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Wounded Warriors on an Outing from Walter Reed Army Medical Center Visiting Maserati of Baltimore 4-7pm Friday November 14, 2008

Wed, 13 Nov 2008 20:51:20 GMT

posted by kaedavis

Our date and time is finally confirmed. A small group of car loving wounded soldiers and veterans currently residing at Walter Reed Army Medical Center are coming for an early dinner outing visit to Maserati of Baltimore.

Scheduled to arrive approximately at 4pm, the soldiers will stay on for a catered dinner from Sweet Lela’s Market Cafe on Towson Circle. Additional box lunch or to go meal dinners will be available upon request for diners wishing to join these purple heart heroes. Please call or email Sweet Lelas restaurant owner Tony Iacampo directly to make meal delivery arrangements for your party or guests.

Friends of the dealership are encouraged to drop in to say hello and give their thanks. If the weather is clear and you are an exotic car or luxury automobile driver who would be interested in having your vehicle be part of this informal visit and car show, please email mobexotics@gmail.com.

To learn more about how to sponsor a soldiers outing event in the Baltimore Washigton DC Metro region, please visit http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/.

Army Program Reinvents Wounded Care

Wed, 6 Nov 2008 23:10:12 GMT

posted by libnot

A new building serves as headquarters for the Warrior Transition Brigade at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III

Staying Power: Army Program Reinvents Wounded Care
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2008 – When the first news stories broke in February 2007 detailing a breakdown in soldier and family care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., senior Army leaders scrambled into action.

Headlines screamed of neglect as the nation’s highest leaders, from the Pentagon, Congress and the White House demanded an answer as to how this could have happened.

In fact, there was no single answer. And Army officials soon discovered that the problem was systemic and not isolated at Walter Reed.

Five-and-a-half years of combat on two fronts, coupled with historically high combat survival rates, had thrust hundreds of soldiers, battered and broken, and their families, into a bureaucratic health and rehabilitation system that had all but lay dormant for nearly 30 years.

“Once we became engaged in the two wars, when we started to look for those rehabilitative capabilities, they really didn’t exist,” said Army Brig. Gen. Gary Cheek, the Army’s assistant surgeon general for warrior care and transition. “We didn’t take good care of the families. We weren’t watching out for the soldiers. … We also really didn’t know what was going on.”

Soon, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates would proclaim that, next to fighting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, taking care of wounded warriors was to become the Defense Department’s highest priority.

What followed was an all-out Army assault on the broken systems, substandard living conditions, scattered family support programs, and even passive leadership that had contributed to the breakdown in wounded warrior care.

Over the past 20 months, the Army has reinvented its wounded warrior care program, creating a system that puts soldiers and family members at the center of care, surrounded by protective layers of leadership, case managers, doctors, support specialists and senior leader oversight.

Transformation Goes Full Circle

The model for the transformation began at the same place the problems were first discovered. The first newly-designed wounded warrior brigade stood up at Walter Reed only three months after its hand-picked top leaders put boots on the ground there.

“We have made tremendous progress here at Walter Reed, and even more importantly, across the Army in establishing systems that provide much more comprehensive care for our warriors,” said Army Col. Terrance McKenrick, the brigade’s first commander.

McKenrick arrived at Walter Reed on March 2, 2007. Three months later, he had a fully operational brigade – a warrior transition unit – with three companies and more than 200 cadre in place to take care of 700 warriors.

Outpatient soldiers who had been scattered in apartments off post with little or no supervision were consolidated in one massive, renovated barracks on the hospital complex where they would be within walking distance of medical care.

Before the brigade was in place, platoon sergeants, who often also were patients, would care for about 50 soldiers each, McKenrick said.

“Most of his day was spent just trying to get accountability,” McKenrick said. “He did not have the time … to be able to help individual soldiers and families with all of their issues.”

