Major General Robert John Kasulke, a surgeon in Watertown, is also a medical
reserve commander for the Army National Guard. He told organizers that start-up funding shouldn't be hard to find, describing
the necessary $17 to $20 million as merely a drop in the massive $850 billion
Department of Defense budget. "These types of programs are mechanically easy to
do--they don't involve medications and are super-supportive," Kasulke said. "I
think there is a good chance that they could get it. This amount of dollars, in
terms of the defense budget, isn't a lot of money."
Clinicians, military
brass and project proponents met at the Trudeau Institute in the village
yesterday. Like many other Americans, they're hoping to better understand what
used to be known as shell shock and is now widely acknowledged as post
traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
says combat vets are more likely to commit crimes or display the effects of
severe psychological trauma. Roughly 20% of the homeless in the U.S. are combat
veterans.
And Kasulke notes
that the Pentagon is actively searching for ways to help. "We are looking far
and wide for programs that will add in a positive sense to our treatment
modalities," Kasulke said. "Resiliency is a real big issue now because we think
it's a great way to prepare people for their deployment and when they get back,
it's a way to help them get better."
The DOD estimates that
over 300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan
veterans are afflicted with post traumatic stress disorder. Many are reservists
or National Guard members. Kasulke said deployment is particularly hard on
them. After active duty, they're thrown
directly back into civilian life, often in hometowns where treatment can be
hard to find. He also said non-drug induced healing is something that is gaining
a fan-base in Washington--and
Patriot Hills could be a good fit.
The project's executive
director, Susan Waters, said organizers are eager to hear about defense
department funding. "Currently we don't have a penny except what we have sold
in t-shirts," Waters said. "Our funding request is into the Department of
Defense and we will try to start to raise some private funds."
Waters said no site
or overarching clinical paradigm has been chosen for the project--it's still a
work in progress. "We are still developing our concept of just where we will do
all of the different parts of our programs. It might be a constellation of
sites; it might be one primary site. All of these things are still under
construction," she said. "We wanted to first focus on the programs and see what
kind of care and services to provide and then decide where best to place
those."
Franklin County officials hope the former Camp Gabriels
will be included in the mix if the project receives funding. Officials expect a
decision on the funding request in October.
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