H.R. 1544 The Veterans Mental Health Accessibility Act, introduced by Representative Steve Driehaus in March of 2009, proposes to expand mental health care to retired United States veterans. The bill stipulates that veterans who served on active duty during World War II, the Korean conflict, the Vietnam Era, as well as those who served during and following the Persian Gulf War are eligible to receive hospital care, medical services, and nursing home care for any mental illness.
Many veterans suffer from varying mental illnesses due to the intense conditions to which they are exposed in hostile combat. Current legislation does not provide enough access to mental health services for our veterans. This bill, if passed, would provide for mental health services in various healthcare settings to our veterans.
I took a look at the websites provided as additional sources about your topic and found a really interesting statistic on the Mental Health Department of Veterans Affairs website. According to the United States department of Veteran affairs, “An estimated one-third of the adult homeless population have donned a uniform and served in the military.” On this website: http://www.calpsych.org/publications/access/homelessness.html I found a statistic stating “20-40% of the homeless population [is mentally ill].” This tells me there is a HUGE correlation between serving in the military and developing a mental illness that would result in homelessness. It would be a really excellent thing if a bill were passed because not only would it help the veterans, but society as a whole because if these Veterans were given better access to mental health care, this would in theory decrease the number of homeless people in the United States.
ReplyDeleteWow, this is such an important piece of legislation! Perhaps, I'm saying that because I really like mental health, but war can affect people in ways we can't even begin to understand. The mind is so complex and people respond to experiences in such unique ways based on how they perceive the world around them, their coping mechanisms and their support systems, to name a few.
ReplyDeleteI was curious to know how common mental health disorders affected returning troops, so I looked online for some information. I found this statistic by a Harvard research study, "In 1990, a national survey concluded that almost one in three (30.9 percent) of those who served in Vietnam came home with PTSD, and 15 percent of them still suffered with it" (http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/08.2499-ptsd.html). So, half of those who had PTSD still struggled with it 15 years after the war was over. Clearly, they needed access to mental health care. Perhaps, some of these were receiving care, but I'm not sure. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have a mental disorder and not have adequate access to attain the care I needed.
The current war in Iraq is affecting many troops as well. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine stated that "about one third of the 103,788 returning veterans seen at V.A. facilities between Sept. 30, 2001 and Sept. 30, 2005 were diagnosed with mental illness or a psycho-social disorder — such as homelessness and marital problems, including domestic violence" (http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1598474,00.html).
This bill could help to set a precedent for returning Iraq troops to receive the mental health care services they need and reduce the amount of soldiers suffering from mental health disorders.
HR1544 is a bill that will reach and improve the health of many veterans who sacrificed their lives and well-being for the good of our country. In the 2000 Census, it was reported that 8,380,356 soldiers served active duty in the Vietnam era. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs website, 30% of Vietnam soldiers had reported cases of PTSD. The fact that many of our veterans are suffering from mental illness, such as PTSD and depression, that stems from their time served, calls for our government to take action in their well-being. If these individuals had not chosen to serve in the US military, then they would not be suffering from these illnesses.
ReplyDeleteI have been told many times, in talking with veterans, that it is very frustrating to talk to civilians about the problems they have associated with their military experiences. The sights and sounds that these individuals have experienced, can not be fully understood by the “normal” civilian. It takes educated trained personal to listen, offer advice, and intervene. If the House were to pass this bill, it would create and greater opportunity for the tremendous amount of veterans suffering mental health illnesses to receive adequate help and improve their quality of life.
As nurses, this bill is important because it will give us one more additional resource to pull information and support when providing care for veterans who might be suffering a mental health disorder. No one likes to be seen as “flawed” or “crazy”, so many of these veterans would utilize this resource to help them feel “normal” again. I think HR1544 would be a great benefit to our veterans, and I am excited to see what the future holds for this bill.
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ReplyDelete“This legislation would make it easier for veterans suffering from service-related mental conditions to get access to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical care. Under current regulations, it is easiest to access VA healthcare services within five years of the end of a veteran’s service, but we know that certain conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may not become apparent until years later. My legislation would eliminate that five-year restriction for mental health conditions,” states Congressman Steve Driehaus. Percentage rates for PTSD in veterans will probably increase if this restriction is lifted.
ReplyDeleteGoing into war is considered a traumatic event. Direct contact under enemy fire is considered a traumatic event. Any type of hostile, shocking, and disturbing event on an individual will increase their risk for PTSD. PTSD can occur at any point after the traumatic event and can last from anywhere between six months to the rest of the affected individual’s life. People in the military have an increased risk to PTSD. The United States has been in and out of wars ever since we have become our own country. Why has a bill like this, has just begun to arise?
After looking into the bill a little further online, we saw that there was not much recent news coverage on the bill. This was sad to our group because we find this bill to be very necessary. One thing we thought of was relating it back to the people we know here and now that are going overseas. My brother in law is a pilot in the air force and he recently came back from Iraq. While he was there this last deployment he had to experience watching his friends and colleagues in his squadron crash, many of the men either died or were seriously injured. One news report said that, "One in eight soldiers returning from service during the first year of the Iraq war was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or some other mental illness." http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0301-06.htm. This is not surprising after hearing about only a very few of the things that are going on. We can't imagine not having our men now not being taken care of, shouldn't we feel the same way about the men who have fought before them. It seems like the very least we could do after the service they are providing us.
ReplyDeletePeople are wondering why they are just hearing about a bill as important as this one now and not long ago and why hasn't this bill come into effect yet? This is a major concern as we are sure that a lot of you are wondering who have looked into our bill but the thing is, we can't answer this particular question because we don't know ourselves. We have wondered the exact same thing as soon as we heard about the bill and we were upset when we found out that H.R. 1544 is not really being publicized. These veterans deserve for this bill to be passed and you will find above what our action plan actually is.
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