical research initiatives, and
educational programs.
They have a comprehensive
and very informative website.
Their mailing address is:
Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
P.O. Box 59181
Washington, D.C. 20012
Additional
Military Assistance
- Military
Onesource
Military OneSource is
a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week, toll-free information and referral telephone
service available worldwide to active duty, Reserve, and National Guard
military members and their families, and deployed civilians and their families.
Military OneSource provides information ranging from every day concerns
to deployment/reintegration issues.
Military OneSource offers
a Web site at http://www.militaryonesource.com/ (user id: military; password:
onesource) for information on a variety of topics and issues. Users may
use the Web site to order educational materials (e.g., booklets, cds, etc.)
at no
charge and access consultants on-line on a 24/7 basis.
Military OneSource services
are pre-paid by the Department of Defense. There is no cost for any Military
OneSource services: telephone calls, online services, or educational materials
(no shipping or handling charges).
Military OneSource consultants
have Master's degrees in a variety of fields such as education, social work,
early childhood development, psychology, and counseling. They have on an
average of over five years of experience in their respective fields. Many
consultants are Certified Employee Assistance Professionals. All face-to-face
counselors must be master's level or higher and be licensed in their respective
states.
Military OneSource assistance
includes:
* Parenting and Child
Care
* Education
* Relocation
* Financial and Legal Concerns
* Everyday Issues (finding services in a local community, consumer issues)
* Emotional Well-being
* Health and Fitness
* Addiction and Recovery
* Adult or child special needs
* Military Life (pre/post deployment, reunion, etc.)
* Work Concerns
* Crisis Support
* Elder Care
* TRICARE "warm transfers"
* Life-Issues Library and Pre-Paid Materials
This program is not
designed to replace or reduce on-base services. It expands those services
by providing service members, their families, and those support agencies
a 24/7 resource to assist in information, referral, and educational material.
This program will enhance the services provided by the military branches
and will have a link from the Military OneSource Web site to various branch
Web sites.
A Communications Plan
has been mutually determined to ensure that service members and their families
learn about these services. In addition, customized communication materials
such as brochures, posters, magnets, newsletters, fliers, e-mail communication,
and Command letters have been developed. Each Program Manager, working closely
with their service branch Contract Officer Representative, will have designated
points of contact for disseminating communication materials both electronically
and in print. There are also targeted communications (e.g., relocation flyers
promoting personalized research or home mailings for families participating
in exceptional family member programs). Briefings at installations, National
Guard and Reserve units, family days, deployment/return events, conferences,
trainings, and other military events can be scheduled with the Program Managers.
Military OneSource can
be accessed by the following telephone numbers:
From the US: 1-800-342-9647
Outside the US: (country access code) 800-3429-6477 (dial all 11
numbers)
Or call collect from outside US: 484-530-5947
TTY/TTD: 800-346-9188
En espanol, llame al 877-989-5392
Telephones are answered
live, without any automated system. The standard is to answer over 90% of
the calls within 20 seconds or about 3 rings of the phone. Callers get immediate
access to a Masters level consultant.
- Military
Homefront
The Military HOMEFRONT
Web portal is the central, trusted, and up-to-date source for servicemembers
and their families to obtain information about all Department of Defense
Quality of Life programs and services. The site is a service of the Office
of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. Whether you
live the military lifestyle or support those who do, you'll find what you
need.
- Veterans Health Benefits
101 for TBI Advocates
Live webcast: July 7, 2005
Archive version: Maternal Child Health Bureau
(still waiting for this webcast to be uploaded).
The National Association
of Protection and Advocacy Systems (NAPAS) with funding from the Human Resources
Services Administration (HRSA) is sponsoring a free Webcast on "Veterans
Health Benefits 101 for TBI Advocates." The goal of the Webcast training
is to help protection and advocacy agencies (P&As) and TBI advocates
understand the range of Federal veterans health benefits available, including
the basics on TRICARE eligibility, where to get additional assistance, and
tips for navigating the Veterans Administration claim system. A representative
from the Specialized Training of Military Parents (STOMP) program is the
featured speaker. STOMP is a Parent Information and Training Center for
military families of individuals with disabilities. For more information
contact Elizabeth Priaulx at NAPAS:
Elizabeth@napas.org or 202-408-9514.
- Military
Severely Injured Joint Support Operations Center (MSIJSOC)
*MSIJSOC*
The Military Severely
Injured Joint Support Operations Center was launched on February 1, 2005
in Arlington, Virginia as a new initiative for service members and veterans
severely injured in Iraq and Afghanistan to help them and their families
through difficult times.
The Severely Injured
Center is a call center with care managers standing by. It serves as a back-stop
to every other government program intended to help military members and
veterans who suffer severe physical or mental wounds from war. If a severely
injured veteran has hit a roadblock with finances, education, job assistance,
counseling or child care, they should call the center. The goal is to prevent
them from falling through the cracks of more well-publicized programs from
the services, the Department of Veteran Affairs or any other Federal agency.
The intent is to ensure
seamless care and support for those veterans as long as needed. The commitment
is for years, not just months and not just until the VA healthcare system
assumes care. Regardless of circumstance, these injured members and veterans,
or their families, can call the center for any kind of help including assistance
with medical appointments, arranging visas for family who wish to visit
from overseas, or even coordinating transportation of patients through airports
without painful security pat-downs.
The center is there
if the services need help in staying in touch with their own wounded, or
if they drop the ball on an individual case or if a severely injured member
needs help beyond active duty, perhaps with medical evaluation boards or
accessing the Department of Veterans Affairs. When contacted by injured
members or veterans, the center will coordinate support with services or
the VA. But rather than pass the case on, it will address the problem and
follow up at regular intervals. Over time, the center hopes to contact every
severely wounded veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan to ensure they get the
care and support they need.
