Posttraumatic stress disorder can be tough to treat, for both patient and doctor. How do you retrain a traumatized brain? How do you fix someone’s emotions?
But one medical expert offers a unique perspective that could change medical treatment for servicemembers. Dr. Carmen Russoniello isn’t just a doctor — he’s been a PTSD patient, too. And his pioneering work could help soldiers recover from the mental trauma they suffered while serving their country.
As a teen Marine serving in the jungles of Vietnam, the young man who would later become a doctor left the field in a medevac flight after his troubled screams in the night — “a bone-chilling sound” – haunted those he served with, Russoniello told Brendan King of WITN.
“When I came back, I was very disillusioned, disorganized, etc., and I spent about seven years just traveling around the country doing odd jobs, aimless,” he says.
But he found his purpose in medicine — and now, serving veterans like himself.
Today Russoniello leads a team of Ph.D. students using biofeedback to help veterans suffering from PTSD, from his post as director of the Center for Applied Psycho-Physiology at East Carolina University.
His work pushes veterans to control their emotions through cutting-edge technology. In one project, patients play video games like Pac-Man through sensors affixed to a cap that track emotional responses from their brains.
A patient “can actually, literally see his response to that, and now he knows that he has some control over that, and he can start to take control,” Russoniello says.
They also use simulators to recreate the scenarios that triggered patients’ distress, including sounds, sights and smells. By facing the things that caused them so much stress, veterans learn to control their reactions.
As Russoniello says, “We’re trying to help these guys… so that they can actually enjoy and benefit from what they went and sacrificed their lives for.”
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Tag: North Carolina
This Special Volunteer Has Spent More Than 150,000 Miles Behind the Wheel Helping Vets
Small acts can make a big difference. And that’s particularly true when it comes to helping veterans of the armed forces.
Twenty years ago, veteran Jim Childers began volunteering with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Chapter 16 of Jacksonville, North Carolina, driving veterans to their medical appointments in the organization’s van. His help is essential for those vets whose disabilities or age make it impossible for them to transport themselves.
As of April, Childers has driven that van 157,000 miles in the service of 1,300 vets — chauffeuring them to North Carolina Veterans Affairs hospitals in Durham, Fayetteville, and Chapel Hill. That mileage is the highest accumulated by any DAV volunteer driver in the nation.
“It feels great to help veterans in need,” Childers told Thomas Brennan of the Jacksonville Daily News. “It’s a way for physically able veterans to help other veterans get the services and medical treatment they deserve.”
Retired from his civil service job since 1997, Childers jumped at the chance to transport veterans when he learned that the VA would let him use their van. “The most rewarding thing is when we return back to the chapter and a veteran says thank you for making it possible for them to get to their doctor’s appointment,” he told Brennan.
Doug Lawson, a veteran service officer with the DAV told Brennan, “I think it is in his DNA to help veterans in any way possible, day or night. Because of dedicated drivers like him, it is a lot easier to get all of the veterans to their needed VA appointments. Most veterans get burnt out either physically or mentally working that many hours with no pay. Not Jim.”
Last year, Governor Pat McCrory presented Childers with The Order of the Long Leaf Pine award, which is given to people who’ve provided extraordinary service to the state of North Carolina.
Thankfully, Childers is finally getting the recognition he so richly deserves.
MORE: Remembering a World War II Vet Who Gave 3,000 Fellow Vets a Final Salute
This Woman’s Brother Didn’t Receive the Care He Deserved, So Now She’s Working to Help Other Veterans
One North Carolina woman is proving that sometimes no one can look out for you the way a sister can.
Ciat Shabazz’s brother Harry Smith served in the Marines from 1972 to 1975, and when he came home, he expected for the Veterans Affairs (VA) medical service to help him take care of his health. In 2005, he began to suffer stomach pain and a number of other alarming symptoms. Despite repeated visits to the W.G. Hefner VA Medical Center in Salisbury, North Carolina, doctors didn’t take his concerns seriously and sent him home with painkillers or antibiotics instead of ordering an x-ray or colonoscopy.
Finally in 2006, Shabazz took her brother to Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, where doctors diagnosed him with a stomach tumor. His health had diminished during the year he didn’t receive treatment, and two years later, he died.
Shabazz turned her grief into a mission by forming the nonprofit Harry’s Veteran Community Outreach Services, through which she helps vets with their battles with the VA in addition to a variety of other services. On the nonprofit’s website is a link to click: “How can Harry help me?”
Shabazz’s office is always buzzing with phone calls and visitors, and her file cabinets overflow with the paperwork that she’s helping veterans complete. Recently, two Vietnam vets whose claims had been denied by the V.A. came to see her for help in filing appeals. “It looks to me that their records clearly indicate that their injuries are service-related,” Shabazz told Scott Sexton of the Winston-Salem Journal. “The appeals process can take up to two years. It looks as if the VA is dealing with its backlog by just denying the claims and moving them into appeals.” Her hunch may be right: In March 2013, the VA reported a backlog of 611,000 cases, according to Sexton.
