By SAS Admin
Bill Kinney, Columnist
As we all unfortunately know by now, blast injuries from IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) have become the “signature wound” of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of our troops have survived not just or two, but multiple such explosions. While they are certainly capable of killing and maiming instantly, they also are causing long-term after effects for those lucky enough to survive the initial blasts seemingly unscathed.
And that’s where the Shepherd Center in Atlanta steps in. It launched the SHARE (Shaping Hope and Recovery Excellence) Military Initiative in 2008 in order to provide enhanced individualized rehabilitative care for our troops who suffered a spinal cord or traumatic brain injury while serving in those countries while on active duty. It typically treats eight to 12 wounded warriors at a time and has served more than 200 all told.
Sixty-two percent of blast injuries from IEDs and mortar rounds have involved traumatic brain injury (TBI), which can cause significant problems with physical, behavioral, emotional, social and cognitive functions, according to Jon Roxland, who along with Scott Sikes, executive director of the Shepherd Center Foundation, were the guest speakers at Wednesday’s Marietta Kiwanis Club meeting. Those problems include issues with balance and dizziness, severe and painful migraines, incontinence, irritability and emotional distress, memory, attention and concentration.
More than 205,000 soldiers and Marines have been diagnosed with moderate or mild traumatic brain injuries so far in these wars, Roxland said. And many others have gone undetected.
One person in the SHARE program suffered 18 concussions while deployed, he said.
Many fighting men survived multiple such blasts, and the cumulative effects of such multiple concussions can be devastating.
And though many of the patients in the Shepherd Center’s other programs are in wheelchairs and have an obvious medical issue, that’s not the case with most of the veterans.
“They look fantastic. They’re 25 years old, they’re in great shape, there’s seemingly nothing wrong with them. But if you talk to them for two minutes, a lot of them aren’t going to remember who you are.”
“A lot of them are coming to us because their marriages are falling apart. Their spouses are saying, “This isn’t the same person that I married.’ And yes, the war had an impact, but it’s really the brain injury that’s changed these people.”
The Veterans’ Administration has primary responsibility for meeting their needs, but the demand for such help is outstripping the care available. Many of those with TBIs are falling through the cracks, Roxland said. To meet those needs, the Shepherd Center now is one of two privately funded civilian rehab facilities in this entire country that have developed a dedicated and separate military patient program, but this country — and specifically our government — need to do far more.
The Shepherd Center’s SHARE program provides a comprehensive care tailored to the needs of each patient. It includes complimentary housing for the client and his loved ones who’ve accompanied him to Atlanta; physical therapy; occupational therapy; vocational therapy; speech therapy; therapeutic recreation; and legal, financial and psychological counseling, among many other programs.
The Center has treated veterans from all branches of the service in its SHARE program, with Marines and Army making up the lion’s share. The average length of stay in the program is three months, although Shepherd follows up with patients regularly for the next year, Roxland said.
It’s a centralized program on the Shepherd campus, meaning that patients aren’t having to drive hither and yon to V.A. facilities.
“And when you have cognitive issues, a lot of these guys aren’t even able to remember where their appointments are,” he said.
Many such veterans essentially become “shut-ins” because they are so “terrified of new people” and so sensitive to bright lights and loud noises.
“So a lot of what we do is just as simple as trying to get people re-engaged in the community,” he said.
That can include simple things like being able to make a grocery list, then making “field trips” to the grocery store. Or it can include camping trips, rock climbing, fishing and “Horses for Heroes” at Chastain Park.
“Some find it really therapeutic to ride the horses, and others find it very relaxing to spend all day grooming them,” he said.
The idea for SHARE, and the seed funding, came via Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus of Atlanta in 2008.
“Insurance only covers 37 cents per dollar of our costs, and we don’t charge these guys or their families a single dollar,” Roxland said. “We have to raise $1.2 million per year, or basically $100,000 a month. We’re interested in working with anyone who’s interested in helping keep this program going, whether its $5 or $500,000,” he said.
For more on how you can support the Shepherd Center’s mission, contact Roxland at (404) 350-7314 or visit www.shepherd.org/share.
The Shepherd Center is doing the work — and paying for the work — that our government should be doing for these Wounded Warriors. And if Washington isn’t going to hold up its end, it’s up to us.
Bill Kinney is associate editor of the Marietta Daily Journal.
Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal
By SAS Admin
Click here to visit WSB’s coverage of Shepherd Center SHARE Initiative.
