News

In 2014, 55 U.S. military service members died fighting in Afghanistan. Today, an average of 20 veterans lose their lives every day to suicide, according to a recent report by the Department of Veteran Affairs.

We do a spectacular job of providing our citizens with resources they need to keep our country safe. But the moment these brave men and women come home, there is a profound opportunity to better support their adjustment back to civilian life.

A recent Morning Consult survey from the University of Phoenix, College of Social Sciences, demonstrated that misconception and stigma complicate the support for veteran mental health. According to the survey, one in five Americans believe people with mental illnesses are dangerous and 24 percent said they wouldn’t tell anyone if they had a mental illness. Furthermore, 10 percent of Americans don’t believe that mental illness is a real medical problem. These findings have considerable implications for reaching veterans who need services.

We believe that higher education can play a larger role in changing misconceptions and reducing stigma related to veteran mental health. In order to begin to make headway, educators must stand as role models committed to honoring and serving this next greatest generation of veterans as they continue to serve; transition; and become members of the greater civilian community. Educational institutions must make concerted efforts to have a meaningful impact on the lives of veterans, the lives of their families, their communities, and generations to come.

Read the full article on AmeriForce.net.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health.

Only part of an individual’s health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways.

Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

Read the press release on NationalAcademies.org. Download the full report.

The pain and aftershocks of traumatic injuries — physical and psychological — can linger for a lifetime and feed chronic illnesses. Certain traumas — a broken arm or battered face — are fairly easy for healthcare providers to recognize. But sometimes no skin was broken, or the wounds have long healed, and patients still suffer for years from the physical and mental impacts of a traumatic event.

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is among the New Jersey healthcare organizations now seeking to improve care for patients struggling with the mental and physical fallout from all kinds of traumatic events, whether it’s the loss of a loved one, domestic abuse, chronic poverty, or the effects of flooding or other natural disasters. In addition to depression, panic, or other emotional issues, experts have found trauma can feed chronic physical ailments like diabetes and heart disease.

To reach these goals, RWJUH and others are using “trauma-informed care,” an approach that seeks to address the immediate physical injuries associated with a traumatic event, as well as the long-term behavioral and physical problems that may result. In January, the New Brunswick-based hospital led a conference that outlined the concept and kicked off a year-long effort to help hospital staff and healthcare providers elsewhere learn to better diagnose and treat patients dealing with often-hidden trauma.

Trauma-informed care involves training staff to recognize the sometimes-subtle signs of trauma, develop trust with the patient, and carefully elicit relevant details, without causing further harm. Patients are then linked with appropriate physical and behavioral health treatments, and sometimes law enforcement.

Read more on NJSpotlight.com.

February 7, 2017 marks the 17th year for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD), a national HIV testing and treatment community mobilization initiative targeted at Blacks in the United States and the Diaspora. NBHAAD was founded in 1999 as a national response to the growing HIV and AIDS epidemic in African American communities.

The NBHAAD initiative leverages a national platform to educate, bring awareness, and mobilize the African American community. NBHAAD has four key focus areas which encourage people to:

• Get Educated about HIV and AIDS;
• Get Involved in community prevention efforts;
• Get Tested to know their status; and
• Get Treated to receive the continuum of care needed to live with HIV/AIDS.

The governing body of NBHAAD has evolved over the last 15 years into the Strategic Leadership Council (SLC).  The SLC provides guidance, direction, and strategic thought to engaging more African American community stakeholders and organizations to make NBHAAD a success.

The theme this year is “I am my Brother/Sister’s Keeper: Fight HIV/AIDS.” We have to challenge the mindset in our homes, communities, workplace, churches, mosques and temples, because we all need to take a stand against HIV/AIDS.

Read more and learn how you can get involved at NationalBlackAIDSDay.org.

Advocates for Texas’ homeless population are celebrating a federal report showing a significant reduction in the number of Texans who are homeless over the past decade. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual count, homelessness in Texas dropped by almost 42 percent from 2007 to 2016 – a period when the state’s overall population grew 13 percent. Eric Samuels, executive director at the Texas Homeless Network, said the progress is due to better funding and support, as well as new methods for housing the homeless.

“It’s either permanent support housing or rapid re-housing, right away. They’re not moving people through emergency shelter and transitional housing programs,” Samuels said. “Because they’re doing that and because they’re directing their funding towards those programs, we’re getting people out of homelessness faster.”

The HUD survey measured the number of people on the streets in a single 24-hour period in most American towns and cities. Samuels’ network helped conduct the annual point-in-time survey in Texas. The group also provides training to agencies tackling homelessness. Texas had some advantages in the survey, Samuels said, including lower housing costs and a somewhat better job market than in many states. But he said that helping groups like the chronically homeless and veterans remains a challenge.

“To be chronically homeless, you have to be on the street for a long duration of time or have frequent episodes of homelessness and have a disabling condition,” Samuels explained. “One of the disabling conditions often is a mental illness. The news there is good because we are getting a lot of those folks off the street.” He said another major factor in the state’s performance was that the federal government has increased funding for homeless programs in Texas by 70 percent since 2005.

Read more on PublicNewsService.org.

Nationwide, Native Americans are at least twice as likely as the general population to become addicted to drugs and alcohol, and three times as likely to die of a drug overdose. In Washington state, Indians die of drug overdoses at a rate of 29 in 100,000, compared to a rate of 12 for whites, 11 for blacks, 3 for Hispanics and 2 for Asians, according to the state Health Department.

Compounding the problem, the majority of the nation’s 2.9 million Indians living on and off reservations have little to no access to health care, much less mental health and addiction services. The Muckleshoot and a handful of other affluent tribes in the Northwest and across the country are becoming exceptions. With money from casinos and other businesses, some tribes, mostly near major cities, have been able to build world-class health care systems on their reservations that include addiction treatment programs.

In addition, Washington is one of 32 states and the District of Columbia that have expanded Medicaid to cover able-bodied adults. The federal-state health care program for low-income people pays the bill for treatment.

On the Muckleshoot reservation, population 3,500, a behavioral health center currently treats 170 people for opioid addiction. At least 85 percent of those patients are covered by Medicaid, said Dan Cable, the program’s manager. The rest are covered by a tribal health insurance plan. Developed seven years ago, the Muckleshoot treatment center and recovery housing have so far served everyone in need, with no waiting lists.

Read more on PewTrusts.org.