Wingman culture key to suicide prevention, resiliency

by Staff Sgt. Benjamin W. Stratton379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs9/27/2013 - SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Resiliency is a term describing skill sets for Airmen to bounce back and grow following adversity. The Wingman Culture strengthens Airmen by providing them the tools and support to face the challenges of military life, especially while deployed.September is known across the Department of Defense as Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month, focusing efforts on the Wingman Culture and the availability of helping agencies for all service members. In a recent press statement, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said leaders throughout the department must make it understood that seeking help is a sign of strength and courage, not a sign of weakness. Echoing his secretary, President Barack Obama said there should be no shame in discussing or seeking help for treatable illnesses that affect too many people."We see it in veterans who come home from the battlefield with the invisible wounds of war," the president said. "[These are veterans], who feel somehow that seeking treatment is a sign of weakness when, in fact, it's a sign of strength."The DOD has launched numerous programs, hired hundreds of experts and continues promoting the importance of looking out for one another. Many of these programs and helping agencies are found at the nation's largest expeditionary wing, the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing."The Chaplain Corps assists Airmen struggling with suicide by providing a support that includes: a safe place to share their problems with complete confidentiality, a support network through a referral program that includes other helping agencies on base and spiritual care provided by a professional religious support team," said Maj. Ismael Rodriguez, the 379th AEW deputy wing chaplain deployed from Moody Air Force Base, Ga., and a San Antonio native. "It is extremely important for every Airman regardless of rank and position to seek help and know that it is a perfectly acceptable option."The chaplain said he sometimes sees people who are afraid to seek help because they think it will somehow end their career in the Air Force. Rodriguez said he tells Airmen it is better to voluntarily ask for help when they are just beginning to feel overwhelmed or start struggling with having a sense of hopelessness than to wait for the situation to worsen."It is never too late to see a chaplain or health care provider," he continued. "We have a chaplain on call 24/7 and we will be there to respond and be with that individual for as long as that Airman needs us."The Air Force wants its Airmen and their families to thrive in good times and bad. The service continuously strives to improve Airmen performance and readiness by building their confidence to lead, courage to stand up for their beliefs, and capacity for compassion to help others."It is important for Airmen to seek early assistance before feelings of suicide," said Staff Sgt. Aaron Guin, a 379th Expeditionary Medical Operations Squadron mental health NCO in charge deployed from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, S.C., and hails from Denver. "If you're having feelings of suicide, tell your Wingman or someone you trust. Our Wingmen and supervisors are incredibly important because they are the first to notice if behaviors change."Guin said mental health works with all the helping agencies on base including the chapel, Sexual Assault Response Coordinator, and military and family life counselors. The mental health clinic is open for walk-ins 7 days a week, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is on call 24/7.The Air Force supports it's Airmen in responsibly seeking help and according to the 379th AEW wing staff agencies first sergeant, Senior Master Sgt. Darrell Harmon, it's all about getting to know the people with whom you serve."Sometimes our Airmen just want to sit down and talk with someone they know and trust," Harmon said, who is deployed from Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, and a Chicago native. "As supervisors and first sergeants, we need to express a genuine interest in our people and their development."Harmon said an Airman came to him one time asking to sit and talk. The first sergeant said during their conversation not once did it seem to him his troop was considering suicide. But months later, he received an email thanking him for the chat that day -- for he had considered taking his own life, but it was because of Harmon's genuine care, he made the choice to live."You may not know it at the time, but your actions have a huge impact on your people," he said. "First sergeants and supervisors are an Airman's first step to getting the help they need. It's up to us to point them in the right direction and be involved. We need to know what resources are available so we can be good Wingmen, leaders and mentors."Good Wingmen support others who ask for help when they are in crisis and remove any barriers to responsibly getting help."We can all make a difference by helping our Wingmen understand they are not alone and positive support is available," said Brig. Gen. Roger Watkins, the 379th AEW commander. "Our expeditionary Airmen have been engaged in a long war highlighted by continuous and sustained operational deployments and a demanding operations tempo. These service members are accomplishing a significant mission here that is vitally important to the safety and security of our nation."Although the resilience of the overall force has been remarkable, recurrent deployments and high mission tempo can affect service members' ability to recover and restore total fitness and balance in every dimension of their lives. The Air Force created the Air Force Deployment Transition Center to combat these issues. DTC uses a resiliency-building, strength-based approach to empower Airmen at high-risk for traumatic exposure to decompress and successfully progress through the reintegration process before returning home.All service members can help him identify early warning signs in their Wingmen and intervene to ensure others get help when needed. For 24/7 assistance call the base command post at 436-0160. Below is a list of resources available for service members both here and worldwide.Resources: 379th Expeditionary Medical Group: 437-4216379th MDG Mental Health Clinic: 437-8767379th AEW Victory Chapel: 437-8811Veterans Crisis Linehttp://www.veteranscrisisline.net/DOD Suicide Prevention and Awareness Programhttp://www.defense.gov/home/features/2012/0812_suicide-prevention/Air Force Suicide Preventionhttp://www.afms.af.mil/suicideprevention/National Suicide Prevention Lifelinehttp://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

