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CENTER AIMS TO EASE TRANSITION FOR SOLDIERS --
Center will offer counseling, workshops and
referrals
to help military personnel and their families.
North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health
Systems
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http://www.newsday.com/news/
local/longisland/ny-lisold0426,0,5777
702.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines
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Center aims to ease transition for soldiers
BY MELANIE LEFKOWITZ
melanie.lefkowitz@newsday.com
In what hospital officials believe is the first of its kind in the
nation, a new center at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health Systems
opens Friday, aimed at helping military veterans as well as their
spouses, children or parents to counteract strains on family life.
The Florence and Robert A. Rosen Family Health Center will offer
counseling, workshops and referrals to help military and law-enforcement
personnel and their families deal with everything from post-traumatic
stress to marital problems to cigarette smoking or weight gain.
"Long-term exposure to stress and traumatic experiences do weigh on the
individual," said New York State Naval Militia Rear Adm. Robert Rosen of
upstate Rhinebeck, a longtime hospital trustee who helped found the
center.
"As a commander for many years, I do see that time and time again --
whether it's sleep disorders or work problems or family issues,
prolonged separations, the need to properly reintegrate for the
families, or help for the children when the spouse has been away for a
long period of time."
With local troops' service in Iraq and Afghanistan, mental health issues
are emerging as a crucial concern. Longer and more frequent deployments
for armed services members can strain marriages and careers.
A recent study found that 20 percent of those seeking help at Northport
VA Medical Center, the main veterans' facility on Long Island, suffered
from post-traumatic stress disorder, higher than the national average
among veterans of 13 percent.
"It's tremendously needed on Long Island. We have had so many brave men
and women involved in this experience we're having in the Middle East
right now, unprecedented numbers in very trying circumstances," said
Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Jamaica Estates), who will be at the opening
ceremony for the center, located at North Shore University Hospital in
Manhasset.
"It affects their loved ones and their families and everyone around
them, so this family treatment center will be a more holistic approach."
North Shore hospital officials said they anticipate the center will
supplement services offered by the Northport VA hospital, which treats
veterans but not families.
Joe Sledge, a Northport hospital spokesman, said he welcomes extra
support for families, but believes the VA hospital offers all the care
returning veterans themselves may need. "Any time a community provider
wants to support the families of our veterans we see that as a good
thing," he said.
The VA offers the nation's largest mental health system, he said, with
programs tailored to needs of veterans returning from Iraq or
Afghanistan.
The North Shore center, which has three full-time adult and child
psychologists and a psychiatric social worker on staff and access to all
hospital resources, hopes to reach at least 1,000 people in its first
year. Its free programs will include such workshops as parenting and
stress reduction, counseling, and referrals for physical or mental
health services.
"The support for families is really a critical service to help these
families remain together and thrive," said Dr. Sandra Kaplan, a
psychiatrist who will be the Rosen Center's director.
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Larry Scott --
