North Carolina AHEC Program
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The Invisible Wounds of War: AHEC’s Vital Role in Serving Returning Veterans
“The most complex and dangerous conflicts, the most harrowing operations, and the most deadly wars, occur in the head.” This is a quote from Anthony Swafford from a PBS video Operation Homecoming describing what Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen experience as they transition from the battlefield to the home front. Thanks to a partnership between Citizen Soldier Support Program (CSSP) and the NC AHEC Program, 1875 behavioral health care professionals have received training to more effectively deal with psychological and rehabilitative issues facing returning service members and their families. The number of behavioral health professionals accepting TRICARE increased over 15% as a direct result of the trainings.
In that time CSSP has worked with Sheryl Pacelli at SEAHEC to develop and implement training curricula on the issues of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), the two most common injuries from which combat veterans suffer. In May of this year, the importance of this work was brought to national attention when Navy Cmdr. Charles “Keith” Springle, one of the instructors for the PTSD and TBI trainings, was killed by a soldier who opened fire in the counseling center at which Springle was stationed. The center is in Camp Liberty, Iraq.
The classes were popular in all sites, but Wake AHEC had the largest class for each offering. Tami Guerrier from Carolinas Rehabilitation and Margaret Valderrey from Charlotte AHEC were instrumental in developing the TBI curricula.Other AHECs were involved in developing education in other formats including: webinars (through ICARE - Stacie Peterson at Southern Regional AHEC and Northwest AHEC); podcasts (Barbara Davis at Area L AHEC); and online courses (Karen Zeliff at Greensboro AHEC). Additional PTSD trainings are scheduled for 2009 and Greensboro AHEC has a contract to develop the TBI online course. Planning is underway on suicide prevention courses.
Eastern AHEC is currently coordinating the implementation of a program for clergy titled “Working Miracles in Peoples Lives: Connecting the Faith Community and Behavioral Health Professionals to Help Service Members and Their Families.”
Mountain AHEC has a unique partnership with CSSP to develop an integrated care site for veterans in Haywood county.
CSSP is working with the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at UNC-Chapel Hill to develop a database of behavioral health care providers interested in treating service members and their families.
CSSP’s partnership with the NC AHEC system has been showcased at several national conventions, creating an interest in replicating the trainings nationwide. Trainings have already been held by AHECs in Florida, South Carolina, and Missouri with several other states in various planning phases. Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE) has a Memorandum of Understanding with CSSP to work together to provide this education to the 15 WICHE member states.
“Scores of individuals in the NC AHEC Program are responsible for the success so far and are committed to continuing to provide this vital education, which is saving lives and restoring families. I can’t thank them enough!” said Bob Goodale, CSSP’s behavioral health program manager.
Editor's Note: Learn more about this project in the Spring 2009 issue of Contact, the news magazine of the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work.