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*MSIJSOC's Career Center
for Military Severely Injured*
The MSIJSOC also offers
a new Career Center for Military Severely Injured. The new Career Center
(also located online at http://www.military.com/support
and accessible via 1-888-774-1361) builds on efforts by the MSIJSOC to ensure
that servicemembers with severe injuries have easy access to all available
resources to assist with their recovery and rehabilitation. The Career Center
offers an
extensive job board powered by Monster, the leading global online careers
property, as well as employment assistance, education options and benefits
information for severely injured servicemembers and their families. The
Career Center also enables employers to express their interest in hiring
people from this exceptional talent pool. Resources are drawn from the Office
of Military Community and Family Policy as well as from every branch of
military service, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of
Labor and private organizations.
-
*MSIJSOC's Transportation
Security Administration (TSA) Partnership*
TSA has partnered with
the Department of Defense (DOD) to develop a process that allows TSA to
have better awareness of when our military heroes with injuries are traveling
through our Nation's airports. In early February 2005, TSA was granted permission
by DOD to place TSA watch standers in the newly commissioned Military Severely
Injured Joint Support Operations Center on a 24-hour, 7-day a week basis.
Here is how the process
works:
. Once flight arrangements are made with the airline, the severely injured
service member, their families, individual service severely injured programs,
and/or even military treatment facilities & VA hospitals (calling on
behalf of the injured service member to be discharged) can call the Operations
Center's 24/7 toll-free number (1-888-774-1361) with details of the itinerary.
. The caller will be connected to a TSA liaison team member via the Center's
care managers.
. The TSA liaison person will then notify the appropriate Federal Security
Directors at the involved airports to ensure that any security screening
required at those affected airports will be conducted by TSA screening experts
with empathy and respect in order to make the overall experience for the
service member as expeditious and pleasant, as possible.
The Military Severely
Injured Joint Support Operations Center may be reached at: http://www.military.com/support
or 1-888-774-1361 for 24/7 Family Support
PUBLICATIONS
- Defense Health Care:
Most Reservists Have Civilian Health Care Coverage But Most Assistance Is
Needed When Tricare Is Used (September 2002)
GAO Report: GAO-02-829
The study focused on the
health care benefits of reserve component members and dependents and the effect
mobilization may have on these benefits. It (1) identified the health care
coverage reservists have when not on active duty, (2) determined the extent
to which mobilizations cause disruptions in coverage for reservists and their
dependents, and (3) assessed the costs of various options, including providing
reservists and their dependents health care through TRICARE, the Federal Employees
Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), or civilian coverage.
The study concluded that
nearly 80 percent (a rate similar to comparable
groups within the general U.S. population) of reservists had health care coverage
when they were not on active duty. Reservists obtained coverage through a
variety of sources, and some reservists had more than one source of coverage.
The most frequently cited sources of coverage were civilian employer health
plans (75 percent of reservists) and spouses' employer health plans (28 percent
of reservists). Reservists with dependents were more likely to have health
care coverage than those without dependents.
A digital version is available
at:http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02829.pdf.
-
Military And Veterans'
Benefits: Improvements Needed In Transition Assistance Services For Reserves
And National Guard (June 2005)
GAO Report: GAO-05-844T
This study focused on
concerns about the transition assistance program (TAP) (which is jointly
administered by the Departments of Defense (DOD), Labor (DOL), and Veterans
Affairs (VA)) for the Reserves and National Guard. That report (1) assessed
TAP administration, including program participation, and (2) identified
actions agencies are taking and challenges they face in improving TAP.
Based on the study the
General Accounting Office recommends that DOD, in
conjunction with the DOL and VA, determine what demobilizing Reserve and
National Guard members need to make a smooth transition and explore options
for providing that assistance. It also recommended that VA keep track of
service members who attend the Disabled TAP component to ensure that adequate
follow-up is possible with this population, which may be in particular need
of the services.
A digital version is
available at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05844t.pdf.
-
The Cost Of Survival:
America's Active Duty Soldiers And Veterans -- The New Face Of Traumatic
Brain Injury (Draft)
This 15-page document
(by the HRSA's MCHB Federal TBI Program) provides some background on the
military's current reliance on men and women of the Reserve and the National
Guard; describes the cycle of care for these men and women who sustain brain
injuries; and presents two case studies--one of an active duty soldier and
another of a veteran and his wife. These personal stories provide an anecdotal
view of the types of experiences faced by soldiers and veterans with TBI
as well as their families.
A previous draft was
distributed at the 2005 Federal TBI Program Grantee Meeting. A current draft
is available at:
http://www.nashia.org/grantee/tote/Draft%20Educational%20Packet%20-%20Veterans.pdf
Veteran's
Benefits
There are special veterans'
benefits available to people age 65 and older who either served 90 days or more
of honorable active wartime service or served less time, but were discharged
because of disabilities related to their service. Widows and widowers of such
veterans are also eligible for benefits regardless of their age. Since there
are many factors that affect eligibility, call or visit the Veterans Administration
office in your area for assistance in applying for benefits. You can find out
more about veterans benefits by clicking on http://www.va.gov/
or calling (800) 827-1000 for assistance; TTY: (800) 829-4833. Hawaii’s VA website
is found at http://www.va.gov/sta/guide/facility.asp?ID=297
providing information of where they are located and phone contacts.
For information on frequently
asked questions about veteran benefits, you can also contact the Legal Aid Society
of Hawaii at 536-4302 (Oahu), 244-3731 (Maui), 961-2851/329-3910 (Island of
Hawaii) or visit their website.
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