VISN 2: Veterans' Wellness, Spring 2007

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VA Healthcare Network Upstate New York - VISN 2

Spring 2007

Veterans Caring for Veterans

Kai Chitaphong, L.M.S.W., and Geoffrey Hobika, M.D., are two of the many OIF/OEF veterans who are VA care providers

The latest generation of VA care providers have unique insight into their patients — many are veterans themselves. In VA Healthcare Network Upstate New York, more than one in five employees are veterans. This gives us a better perspective of our patients and the ability to provide the best possible care to veterans of all ages.

“We’re not just treating patients, we’re treating heroes,” says Kai Chitaphong, L.M.S.W., OIF/OEF coordinator at Canandaigua VAMC and Rochester Outpatient Clinic. “At VA, we have an appreciation and understanding of the needs of veterans. Who can better treat veterans than other veterans?”

Chitaphong served as a brigade mental health officer in Iraq, providing individual and group therapy to help soldiers deal with stress, anger and grief. He’s worked for VA since September 2006 and has helped 75 Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) soldiers transition back into their community.

“Our new veterans are returning home with complex issues,” says Chitaphong. “Some of the major complaints are psychological effects of war, such as being irritable and easily startled or having nightmares and flashbacks. Some veterans are having difficulties adjusting into family and work roles.”

Today’s returning veterans also face issues new to this generation. “More and more soldiers are surviving injuries that would most certainly have stolen their lives in prior conflicts,” says Geoffrey Hobika, M.D., an Emergency Room physician at the Buffalo VA Medical Center who served as general surgeon and emergency medicine physician on the Iraqi-Kuwait border. “The military is dedicated to saving the lives of our soldiers. We’re now seeing returning veterans who’ve survived terrible injuries, such as multiple limb amputations or disabling head injuries.”

VA is uniquely qualified to care for these veterans. One way VA is helping OIF/OEF combat wounded is with Polytrauma Teams, a new program designed to serve the lifelong needs of patients who’ve suffered two or more injuries that require specialized care. Treatment includes physical or occupational therapy, prosthetic devices, eye care, counseling and other specialties as needed.

Another way VA helps OIF/OEF veterans is through a new VA and Department of Defense program known as Post-Deployment Health Reassessment (PDHRA). To help ease their transition to civilian life, troops undergo a PDHRA screening and evaluation session three to six months after returning home. Health care professionals help to identify issues before they become chronic problems and refer participants to VA services.

“We’re very active in reaching out to local National Guard and Reserve units to inform them of their VA health care benefits,” Chitaphong says. “We go to the airport to welcome soldiers home. We want them to know VA cares about them.”

Adds Dr. Hobika, “I love my work at VA. Having been on active duty in a combat zone gives me a full appreciation for our patients, and I’m honored to be caring for those who, in the not-too-distant past, were prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for our country.”

Reviewed/Updated Date: April 19, 2007