TruBlu
07-24-2009, 06:42 PM
'My Daddy's not Dead Yet' (http://www.military.com/news/article/my-daddys-not-dead-yet.html)
July 24, 2009
Military.com|by Bryant Jordan
The questions posed to the North Carolina congressman by many of the 15 kids at Camp Lejeune during National Reading Day in 2007 were, initially, what he'd come to expect: Do you have a dog? Have you met the President?
But the last child, Rep. Walter Jones recalled July 22 during a House Armed Services Committee subcommittee hearing on family support programs, left him stunned and speechless.
"The little boy looked up at me and said, 'My daddy's not dead yet,' " Jones said, then repeated the question more slowly for emphasis: " 'My daddy's not dead yet.' "
"I was so shocked it had to be at least 40 seconds -- I couldn't respond. I came out with the response that, "Well, God loves our moms and our dads.' "
And with that Jones asked the panel -- which included a deputy undersecretary of defense and the top noncommissioned officers from each of the four service branches -- if enough is being done to get the children of servicemembers the mental health treatment they may need.
"Are we really able to help those children -- who are five, six, seven, eight -- think about [their dad] not coming back, or mom not coming back, or one coming back who is paralyzed, or one coming back whose face will not look normal again?" he asked. "Do you really feel that, with the shortage of medical professionals, that we are doing -- I know we are doing the best we can do, but can more be done for those children. This has preyed on my heart for a long time."
The answer depends on how you interpret help and who you talk to. While one Pentagon official told Military.com that "any physician can and will work a mental health issue," questions remain about access to the care.
Arthur J. Myers, the DoD's deputy undersecretary for Military Community and Family Policy, told the House panel that military spouses testifying previously before a Senate committee rated the care excellent but access poor.
"Families with children [found that] a lot of health care providers, a lot of health professionals, will not accept Tricare," he said. In one instance a Fort Campbell, Ky., family "had to travel to Nashville an hour and a half to get the care, and then back again." Myers said Defense officials will be going to Fort Campbell, as well as to Fort Drum, N.Y., with Tricare officials to meet with health care providers "just to find out if we can break it loose."
According to Myers, help for military children dealing with deployments and what war does to a parent is better on "Sesame Street" than Main Street.
"We have a great relationship with 'Sesame Street,' " he said, referring to the long-running PBS series featuring Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and the Cookie Monster. The program already has produced one segment intended to help children deal with deployments, and another on "when mom or dad comes home different," Myers said, referring to a servicemember coming back with an arm or leg missing. Actual military families are in the program, he said.
"The next one we're going to do is [about] loss of a loved one," he said.
Right now, said Myers, "there are military members who will not put on their uniform at home. They leave it at work. Because the kids, they see it, and they think 'mom or dad's going to be deployed.' "
The military is concerned about getting mental health care for the children of members, Myers said, and offered up an example of an Airman -- burned over 80 percent of his body in combat -- fearing "that his 3-year-old child would view him as a monster."
Myers told Military.com after the hearing he did not know how many child psychologists or therapists are available to meet military families' demands.
According to some, help may be more readily available than is always apparent.
Air Force Col. Cory Lyman, assistant director of Individual Readiness and Family Policy at the Pentagon, offered high praise for the DoD's Military Onesource, a 24/7 program available by phone or online that troubleshoots problems encountered by service members and families, including active duty, guard and reserve members.
The program is able to link service members and families up with counselors near their homes, he said.
"I think that this is an opportunity available to every family, nationally, because they can refer to a therapist in any community," said Lyman.
An official with the DoD's Health Services branch could not say how many child psychologists or therapists are in uniform, acknowledging "there's not a lot in the active duty, but some." The reason is that care is primarily based on the needs of the military first.
But, he said, "any physician can and will work a mental health issue."
There are currently 11,530 physicians in the active duty force, and another 5,246 in the reserve forces, said the official, who asked not to be named. He also said physicians can be brought in as contractors, both in and out of Tricare.
"The number of contracted [doctors] is almost impossible to get," he said, because of how the positions may be filled. For example, a child development center may have five full-time positions attached to it, but those full-time slots may be filled by contracting with 20 doctors, part time.
"If there are not enough doctors on base we can refer to doctors off-base, even if they're not affiliated with Tricare," he said, but acknowledged that is "a difficult thing to get a handle on."
And as to whether even all these numbers meet the overall demand, he said, "that is the number one question we're tackling."
Ultimately, according to Tom Philpott, one of Military.com's benefits advisors, it may not matter much how many child psychologists are in the military since so much of military health care for families involves referrals to the private sector and the network of civilian health care providers who treat military beneficiaries.
"And those civilian child psychologists don't necessarily have to be in the Tricare network because families can use Tricare standard and find whatever psychologist they might want to use for higher out-of-pocket costs."
I would think we all agree that children of military men and women who become casualties need to receive aid to 'get over' the loss. I guess the real question lies in this: At what costs are we willing to pay? Do you think that military children should be treated by members of the military free of charge? Do you think they should be referred off-site where the family assumes all costs? Or a combination of the two that allows the family to choose, and the military pay in full (or at least most) either way?
In my opinion, the third option is best: The family chooses where the child is to receive help, albeit military or not. If it is military, it should be entirely free of charge; if through private practice because the family does not think the military has adequate ability, the military should assist in pay and the family end up with a very subsidized cost. How about you guys?
