Virginia is for heroes

By Leila Ugincius

Never mind the lovers. Now Virginia is for heroes.

The Mid-Atlantic Addiction Technology Transfer Center at Virginia Commonwealth University is co-sponsoring a conference with the Virginia Department of Veterans Services to raise awareness of the difficulties military personnel face when they return home from combat.

The Virginia is for Heroes Conference will be held Oct. 17 at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden and is geared toward a wide range of professionals, including health service providers, educators, legislators, faith-based leaders and the media.

The goal of the conference is to develop a plan and make resources available to ensure that returning veterans and their families can reintegrate successfully into their communities. It will kick off with an overview of difficulties returning veterans may encounter. A marine colonel who was stationed in Fallujah will talk about her own experiences.

About 700 severely wounded veterans from the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq live in Virginia, according to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates. Thousands more have returned with less visible wounds that are nonetheless debilitating, statistics show.

“They come back with multiple difficulties” such as polytrauma and combat stress, said Paula Horvatich, Ph.D., director of the MAATTC. “Often, when a service member returns from combat, they aren’t the same person that they were when they left. This has had ramifications not only for the service member but their family and our community. It’s really a ripple effect.”

The MAATTC is one of 14 regional centers nationwide that improve addiction treatment by putting substance-use research into counseling practice. Other ATTCs have begun planning and implementing conferences like the Virginia is for Heroes.

“I did one last year in North Carolina,” Horvatich said. “That was hugely successful. It’s a big win-win for everyone involved. We all want to make sure our returning vets are OK. We want to make sure they’re taken care of.”

For more information about the conference, visit http://www.virginiaisforheroes.org.