Challenges: Locating and Assisting Rural Families and Their Veterans

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Challenges Locating and Assisting Rural
Families and Their Veterans

• Diane F. Godorov, DO, FAAP
• Pediatrician
• Geisinger Health System Pottsville, PA

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The Medical Community Plays a Critical Role in
Promoting Psychological Well Being in Military
Youth During Family Deployment and Redeployment
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Outline

• Issues and Challenges
• Looking at the Numbers
• The Experience of Military Youth
• Research
• Evidence and Impact on Military Youth
• Importance of Community Involvement
• Resources

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The Issues

• Emotionally connecting and engaging family
  support is crucial to maintaining a military
  force prepared to perform
• When warriors are assured their families are
  being monitored and cared for by the community
  they are fighting to protect, they can more
  clearly focus on the critical missions they are
  called upon to execute

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The Challenges

• Finding the Families theyre out there!
• Child Mental Health Provider Shortage
• Research and programming is tough
• Need three approaches
• Preschool
• Elementary
• Teen
• Stigma in asking for assistance

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Look at the Numbers Active Duty

• gt1.4 million active duty
• 40,000 dual military parents
• 80,000 single military parents
• gt700,000 spouses
• gt 1.5 million children
• 40 ages birth to 5
• 33 ages 6 to 11
• 25 ages 12-18
• 3 ages 18 - 23

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National Guard and Reserves

• gt885,000 service members
• gt430,000 currently married
• gt714,000 children birth to 18
• Pennsylvania is one of the top 5 states with
  reservists deployed
• Of all service members 58 have family
  responsibilities and 40 have an average of 2
  children per household

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Special Considerations for Reserve and National
Guard

• Suddenly Military
• May remain near family support but not military
  installation support
• Feelings of isolation
• Difficult getting any information about unit
• Family benefits are different than AD

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Past Research

• Prior research during Operation Desert Storm
  found that children whose parents were deployed
  to combat areas demonstrates non-pathologic
  increases in behavioral symptoms, depression and
  anxiety
• Younger children boys, whose preexisting
  emotional or behavioral problems or children
  whose non-deployed parent evidenced were at
  higher risk for mental health difficulties

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Current Research

• Any kind of trauma causes long term behavioral
  issues
• The impetus of wars have traditionally brought
  about great advanced in medical knowledge- this
  war will be particularly known for its advances
  in how to deal with psychological trauma
• This will be a long term issue as service members
  and their families heal from the stresses of war

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Current Research

• Barnes,V et al Perceived Stress, Hear Rate ad
  Blood Pressure among Adolescents with Family
  Members Deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom
  Military Medicine Jan 2006
• Rentz,E Danielle, et al- Effect of Deployment on
  the Occurrence of Child Maltreatment in Military
  and Non Military Families American Journal of
  Epidemiology Feb 2007
• Gibbs, Deborah, MSPH, et al Child Maltreatment
  in Enlisted Soldiers Families During
  Combat-Related Deployments Journal of the
  American Medical Association August 2007

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Research on Returning Soldiers

• National Guard members (21) and Reservists
  (20.8) screen positive for mental health
  concerns at slightly higher rates than active
  duty members (19.4)
• Divorce rates skyrocketed during the first
  several years of the war
• Every service member is affected in some way

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Think About It

• Military youth live the concept of service and
  sacrifice as much as their military parent
• Youths service and sacrifice is experienced
  differently than their military family member
• Youths service and sacrifice is compulsory
  condition of a volunteer decision made by
  military family member

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Responses Expected From Youth Struggling with
Parental Deployment

• Somatization
• Irritability
• Insecurity
• Acting out
• Violence
• Anything else you can imagine

• Sadness
• Anger
• Withdrawal
• Sleep disturbance
• Excessive worry
• Aggressiveness

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Messages to the Community

• What do I say to children whose parents are
  deployed or suffer an adverse outcome from
  military service?
• What can I do to help military youth?

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What to Say

• Let them know you appreciate and value their
  family members service and sacrifice
• Let them know you appreciate and value their
  personal service and sacrifice
• Let them know that asking for help is a sign of
  strength, not weakness
• Help de-stigmatize their experience

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What to do

• Serve as another trusted, listening adult in
  their life
• Listen and be prepared to connect them to
  community resources
• Inform your community of their presence
• Help connect them with other kids like themselves
• Be aware of where they are at in the deployment
  cycle and provide flexibility
• Mitigate the impact of public opinion of the war
  on military children

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Developmentally appropriate tri-service, youth
deployment support videos are available

• Sesame Street Talk Listen and Connect
  (preschool and early elementary age)
• Mr. Poe and Friends Discuss Family Reunion after
  Deployment (elementary age youth)
• Military Youth Coping with Separation When
  family Members Deploy (11-college)

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Support Resources

• American Academy of Pediatrics Website
  www.aap.org/sections/unifserv/deployment/imdex.htm
  
• www.nmfa.org (National Military Family
  Association)- Operation Purple Camps
• Military One Source (Sesame Street Videos
  preschool aged children)
• www.cfs.purdue.edu/mfri/index.html (Military
  Family Research Institute)

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More Support Resources

• www.militaryhomefront.dod.mil (Supporting troops
  and their Families)
• www.military-child.org (Military Child Education
  Coalition)
• Military One Source 1-800-342-9647

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Why Present this to the Community

• Military Families are struggling
• Need grass roots organization and support
• Military has good resources but only a small
  percentage of service member families have access
  or knowledge of these
• Communities have wonderful resources that remain
  untapped
• Less stigma associated with community support
  than with traditional mental health facilities

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Questions?