July 24, 2009
Military.com|by Bryant Jordan
The questions posed to the North Carolina congressman by many of the 15 kids at Camp Lejeune during National Reading Day in 2007 were, initially, what he'd come to expect: Do you have a dog? Have you met the President?
But the last child, Rep. Walter Jones recalled July 22 during a House Armed Services Committee subcommittee hearing on family support programs, left him stunned and speechless.
"The little boy looked up at me and said, 'My daddy's not dead yet,' " Jones said, then repeated the question more slowly for emphasis: " 'My daddy's not dead yet.' "
"I was so shocked it had to be at least 40 seconds -- I couldn't respond. I came out with the response that, "Well, God loves our moms and our dads.' "
And with that Jones asked the panel -- which included a deputy undersecretary of defense and the top noncommissioned officers from each of the four service branches -- if enough is being done to get the children of servicemembers the mental health treatment they may need.
"Are we really able to help those children -- who are five, six, seven, eight -- think about [their dad] not coming back, or mom not coming back, or one coming back who is paralyzed, or one coming back whose face will not look normal again?" he asked. "Do you really feel that, with the shortage of medical professionals, that we are doing -- I know we are doing the best we can do, but can more be done for those children. This has preyed on my heart for a long time."
The answer depends on how you interpret help and who you talk to. While one Pentagon official told Military.com that "any physician can and will work a mental health issue," questions remain about access to the care.
Arthur J. Myers, the DoD's deputy undersecretary for Military Community and Family Policy, told the House panel that military spouses testifying previously before a Senate committee rated the care excellent but access poor.
"Families with children [found that] a lot of health care providers, a lot of health professionals, will not accept Tricare," he said. In one instance a Fort Campbell, Ky., family "had to travel to Nashville an hour and a half to get the care, and then back again." Myers said Defense officials will be going to Fort Campbell, as well as to Fort Drum, N.Y., with Tricare officials to meet with health care providers "just to find out if we can break it loose."
According to Myers, help for military children dealing with deployments and what war does to a parent is better on "Sesame Street" than Main Street.
"We have a great relationship with 'Sesame Street,' " he said, referring to the long-running PBS series featuring Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and the Cookie Monster. The program already has produced one segment intended to help children deal with deployments, and another on "when mom or dad comes home different," Myers said, referring to a servicemember coming back with an arm or leg missing. Actual military families are in the program, he said.
"The next one we're going to do is [about] loss of a loved one," he said.
Right now, said Myers, "there are military members who will not put on their uniform at home. They leave it at work. Because the kids, they see it, and they think 'mom or dad's going to be deployed.' "
The military is concerned about getting mental health care for the children of members, Myers said, and offered up an example of an Airman -- burned over 80 percent of his body in combat -- fearing "that his 3-year-old child would view him as a monster."
Myers told Military.com after the hearing he did not know how many child psychologists or therapists are available to meet military families' demands.
According to some, help may be more readily available than is always apparent.
Air Force Col. Cory Lyman, assistant director of Individual Readiness and Family Policy at the Pentagon, offered high praise for the DoD's Military Onesource, a 24/7 program available by phone or online that troubleshoots problems encountered by service members and families, including active duty, guard and reserve members.
The program is able to link service members and families up with counselors near their homes, he said.
"I think that this is an opportunity available to every family, nationally, because they can refer to a therapist in any community," said Lyman.
An official with the DoD's Health Services branch could not say how many child psychologists or therapists are in uniform, acknowledging "there's not a lot in the active duty, but some." The reason is that care is primarily based on the needs of the military first.
But, he said, "any physician can and will work a mental health issue."
There are currently 11,530 physicians in the active duty force, and another 5,246 in the reserve forces, said the official, who asked not to be named. He also said physicians can be brought in as contractors, both in and out of Tricare.
"The number of contracted [doctors] is almost impossible to get," he said, because of how the positions may be filled. For example, a child development center may have five full-time positions attached to it, but those full-time slots may be filled by contracting with 20 doctors, part time.
"If there are not enough doctors on base we can refer to doctors off-base, even if they're not affiliated with Tricare," he said, but acknowledged that is "a difficult thing to get a handle on."
And as to whether even all these numbers meet the overall demand, he said, "that is the number one question we're tackling."
Ultimately, according to Tom Philpott, one of Military.com's benefits advisors, it may not matter much how many child psychologists are in the military since so much of military health care for families involves referrals to the private sector and the network of civilian health care providers who treat military beneficiaries.
"And those civilian child psychologists don't necessarily have to be in the Tricare network because families can use Tricare standard and find whatever psychologist they might want to use for higher out-of-pocket costs."
I would think we all agree that children of military men and women who become casualties need to receive aid to 'get over' the loss. I guess the real question lies in this: At what costs are we willing to pay? Do you think that military children should be treated by members of the military free of charge? Do you think they should be referred off-site where the family assumes all costs? Or a combination of the two that allows the family to choose, and the military pay in full (or at least most) either way?
In my opinion, the third option is best: The family chooses where the child is to receive help, albeit military or not. If it is military, it should be entirely free of charge; if through private practice because the family does not think the military has adequate ability, the military should assist in pay and the family end up with a very subsidized cost. How about you guys?