By SAS Admin
Cunningham Associates Heating and Air Conditioning Inc., named General Level sponsor of club’s annual fundraising golf event benefitting the SHARE Military Initiative at Shepherd Center
ATLANTA, APRIL 18, 2012 – The Rotary Club of Brookhaven today announced it will host its second annual “Service Above Self Invitational” on Monday, May 14, 2012 at Cherokee Country Club (www.sasinvitational.org). Last year, the Rotary Club raised more than $85,000 in cash and in-kind donations at its inaugural charity golf tournament.
Cunningham Associates Heating and Air Conditioning Inc. is the tournament’s General Level sponsor. Major Level tournament sponsors for this year’s event, which will once again benefit the SHARE Military Initiative at Shepherd Center, include Choate Construction, Magellan Health Services, Mingledorff’s Distributors and Norton Insurance.
The SHARE Military Initiative is a comprehensive rehabilitation program that focuses on assessment and treatment for service members who have sustained a mild to moderate traumatic brain injury and PTSD from the Afghanistan and Iraqi conflicts.
“Last year’s tournament was very successful and a tremendous show of support for the men and women who serve our country to protect our freedom,” said Rotary Club of Brookhaven President Josh Moreland. “Shepherd Center is doing amazing work through its SHARE Military Initiative and we thank our returning sponsors and community partners who join us in supporting our troops and this important fundraising event.”
“Shepherd Center offers the SHARE therapy program free of charge to service members and their families,” said Atlanta Rotary Club member and Shepherd Center co-founder Alana Shepherd. “Each month we are faced with raising about $100,000 in private donations to run the program. I am proud to call the Rotary Club of Brookhaven a strong supporter of Shepherd Center and I thank them for their kindness in helping support our SHARE Military Program.”
Sponsorships are still available, and the club is accepting tournament sign-ups for foursomes and individual players. For more information, visit the Service Above Self Invitational website, www.sasinvitational.org, or contact Bonnie Hardage at (404) 367-1238 or bonnie_hardage@shepherd.org.
ABOUT THE SHARE MILITARY INITIATIVE AT SHEPHERD CENTER
Shepherd Center’s SHARE Military Initiative, which began in 2008, provides rehabilitation care for members of the military who have sustained spinal cord injuries (SCI) or traumatic brain injuries (TBI) while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. It also assists, supports and educates members of the military and their families as they return to their homes and communities so they can achieve the highest levels of independence and quality of life.
ABOUT ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
The mission of Rotary International, a worldwide association of Rotary clubs, is to provide service to others, to promote high ethical standards and to advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through its fellowship of business, professional and community leaders.
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By SAS Admin
By BUCK LANFORD/myfoxatlanta
ATLANTA - Shepherd Center in Buckhead is one of the only private hospitals in the country to develop a dedicated and separate military patient program.
It’s called the SHARE Initiative.
SHARE is an acronym for Shaping Hope And Recovery Excellence. This unique Shepherd Center program is helping military veterans who are trying to make the transition back to civilian life while dealing with physical, psychological, and emotional wounds from combat.
“Iraq, Spain, Afghanistan,” said Jonathan Mayberry.
Occupational therapy is part of the routine at Shepherd Center for retired Army Sergeant Jonathan Mayberry and retired Marine Lance Corporal Mason Blankenship. They look healthy now, but both were severely injured in combat—Blankenship in Afghanistan, and Mayberry in Iraq.
“I took shrapnel to the side of the face and a pretty bad concussion. And then two days later I was hit in the back of the head by an IED with shrapnel and took a concussion and took a pretty bad back injury from that,” said Jonathan Mayberry, US Army, retired.
“We sustained a pretty big blast to the side of our truck and I was knocked unconscious. I didn’t think I had an injury at the time, I just thought I got knocked out,” said Mason Blankenship, USMC, retired.
But both men suffered significant injuries that have become common among soldiers returning from combat.
“A lot of them have had multiple blast injury exposures. In addition to that they’ve been in some very difficult situations so you have a combination of multiple mild traumatic brain injuries and the cumulative effects of that, as well as the possibility of post traumatic stress disorder coming on as well,” said Dr. Andrew Dennison of the Shepherd Center.
“Came back and emotional problems started getting to me, PTSD, and the TBI and cognitive, not remembering, just small things and then they grew into bigger problems,” said Mayberry.
“I started getting night terrors, couldn’t concentrate. Couldn’t really do my job. So I started trying to get help for that and it just kept getting worse and worse,” said Blankenship.