Each platoon sergeant there now has three squad leaders who care for about 12 soldiers each. The squad leader is the point man in what the Army has coined the “triad of care.” Central to the newly formed layers of support, every soldier has a squad leader, a nurse case manager and a primary care physician.

Before, there were 24 case managers handling an average of 55 soldiers each. Now, there are 39 case managers watching over about 18 soldiers each, McKenrick said.

“It’s a much more proactive involvement … in helping individual warriors,” he said. “They now have the time to do that well and manage those care plans a lot closer than they did in the past.”

Delivering Quality Care

There were no primary care physicians in the past, either, McKenrick said. If a wounded soldier needed to see a doctor for something other than his main injury, specialists at the hospitals had to fit those appointments into their already packed schedules. Now each company has an assigned primary care physician who takes on no other patients. Each cares for about 230 soldiers.

The nurse case managers and the physicians are supported by about 20 other staff in a newly renovated warrior clinic housed on the first floor of the main hospital. The area is only for wounded warriors and gives them a central location for all of their primary medical needs. Appointments with specialists throughout the hospital are scheduled by the nurse case managers and squad leaders to ensure the soldiers know when and where to make their appointments.

Also new is the development of a comprehensive transition plan. Launched across the Army’s medical command in March, the plan is a collaboration of doctors, case managers, occupational therapists, specialty care providers and the soldiers. The idea is to map out goals that are needed for each wounded soldier to successfully transition either back into the Army or into civilian life.

The plan is in place within a month of the soldier’s arrival at the transition unit in outpatient care, said Army Lt. Col. Suzanne Shaw, the senior case manager for the Warrior Transition Brigade at Walter Reed.

“Every warrior … is here because they are going to have a major life change. We like to start from the very beginning … with developing a plan for the future,” Shaw said. “This will really help focus our warriors away from illness and injury and on to productive civilian life or returning to duty.”

The warrior in transition units now serve as the Army-wide model. In the past, there were 300 cadre taking care of wounded warriors in companies spread out across the Army. Now there are 2,500 cadre caring for 12,000 wounded warriors in 35 transition units and nine community-based health care groups across the United States. The Army plans to build 21 transition complexes that will place the staff, barracks, hospitals and support services in one central location. The first will be built on Fort Riley, Kan., where construction is slated to begin next year.

The 12,000 soldiers in the transition units now represent a cross section of illnesses and injuries, and all are not necessarily combat related. Of those 12,000, only 1,500 are Purple Heart recipients. The move to include all wounded, ill and injured was made, said officials, so they can offer the same level of health care to all soldiers.

“I suppose we could consider a special program for only our [combat] wounded soldiers. But then when I have a soldier who has three combat tours and he’s injured in a motorcycle accident, he’s not eligible,” Cheek said. “Do we not have an obligation to take care of him?”

Wounded Warrior Program Adds Oversight

For some seriously injured soldiers, the Army also has added another layer of advocacy and oversight.

The Army’s Wounded Warrior program, or AW2, includes in its fold soldiers who have a single disability rating of 30 percent or a combined disability rating of 50 percent. If a soldier is injured and is anticipated to receive either of those disability ratings, he is entered into the program even before the rating is awarded.

More than 3,000 soldiers and veterans are now in the AW2 program and of those, about 900 have a 30 percent disability rating. Army officials expect the program to grow as they work to incorporate those with the combined 50 percent rating.

The AW2 program began in 2004 as The Disabled Soldier Support System, but later changed its name because soldiers didn’t view themselves as disabled, officials said. All soldiers in the program have been injured since Sept. 11, 2001. The program encompasses soldiers injured in combat, as well as in training and off-duty accidents.

The soldiers and families are assigned an AW2 advocate that oversees their care, even as they are still being cared for at the transition units by the “triad of care.”

“I’ll be frank. A number of leaders have asked ‘Isn’t that redundant?’” said Col. Jim Rice, the AW2 program director. “I’ll admit to some redundancy. What makes us unique is that advocate will be with that soldier and family when the [transition] leadership is no longer responsible for them.”

