My wife is a medically retired veteran of the war in
Afghanistan. Joy served for over 10
years in the U.S. Army Reserves, and was deployed in late 2004 to
Afghanistan. She was assigned as the
night supervisor at the prison facility at Bagram Airfield. Prior to her deployment, Joy was a college
student, with no problems with memory, depression, or any other
conditions. In early 2006, Joy received
a traumatic brain injury during an attack on the aircraft in which she was a
passenger. She spent several days in a
hospital in Kyrgystan before being returned to Bagram and put back on normal
duty. From that point forward, Joy has
been seriously affected by depression, migraine headaches, severe short term
memory loss, and social anxiety. Upon
her return to the states, she was diagnosed with severe PTSD, and was
originally rated as 70% disabled. Over
the course of several years, Joy’s condition worsened to the point she was
rated as 100% disabled by the VA.
Joy has been assigned at least five different primary care
managers at the VA, with little communication between the doctors as they leave
the office to go elsewhere. Every time a
new doctor comes on, Joy is forced to repeat her entire history, even though it
SHOULD be all contained in her records.
Joy has great difficulty in replaying the events surrounding her injury,
and having to go to new doctors and reliving the event has caused her severe
anxiety about going to the VA. Because
she is rated 100%, she should be put at the top of the list when it comes to
scheduling appointments, however, on countless occasions she has been told it
will be several weeks before she can get in to see her VA doctor. Because of this, we have primarily relied
upon my insurance for her healthcare, to include her mental health care.
Joy has told the VA on many occasions that she does not feel
comfortable participating in group therapy sessions, especially since most of
the participants are usually males.
There are no PTSD therapists in the VA locally that are female, and that
can specialize in the unique issues faced by a female combat veteran.
I am Joy’s caregiver and we have been receiving a stipend in
the caregiver program for a year now.
Even though Joy’s condition has worsened, and her medications have been
increased by the psychiatrist she sees, the caregiver program decided after
meeting with her for an hour that she is doing “better” and lowered us a tier
level. Without supervision, Joy is a
danger to herself and struggles with simply daily tasks such as taking
medication, cooking, and personal hygiene.
We face daily difficulties due to the injuries Joy suffered
in Afghanistan. While the VA is doing
what it can to improve the services available to female warriors, it is falling
short. The military is a male-dominated
organization, and unfortunately the treatment offered to and attitudes
displayed about female veterans continue to lag well behind those of their
fellow male veterans within the VA.
As I work every day to support Joy, I am also an active duty
soldier with our state’s National Guard.
I am in charge of nine soldiers, and am constantly trying to juggle home
and work. Joy had to do her very best to
take care of things at home when I served my 2nd combat tour in Afghanistan. She is a proud veteran and a proud Army wife
as well, but the deployment only served to increase her anxiety levels while I
was gone. Because of medications Joy
takes, it is often necessary for me to drive children to school in the
mornings, and any time there is a requirement to drive at night due to Joy’s
vision having been affected by her TBI.
We struggle to balance daily life with the limitations brought on by
Joy’s PTSD and TBI.
To learn more about the State of Heroes and Families
project, please visit our main site or visit any of the following direct
project links -
Why This Started:
www.familyofavet.com/state_of_veterans_families-why.html
The Statistics:
www.familyofavet.com/state_of_veterans_families-statistics.html
Our Stories:
www.familyofavet.com/state_of_veterans_families-stories.html
What We Hope For: www.familyofavet.com/state_of_veterans_families-hopes.html
FAQ About the Project:
www.familyofavet.com/state_of_veterans_families-faq.html
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