Aid for all veterans

Aid for all veterans VA actively pursuing young soldiers

DAWN ZERA Times Leader Correspondent


PLAINS TWP. – When Colleen Kaskel first joined the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center as acting Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom manager, about 3,000 veterans of those conflicts had sought VA services.



Colleen Kaskel, acting manager of the Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom programs at the Wilkes-Barre Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, talks with a veteran.

Jonathan J. Juka/for the times leader



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 That was a year ago; now there are about 4,100 – an increase the Veterans Administration has worked hard for, as the agency tries to communicate to a younger generation of soldiers that services are available once they leave the military.

“There recently was a concentrated effort, to reach every person who has served, through nationwide and global phone calls to those who have been discharged,” Kaskel said. “Out of that, we got about 63 veterans who had never been here before. Now, those phone calls will be done on a yearly basis.”

The local VA center serves more than 207,000 veterans in 19 Pennsylvania counties and one New York county, with outpatient clinics in Allentown, Berwick, Bangor, Sayre, Tobyhanna, Williamsport and Schuylkill County. A long list of health and welfare services includes a women’s veterans program, readjustment counseling, substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder services, pharmacy, pastoral counseling, an eye clinic and even smoking cessation.

Kaskel said during the discharge process soldiers are encouraged to enroll with the VA and set up appointments.

Many vets, Kaskel said, do not see an immediate need to go to the VA, but the administration is making efforts to let them know they have five years from their time of discharge to establish contact.

That is not to say that after five years, the VA won’t help a veteran, but, Kaskel said, “it does come down to a pressing time frame – it is a big financial thing.” Whether the cost of a service is covered sometimes depends on if it is connected to the veteran’s military experience.

Kaskel serves veterans as young as 19 and up to about age 50, many of them reservists. The bulk of them are 20 to 40 years old, with about 10 percent women, which has widened the services offered to address women’s health needs.

“It’s something we’ve been moving towards all along, because the military has been changing. It’s something we’re very in tune to,” Kaskel said. Women also tend to react differently to stress related to combat experiences.

“Females tend to talk more; males isolate, or may show aggressive behavior,” Kaskel said, offering advice for families and friends of returning soldiers. “It is best to listen to them, offer understanding – genuine understanding, they don’t need to be catered to. Support them but don’t constantly ask questions.”

Only some of the 4,100 veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom who have registered with the local VA use VA Medical Center services on a regular basis, Kaskel said. Another 49 veterans in the coverage area are seriously ill.

“There also are a lot of post-traumatic stress disorder (cases),” Kaskel said, as well as veterans with traumatic brain injuries, amputees and burn victims. A support group meets the third Monday of every month and “more and more of these groups are being set up. It is a growing thing.

“With someone with post-traumatic stress disorder and brain injury, the patient wants to isolate himself. My job is to encourage that person to get in here,” she said.

There also is a suicide prevention program, which includes trained suicide prevention coordinators.

Many times a spouse will call the VA looking for help.

“In many cases, the wife managed to get along without the soldier for a certain amount of time ... the children are resentful. There is a family adjustment. And reality is not the same as when the person left,” Kaskel said.

But she stressed that her job is not about waiting for that phone call. Many veterans want to forget their experiences and get back to a normal life, in which case they do not think contacting the Veterans Administration for services is a priority.

Kaskel focuses on providing a lot of coaching and support to the veterans, as well as adjusting her work schedule to meet theirs.

“It’s about gaining their trust, so that eventually they accept help. Sometimes they just need a friendly face to get into the building,” Kaskel said.

REACH THE VA
Veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Wilkes-Barre Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center’s coverage area can contact Colleen Kaskel at 824-3521, ext. 7803.

My HealtheVet is touted as “the gateway to veteran health benefits and services,” Kaskel said, providing access to health information, federal and VA benefits and resources, personal health journals and online prescription refills. The Web site promises that in the future, users will be able to view appointments, copay balances and key portions of medical records. Veterans can register at www.myhealth.va.gov. The national VA suicide hotline number is 1-800-273-8255.

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