Shabazz will help these veterans and all the others who come to her as a way of honoring the memory of her brother. “My brother died because the VA failed to diagnose and treat him in a timely manner,” she said. “As a result of that, I’m in pain. I feel the men and women who served this country deserve to be treated fairly and be compensated for injuries sustained during the time they served our country.”
With Ciat Shabazz on their side, many more veterans are likely to get a fair shake.
MORE: Her Husband Fought Overseas. Now She’s Fighting for Him.
This Young Child Has Big Plans to Feed His Hungry Peers
“Have there been times in the past twelve months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?” In North Carolina, one in five households answered yes to this question.
It’s worrying statistics like these that drives little William Winslow’s ambitious plan to end hunger in his community. Last year alone, he collected more than 1,400 pounds of food and more than $300 in donations, Raleigh news station WRAL reports. Even more incredibly is the fact that William is nowhere near his goal. The eight-year-old boy hopes to raise five times that amount this year, plus he’s planning a state-wide food drive next year.
“It just makes me feel bad when I hear that kids in my class are hungry,” he told the television station.
MORE: This Girl With Cancer Could Have Asked for Anything. She Chose to Feed the Hungry
William recently held his second annual food drive for BackPack Buddies, a food shuttle program that provides healthy meals to low-income families on the weekend.
The young go-getter even approached a local grocery store to ask if he could take food donations in the store’s parking lot, William’s dad, Mac Winslow, recalled to WRAL. “He looked at the store manager and said, ‘Come on, man. Think win-win.’ He said, ‘You get the money and I get the food for BackPack Buddies and we both win.”
We all know that hunger isn’t just a problem in North Carolina. In fact, one in six people — including one in five children — face hunger every day. No one deserves to go hungry, and it takes big hearts like William Winslow’s to make a difference.
“We’re just absolutely blown away by him, impressed by him,” his mother, Blythe Clifford, said. “His ability to empathize with his peers is just really incredible.”
Meet the Business Owner Who Gives Vets The Skills They Need to Start Their Own Businesses
Starting a company takes courage, energy, and determination — all qualities that many servicemen and women display on a daily basis.
John Panaccione served as an 82nd Airborne paratrooper and then started a software company, LogicBay, in Wilmington, North Carolina. He’s convinced that other vets have what it takes to start their own businesses. Through VetToCEO, the nonprofit he co-founded, he’s showing them just how to do it.
VetToCEO enrolls former servicemen and women in an eight-to-10-week program that groups them with other vets who are at different stages along the road to launching their businesses. Together, they learn to craft a business plan, find potential investors, deliver presentations, connect with mentors, and potentially find a business partner that also happens to be a fellow vet. The organization also offers the in-person and online classes to reach more participants, and the course is free to all vets, funded by donations and corporate grants.
“Statistically, there are thousands of veterans all over that have an interest in entrepreneurship — and many of them are outside the U.S.,” Panaccione told Ben Brown of Port City Daily. Veterans and service members stationed as far away as Kuwait are participating in the program.
Brown spoke to one of VetToCEO’s successful graduates, army veteran Joel Damin, who started his own restaurant and pub in Sanford, North Carolina. Damin said that the skills he learned in the military immediately transferred to his busy career as a restaurateur. “You’re always reacting, you’re always adapting, and you can’t just throw your hands up and go, ‘I don’t know, this isn’t what I wanted to do,’ and just stomp your feet. You can’t do that, because there are lives on the line and you have to complete the mission.”
Now that there are just tasty dinners on the line instead of lives, Damin is thriving.
MORE: Giving Homeless Vets A Helping Hand–And a New Uniform
The Unique Way That Charlotte Houses Its Homeless
Giving apartments to the chronically homeless sounds like a nutty idea, right? Turns out, it might not be so crazy after all.
When the Urban Ministry Center in Charlotte, North Carolina proposed building apartments to gift to homeless individuals in the community, some greeted the idea with derision. Naysayers believed that doing so rewarded bad behavior. But the interfaith organization forged ahead with the plan, using government grants and private donations to build a $6 million housing complex consisting of 85 units.
And now, a University of North Carolina at Charlotte study examining the first year of results found that giving housing to the homeless — even to those who have substance addictions or are mentally ill or can’t meet the requirements to stay in regular shelters — saved the city money. A lot of money, in fact: $1.8 million dollars.
Not only did the occupants of the complex, called Moore Place, visit a hospital 447 fewer times, but they also were admitted for 372 fewer days. Arrest numbers of residents also decreased by 74 percent, and tenants spent 84 percent fewer days in jail. These drops in city service usage is what resulted in the more than one million dollars in savings.
These findings have motivated Charlotte officials to build more projects that take a housing-first approach to helping the homeless. Charlotte’s Neighborhood and Business Service Department is currently considering proposals for ten more homeless housing projects. Plus, there are plans to expand Moore Place to 120 units.
One disabled Moore Place resident, Michael Byrd, visited emergency rooms 24 times the year before he moved in, accumulating $268,000 in medical bills. The year he moved in, he visited the hospital just five times, costing taxpayers only $9,000. Byrd told Mark Price of the Charlotte Observer, “When I was on the streets, my worst night was trying to sleep bundled up in an abandoned car when it was below freezing. It scared me.”