An Advocate for Life

Over time, the role of the AW2 advocate increases as the nurse case manager’s role decreases, so that by the time the medical board makes a determination, “the person working with them most is the one that is going to be with them for the rest of their life,” Rice said.

In fact, the advocate will continue to work with the soldier and family as long as needed, even if the soldier transitions back to active duty, Rice said. So far, 70 soldiers have returned to duty, he said. Most have been medically retired and have returned to their communities where they receive care at Veterans Affairs facilities.

There are about 80 advocates stationed around the United States, Rice said. Some advocates are stationed at major military treatment facilities, others at VA rehabilitation centers, and still others are in remote locations, working out of their homes. All advocates are civilians, either contractors or civil servants, and many are retired military. Some have medical backgrounds, but not all, Rice said. They manage about 40 cases each, but the Army’s goal is to get that down to about 30 each, he said.

The advocates typically are generalists and their powers lie in knowing whom to call when there is a problem. They become community-based experts and they have access to senior military leaders in the beltway that soldiers and families don’t have.

Even as the soldier begins his treatment in the military hospital, it is the advocates who give him a picture of the options for the future. Using an elaborate software program, the advocates input factors like rank, age, number of family members, finances and education and create financial predictions for their future based on the data.

The advocates are required to contact their soldiers and families monthly. While they are in the transition unit, contact could be more often, Rice said. There is no requirement for increased interactions, but the advocates make the judgment based on need, he said.

Many soldiers and families have successfully transitioned to active duty and back to their communities and case management is no longer needed, Rice said. For those who do still need it, contact is made every month, at least for now, he said.

“There is no real graduation from the AW2,” Rice said. “The last thing we want to do is leave someone out there who needs some support.”

Senior Army officials agree that there is more work to be done in the programs, mostly in the way of fine-tuning the massive overhaul. When surveyed this year, nearly 80 percent of the 12,000 soldiers in the warrior transition units said they were satisfied with the Army’s efforts, Cheek said.

“I think the difference for families from February 2007 to now is night and day,” Cheek said. “We have simplified things. We have given them single points of contact. We take care of them from day one and work with them through the entire process.”

While soldiers recognize the Army’s investment, they also will give honest assessments of the program, Cheek said. “It’s not all milk and honey from them,” he said. “Soldiers are going to tell the things they like and don’t like.”

For Rice and his AW2 program, success is measured as all or nothing.

“I can’t be satisfied until we go out with a survey to all 3,000 and every one of them says … ‘I’m getting everything I need,’” Rice said.

(Editor’s note: This is the 2nd article in an AFPS special report about seriously wounded servicemembers who return to active duty).

Related Sites:
Staying Power: Seriously Wounded Warriors Return to the Fight
Army Wounded Warrior Program

army, care, disabled, walter reed, wounded

A Christmas Card Idea For Our Wounded Soldiers

Mon, 11 Nov 2008 23:26:23 GMT

posted by libnot

From Spike…thanks!

This is a great idea!

When doing your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to the address below. If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful special people, who have sacrificed so much would get.

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001

If you agree….please pass this message along to your friends and family.

christmas, christmas cards, friends and family, walter reed army medical

Walter Reed Middle School Makes Special Appearance in McCain’s Speech

Thu, 5 Sep 2008 17:40:00 GMT

posted by shmuly

Last night thousands of viewers were puzzled over the mansion-like building in the backdrop of McCain’s speech. The image appeared on the backdrop for about five minutes, then faded into an American Flag.

Well, mystery solved – it was a picture of the Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood, California.

Now the next mystery is why was Walter Reed the backdrop for his speech anyway? Many people believe that an image of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center was supposed to be featured behind McCain, but one of the tech guys on his campaign goofed and put up a picture of the school.

Nothing in McCain’s speech had anything to do with the school, or any school for that case, and it took technicians five minutes to figure out their mistake.