From activities to improve their visual field to the opportunity to swim in the big tank at the Georgia Aquarium, both men are now finding the help they need through the SHARE military initiative at Shepherd Center, an especially designed one-stop shop program for their complex injuries, that provides doctors, therapists, and psychologists all under one roof.
“I’ve been going through speech therapy. I’ve been going through cognitive therapy. Exposure therapy, like going out to the community going grocery shopping in crowds—teaching us the tools so we can live life outside of here,” said Mayberry.
“Really it has turned me around. I’ve noticed myself starting to laugh again, starting to feel other emotions other than anger. You can get help. You can change, and that’s what I’ve accomplished here,” said Blankenship.
“It’s kind of like peeling layers off an onion, as you keep on managing one of the problems, there is another problem underneath, l but if you keep hacking away at it, a lot of these guys are doing spectacularly better by the time they leave,” said Dennison.
And one of the added benefits is the Bridge program, which provides a case manager that follows the veteran for up to a year and a half or more after they leave.
In three years, the SHARE Initiative has helped 317 US service men and women.
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View Full Story: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/21/132203864/philanthropist-provides-care-that-the-pentagon-wont
By SAS Admin
To the SHARE Center:
I would like to thank you for all you have given to my family. In May of 2009 my family was handed a diagnosis we were not prepared to receive. We were told that my husband had a TBI. While the diagnosis gave us a reason for his behavior, we were given no hope of recovery, simply a treatment plan. Over the next several months, my husband was placed in one therapy after another, yet he continued to get worse. My once strong family began to slowly unravel and tear apart. We found ourselves in a hopeless place.
This is where you met us. While I know that there is still a lot of work to accomplish, I would like to thank the SHARE program for all you have done. You never once told us there was no work to be done, never once gave up hope. Instead, you took a broken, angry, hopeless person and returned to me my husband: a strong, capable man who has hope for the future, a desire to interact with his family, a man who loves to laugh.
You equipped my husband with the tools to curb his anger, regulate his moods, and re-engage in life. SHARE helped him feel capable and like a man who could once again lead his family.
I can never thank you enough for the gift you have given my family and me. You have given us our family again, not as a fragmented, shattered puzzle, but as a mosaic: a picture that is not the same as it started, yet still beautiful.
Gratefully,
The Taft Family
Ward, Amy, Isabella & Clara
By SAS Admin
The SHARE Military Initiative at Shepherd Center
• The SHARE (Shaping Hope and Recovery Excellence) Military Initiative began in 2008 in order to provide a continuum of rehabilitation care for soldiers who have sustained a traumatic brain injury while serving the US on active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. Since SHARE’s inception, the program has served over 200 individuals, from all service branches. The program typically treats 8-12 wounded warriors at a time.
• Over time, the program has come to focus primarily on servicemen and women who have suffered mild traumatic brain injuries, considered by many to be the “signature injury” of the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts. Symptoms associated with this type of injury include deficiencies in physical functioning (balance and dizziness), behavioral functioning (irritability and emotional distress) and cognitive functioning (memory, attention and concentration).
• Shepherd Center is one of the few civilian rehab facilities in the entire nation to develop a dedicated and separate military patient program. SHARE provides a comprehensive continuum of care, specifically tailored to meet the needs of each client, including complimentary housing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, vocational therapy, speech therapy, therapeutic recreation and legal, financial and psychological counseling, among many other programs.
• All of these activities are available in one centralized location and are supervised by the same medical team, so that all aspects of a client’s care are working in concert with each other, as opposed to a more fragmented system that many of our clients have experienced throughout their time in military treatment systems.
• Beyond treating the injuries and associated symptoms that our patients have been afflicted with, SHARE provides a wide variety of additional programs that, although unfunded by insurance, are integral to the recovery and community reintegration of our wounded warriors. Included among these many “value-added” programs are:
• Assisting clients with the return to work and/or school
• Providing of peer support through military volunteers
• Assistance in navigating the VA system and the Med Board process
• Provide a minimum of one year post-discharge follow-up through Shepherd Center’s Bridge Program
• Conduct community re-entry outings, including “Horses for Heroes”, camping trips, rock climbing, fishing, etc.
• The patients in the SHARE Military Initiative receive their care at no cost to them or their families. On average, insurance providers pay only 37 cents of every dollar’s cost of care, leaving Shepherd Center to cover the remainder of the costs. As a result, Shepherd must raise approximately $100,000 each month just in order to keep the program running.
• For more information, or to make a gift in support of the SHARE Military Initiative, please contact Jon Roxland at 404-350-7314 or visit www.shepherd.org/share.
The Rotary Club of Brookhaven is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit service organisation.