Caroline Chambre, director of HousingWorks for the Urban Ministry Center, told Price, “You can’t argue with the statistics. This approach was controversial at one time because of the stereotype of who the homeless are, and we had to change that stereotype.”
MORE: Utah is on Track to End Homelessness with This One Simple Idea
North Carolina’s Food Stamp Crisis Is Nearly Resolved, But It’s Not Too Late to Help
Needy families in North Carolina will finally get the help they’ve been waiting for. Officials at the state’s Department Health and Human Services have made significant progress in clearing the backlog of food stamp applications that topped out at nearly 35,000 unresolved cases in mid-January. The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the state until February 10 to process the applications and renewals that were pending for more than 90 days or categorized as “emergencies.” Federal guidelines demand that officials process food stamp applications within 30 days. On Monday, data showed that only 3,600 backlogged applications remained — less than half of the 7,700 applications that were reportedly unresolved on January 30. Case managers must complete the remaining applications before February 10 or risk losing about $88 million in funding.
MORE: How to Double the Value of Food Stamps and Get the Best Fresh Food
Problems with North Carolina’s food stamp system began in July, when the state rolled out NC FAST, a new system that was, ironically, supposed to streamline the process of applying for and receiving social services. But that isn’t the only issue. Liz Scott, assistant human services director in Wake County, one of the areas most affected by the backlog, said that staff in her county can’t keep up with the increasing demand for benefits. “This isn’t an NC FAST issue alone,” Scott told WRAL. “That is one factor in a number of factors that have caused us to be this far behind.” Considering that almost 1.6 million people in the state participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in October 2013, according to the most recent data, hopefully the issues will be resolved so families can continue to get the help they need. In the mean time, ordinary citizens may have to step up to help feed their communities. You can find a list of North Carolina food banks here.
MORE: The One Issue That Can Bring Cory Booker and Rand Paul Together
This College Student’s Clean Energy Idea Is Making Waves, and Not Just on Campus
We know that bike riding and jump roping can generate enough energy to power our gadgets. But what about other forms of clean, kinetic energy that are currently being wasted? Yinger ‘Eagle’ Jin, a sophomore at Wake Forest University, saw the potential for power in an unlikely place: the campus swimming pool. As an avid swimmer armed with an undergraduate research grant, Jin wondered if there might be enough waves in the campus pool to generate a small amount of electricity.
According to the university, Jin created an “oscillating water column” to test how much electricity would be produced by the waves during one day at the pool. Here’s how it works: The moving water acts as a piston, forcing air out of the column as a wave rises. and drawing fresh air in as it falls. This movement turns a turbine connected to the top of the column, which ultimately converts the wave energy to electricity.
MORE: How Kitesurfing Sparked a Green-Energy Revolution
Jin estimated that swimmers generated 10-kilowatt-hours of electricity — enough to keep the lights on at Wake Forest’s Reynolds Gym pool for a full day. “We are talking a very small scale, but recreational swimmers produce a decent amount of waves,” Jin told the university news center. “The concept is similar to the idea that at a regular gym you have exercise bikes that are powered by someone spinning the pedals.”
Now, with the help of Jin’s mathematics professor Sarah Mason, who has been assisting him with the project, they plan to take his method to a much larger water source: the Atlantic Ocean. “There is certainly room for continuation in Eagle’s project; in particular one publishable goal is to calculate how much energy could be produced through wave energy off the coast of North Carolina,” Mason says. If their predictions are correct, the amount of easily accessible energy will be a whole lot more than just a drop in the pool.
MORE: This Clean Energy Program Is Investing in Much More Than Just the Environment
Writing Helps Veterans Go From Victims to Victors
Once a month, a group of veterans meet at Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina for a free writing group designed especially for them, the Veterans Writing Collective. The goal of the group isn’t therapy—just producing good writing, but many participants find that focusing on learning the craft of writing does help them. One 80 year-old Air Force veteran said he used to think nobody cared about his experiences in the military, but through writing about them he learned that they do interest others, and he’s uncovered old memories through the writing process. “Writing helps veterans who’ve experienced traumatic events go from victim to victor,” one of the group’s founders, English professor Robin Greene the Fayetteville Observer.
A Collaboration to Provide Good Reads to Troops
Press 53, an award-winning small publisher of literary fiction and poetry based in North Carolina, is teaming up with AnySoldier.com to provide good reads to troops. Whenever a book lover buys a book through Press 53’s website between Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving, Press 53 will send the customer their order and also send a book to an active-duty soldier or a wounded veteran. Sergeant Brian Horn began AnySoldier.com in 2003 when he was stationed in Iraq as a way to distribute care packages to soldiers who don’t get much mail. Press 53 has been sending books to soldiers in the Middle East since 2007, and two years ago began also sending books to the Veterans Writing Project in Washington D.C., which gives the books to soldiers recovering at the Walter Reed Hospital and other rehabilitation centers. Their program is a good way for anyone who loves reading to share that enthusiasm with a soldier.
Sources: Press 53 / AnySoldier.Com