Healing deployed wounded warriors

by Senior Airman Benjamin Stratton379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs7/31/2013 - SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Established in 2008, the 379th Expeditionary Medical Group's Intra-Theater Care Program here ensures no service member is sent home from the U.S. Central Command's area of responsibility before having a chance to get back in the fight."We're here to ease the workload of our forward operating hospitals so they can focus on the critically ill patients, and in turn, ITCP takes care of the non-emergent combat and non-combat related injuries," said Staff Sgt. Shannon Maynard, the program's NCO in charge deployed from Beale Air Force Base, Calif. "Our goal is to fix these soldiers and return them to duty within 30 days without them having to leave the AOR."On average, ITCP cares for 15 wounded warriors a month, returning 98 percent of patients to their units down range. The program's patient make-up usually consists of 80 percent Army, 10 percent Air Force and 10 percent Navy and Marines."The benefit of this program is pretty significant," Maynard said. "Patients who would normally go home and probably never return to the AOR, have the ability to come here, recover, relax and get the care they absolutely need before returning to duty without leaving their unit one man behind."This in turn saves the Department of Defense thousands of dollars that would have otherwise been used to locate another service member to take their place, no-notice, while they recover at hospitals in places like Germany and stateside."For me it was encouraging because we were told if you went to Germany that usually means you're going home or if you're home, you're just not going to come back from certain types of injuries or ailments," said U.S. Army Spc. Demetrius Payton, an ITCP patient who injured his foot while on convoy duty in Afghanistan. "It was encouraging for me because I wasn't ready to leave; I was so short in my deployment. But when the doctors at Bagram Air Base told me I was coming here, my hopes rose."Payton said he didn't want to leave his unit a man short and can't wait to get back to them, but said he couldn't have recovered as quickly as he has without the ITCP and the medical group's staff.The program affords patients access to fully qualified medical personnel 24/7. These patients are able to partake in all base activities going on pending it isn't harming their recovery. ITCP is capable of housing up to 20 patients at any given time. Behind the scenes, Maynard works hand-in-hand with the patient's units coordinating with the Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility for their movement back down range and their direct line to the surgeons."Basically I am here to provide the best care and welfare I can for my patients, ensuring they make every appointment and adhere to their profile restrictions," she said.Maynard said this program benefits the warfighter by giving them a safe place to come and recover. They are given the care they need and a place to relax and decompress while they are here. Patients have access to all other services on base that wouldn't be available down range."Since being here I've had nothing but success as far as battling the infection on my foot," Payton said. "The infection could have invaded the bone and found its way into the blood system. But they settled my fears and treated me very well. Now the infection itself is basically beaten and I'm just going through the physical therapy process to get back in the fight."However, physical recovery isn't Maynard's only concern as she's also looking out for their mental recovery."They get to participate in absolutely everything here," she said. "When celebrities come by this is one of the first stops they make and I think it's good for their morale."ITCP also provides patients with a weekly pizza night, Sunday brunch in bed and numerous other activities throughout the week. Patients are also encouraged to make themselves at home and participate in other morale, wellness and recreation events here, like Karaoke night at Memorial Plaza, among others."You don't really feel like you're isolated from the regular personnel here or even from the other patients," Payton said. "It really feels good and makes you feel normal -- not just like a patient.""They've made me feel so special," added Marine Lance Cpl. Matt Zager, an ITCP patient. "I'm very appreciative for everything they've done to help me get better and back in the fight, not just physically, but emotionally as well."Maynard said she feels like the patients form bonds with other patients really helping in their recovery efforts."Even though they are from all different branches of the military, they form their own unit," she said. "It's nice to actually stand back and watch them bond and find out about different branches of the armed forces."As Payton completes his final steps to recovery he said he's so grateful for everything ITCP, Maynard and the hospital staff has done for him."They really make you feel like part of a family," Payton said. "You feel like you're cared for here and not just another number."From the moment patients, like Payton, get off the plane to the moment they head back to the fight, ITCP is with them every step of the way."I think the patients respond well to the program; there's always somebody there to take care of them," Maynard said. "We have a mission here to get them better and back in the fight as soon as possible."

