University Provides Care for Wounded Warriors

American Forces Press Service ^ | Jamie Findlater

[SandRat]

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2008 – Wounded servicemembers are finding an unlikely resource for care at Arkansas State University in a new program officials there hope will catch on at other college campuses.

Susan Tonymon, director of the Beck Pride Center at the university’s Jonesboro campus, described the program in an “ASY Live” interview on BlogTalkRadio.com.

The university opened the center in October 2007 as a supplement to Veterans Affairs programs, Tonymon said. The campus is an ideal place to reach out to wounded troops, she said.

“Arkansas State University is a very military-friendly campus,” Tonymon said. With a National Guard armory on campus, an ROTC program and the development of a student veterans group, the campus “provides a service for them to connect with others in this area for social interaction and cohesiveness.”

The center provides services such as physical and occupational therapy, mental health counseling and social services to combat-injured servicemembers, veterans and their families. It was funded for 50 participants and now has 62, Tonymon said.

“We don’t want to duplicate a service,” Tonymon said. “Many of our servicemembers have heard about the vet centers, but sometimes they are too far away and they will choose to come to a center on our campus.”

Participants often go to Arkansas State for services not offered at VA centers near them, Tonymon said. And, with mental health providers trained to help combat veterans, they find the care specific to their needs.

Most participants come from outside the Jonesboro area, some from as far away as California and Washington state, to take advantage of the program’s unique opportunities, Tonymon said.

Program officials recently helped a wounded warrior relocate to Jonesboro from Missouri, where he faced a 70-mile commute to the nearest VA center. The center provided him with temporary housing and got him financial resources because he had not yet been discharged from the military, Tonymon said.

“We have an area on campus where military servicemembers can live in a community with day care and get physical therapy right here on campus,” she said.

Tonymon said she is interested in helping other campuses start their own programs.

“Universities like Arkansas State are in a unique position to help, mainly because we can centralize many of the services that the wounded servicemember may need for recovery,” she said. “The university itself provides a safe therapeutic and healing environment.”

(Jamie Findlater works in the New Media directorate of the Defense Media Activity.)

Related Sites:
“ASY Live”
Beck Pride Center
Military OneSource
Warrior Care Web Portal
Warrior Care News
National Resource Directory for Wounded Warriors

[yazoo]

Suck on that you east and west coast universities.

[PurpleMan]

You are such an unbelievable ass. Instead of using this to highlight the good of what’s being done, you use it for a cheap, ignorant and uninformed shot against regions of the country that you have an obvious bias against.

Do us all a favor and return to Hootersvilles, NC where you can wallow in your ignorance.
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BTW: Check out these articles:

“Operation Mend,”:(UCLA Magazine) ... a unique new partnership between ULCA (What Coast is that on?) Medical Center and Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, has been established to help treat several U.S. military personnel wounded during service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dartmouth (Yes, an East-coast Ivy League School)President Founds College Service for Wounded Veterans: (VFW Magazine) Begun in February 2007, the program was the brainchild of Jim Wright, president of Dartmouth College. Wright, a Marine veteran, came up with the idea after making multiple visits to wounded veterans and then seeing how challenging it was for these vets to make college plans. Wright has pledged extensive support for the program, helping to raise more than $350,000 to get it started.

Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California (What coast is that on????) will host the families and provide meeting venues... to help provide life skills, education and continuing support for the families of our fallen military heroes.

The Oregon University System offers full tuition waivers for dependents (children, adopted children, stepchildren, spouses) and un-remarried surviving spouses of U.S. military members who: died on active duty after 9/11/01;
died from service-connected injuries or condition sustained after 9/11/01; or are rated 100% disabled by the VA for a service-connected disability sustained after 9/11/01.

From Combat to the Campus (USNews&WW): A new program helps recently wounded soldiers attend college -— At least 32 states this year have considered new veteran education benefits, while 11 states have signed new programs into law. (I’ll bet the NONE of those colleges are on the East or West Coast)

[yazoo]

Sure, you can find exceptions to the rule, but for the most part all you have to do is read enough Freeper posts to see what kind of left wing stupidity is going on in so many of the Ivy league and west coast colleges. It’s certainly a generalization, but not a whole lot different than the stereotype you suggest with your Hootersville, NC comment.