Helena Independent Record: Officials tour VA mental health wing
The new mental health wing at the Veterans Administration Hospital at Fort Harrison, ready to welcome its first inpatient July 5, is something veterans have needed a long time and now more than ever, said several people involved with a dedication ceremony and tour of the facility.
PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), should be called PTSW, for post-traumatic stress wound, because that’s what it is, said Ken “Rosy” Rosenbaum of Helena, a veteran of Korea, Vietnam and Operation Enduring Freedom and a facilitator of Vets-to-Vets, a support organization.
“The invisible wound that results in substance abuse, family issues, job changes — America, we’re going to see more of that,” he told the crowd of more than 150 at the ceremony. “And this is where they’re going to come.”
The $6.7 million facility will provide the VA’s first inpatient mental health beds in the state, preventing some veterans from having to seek care out of state.