Listen to your buds: Preventing hearing loss

by Senior Airman Benjamin Stratton379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs5/28/2013 - SOUTHWEST ASIA -- After a long day of work, the last thing you might want to hear is your neighbor's favorite screaming rock band, but when fellow Airmen use their earbuds on the highest volume setting, no one gets to enjoy the silence.Music technology came a long way since Edison's first phonograph -- from loud, crackly records all the way to inner-ear buds. While these conveniences are a part of everyday life, they can also be detrimental to your health and possibly career ending."In the military, many people are exposed to dangerously loud noises on a regular basis due to our jobs, especially personnel that work on the flight line," said Senior Airman Jamie Miller, a 379th Expeditionary Medical Group public health journeyman. "Exposing ourselves to excessively loud noise or loud noise for long periods of time will cause noise-induced hearing loss. Any type of loud noise can cause this hearing loss; even listening to music that's too loud can cause permanent damage."Servicemembers understand how essential it is to wear their personal protective equipment while performing the mission in situations requiring extra hearing protection, but what most don't realize, Miller said, is hearing loss can occur at any time."Listening to loud music on an iPod is just like being exposed to any other loud noise," he said. "One thing that many do is turn the volume of their music up when they're in a place that is loud itself, like the gym. The best thing for that is simply to police ourselves; it will be well worth it."According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, hearing loss can come from a variety of factors, but the number one source for hearing loss in America is exposure to very loud noise. In a campaign ASHA initiated for May as part of "Better Hearing and Speech Month," "Listen to your buds" focuses on educating people, helping them communicate and promoting treatment aimed at improving quality of life.ASHA officials say listening to loud noise for long periods of time can damage the hair cells in the inner ear. Noise-induced hearing loss usually develops gradually and painlessly. A single exposure to an extremely loud sound such as an explosion can cause a sudden loss of hearing. This is called acoustic trauma.In the Air Force, NIHL is an important matter and it's the number one cause for disability. To help combat the damage done by dangerous amounts of noise, personnel at risk take annual audiograms as well as get fitted for earplugs to make sure the correct size is worn and worn correctly."Correctly wearing earplugs and earmuffs will greatly reduce the amount of noise to a reasonable level," said Miller.Preventing high environmental noise from getting in is preferable, but many servicemembers purposely play their music at dangerous volume levels, and are at significantly increased risk for injury."Hearing loss is permanent, so there is no recovery that can happen once the damage is done," Miller continued. "Without hearing, there would be communication barriers between you and your coworkers, giving orders and being aware of your environment. At home it's much more difficult to have a conversation with your loved ones or call your family far away."People with hearing loss may have:- Difficulty speaking and understanding verbal communication- Problems in academic achievement; feelings of isolation, exclusion, embarrassment, annoyance, confusion and helplessness- A reluctance to participate in activities with others- Significant problems following directions- Numerous physiological changes, sleep difficulties, digestive problems, delayed emotional development, stress related disorders, behavioral problems, body fatigue and possible immunological effectsThere is hope, however, and all these symptoms can be avoided."The positive is that NIHL is 100 percent preventable," Miller said. "As long as everyone does their part, NIHL won't be a reason for anyone to have to leave their workplace."Visit www.asha.org/public for more information on how to prevent hearing loss.