How could they mess up like that? I did a little experiment and went into Google and typed Walter Reed to see what would come up. The first three search results were for the Walter Reed medical center. There was, however, a related search link at the top that was for the middle school.

Interesting, but I still think it would be easy to determine that McCain would want the medical center, not the middle school.

Due to all the contacts from the press, Walter Reed Middle School will be making a public announcement sometime today to confirm that the building in McCain’s backdrop was in fact their school.

This is the picture that McCain used of Walter Reed Middle School.

And this is the picture of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

This Week’s Weak NObama-Notions

Thu, 12 Sep 2008 23:16:30 GMT

posted by julieluongo

CHARLIE GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, “Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.” Are we fighting a holy war?

SARAH PALIN: You know, I don’t know if that was my exact quote.

CHARLIE GIBSON: Exact words.

~ABC News Interview, Sept. 11, 2008

Ok, fine. Sarah Pork Barrel Palin is attractive, especially when she stands next to the dorks in politics. Still, when pretty people start spouting Christian dogma and run-on about creationism in school, tasks from God in Iraq, and a bunch of provincial wedge issues, doesn’t that take the shine off the dime?

I’ve been wondering why everyone is so in love with Sarah Palin. And I’ve finally decided it’s because she seems like a regular-Jane. She’s a hockey mom whose husband got a DUI and teenage daughter got knocked up. If you’re one of the few Americans that can’t relate, let me just say “there but for the grace of god, (sex education, and responsible drinking) go you.”

Palin’s not one of those snooty intellectuals. She got her BS from a Tier-3 school after a little university hopping. Academic rigor isn’t really her thing. But she was voted Miss Congeniality in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest. People like her! (Well, Charlie Gibson doesn’t. But he’s probably not keen on her attempts to censor her staff or ban books. Professional journalists are so picky about free speech.)

If we valued intelligence, we would have elected the Gore - Lieberman dream team (sigh). But honestly, what does it matter? The VP is just a do-nothing figurehead (cough-Cheney-cough). And nobody likes you if you’re too smart (Hillary). Or too clever (Paul Tsongas). Or too peaceful (Dennis Kucinich).

It’s not as if the geniuses are running the show here. Consider the picture of Walter Reed Middle School appearing up on the big screen at the RNC. First, who cares? Second, would it really have been that much better to have seen an image of Walter Reed Army Medical Center? All of the ill-treated head injury patients make it impossible to get a photo of that place without some bandaged Iraqi War Vet in the background. So, someone on the campaign staff searched the name and got the wrong image. Like, you can’t, like, be expected to know, like, everything. (If you’re not squeamish, go ahead and do your own image search of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. See what you come up with.)

I wonder if the campaign volunteer who got the Walter Reed photo wrong watched the VMAs and smiled when “blind trust” Britney sat silently after Russell Brand begged US to elect Obama. I’m referring to Britney’s long time support of “that retarded cowboy fellow,” which was Brand’s name for Dubya (in case you missed it). People who prefer respect for our leaders over free speech for Brits in the US got all bunched up about that. Jeez, those British folks sound so smart with their Winston Churchill accents, but don’t they know by now that we don’t mix politics with our pop culture. We mix politics with religion. Sheesh.

I went to my local Jazz Festival last weekend and was sitting on the hill enjoying the music, occasionally reading a book that was not in danger of being banned from my local library, when I noticed someone in front of me wearing a T-shirt that read “Nobama.” Not that I don’t appreciate someone making their politics known (especially when it’s Nina Simone’s daughter Simone on-stage advocating for Obama). But “Nobama” at a Jazz Fest? I thought, generally speaking, Jazz fans, and supporters of all arty-type festivals, were left of center. Of, course, I wasn’t really surprised. PA’s a purple state.

When the T-shirt wearer turned, I realized that I knew exactly who was sporting the Nobama shirt. It was someone I know … and like. Someone I spent lots of good times with having drinks and telling jokes. Sigh. Shine off the dime.