Meeting needs of returning troops

On Tuesday, June 1, Open Door Recovery Center will host a mental health and substance abuse forum for military veterans and their families. The public also is welcome and encouraged to come. This will be an opportunity to learn about post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, and other war-related disorders, as well as the services and benefits available to help returning veterans and their families. Acadia Family Center, located in Southwest Harbor, and The Behavioral Health Center in Bar Harbor are also participating in this event. I believe that together we can restore hope and build resiliency for those military veterans, and their families, who sacrifice so much for us.

When a man or woman goes to war, many people are affected. The effects of war penetrate deeply in the hearts, minds, and souls of all who are involved. As time passes, each person has his or her own way of adjusting.

Soldiers live in a world where hyper-vigilance determines the likelihood of survival. Every moment requires them to be on guard for their own safety and the safety of those around them. Every sound and movement is cause for an immediate and precise reaction. As each soldier is consumed with performing the job at hand, he or she is also coping with being away from home, family and familiar surroundings while being exposed to others who are suffering, frightened, angry, and confused by the very nature of war itself.

Meanwhile, soldiers’ families are home carrying on their lives in the absence of a husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter or sibling. Family members do their best to live one day at a time without their loved one, coping with the events of daily life while keeping hope alive that their soldier will come home safely.

Once a soldier does return home, families must get used to being together again. It can be a bittersweet experience for all – a welcome relief on the one hand and a difficult readjustment on the other. The soldier must now integrate back into family and community life after living in a dangerous, difficult and high-stress environment. The memory of his or her experiences may be filled with trauma, crisis, danger, grief, and a cruel reality that may be very difficult to live with. These memories do not disappear just because the soldier has returned home; in fact, they may become more vivid and take over a veteran’s reality.

Historically, the average length of time that passes before veterans have sought much-needed help with mental health or substance abuse issues is ten years. By then, a great deal of damage can occur to both the veteran and his or her family. Some may become homeless and isolated. Some continue to go through the motions of daily life while suffering with unresolved memories. Family members will know that things aren’t right, but may not know what to do to help or change the circumstances. Alcohol and other drugs may be used to anesthetize the emotional and sometimes physical pain, but substance abuse will only make matters worse.

This past March, I had the privilege of attending a special training program in Washington, D.C., titled “The Road Home: Restoring Hope and Building Resiliency.” The purpose of this training was to prepare community agencies that deliver community mental health and substance abuse services to respond to the needs of military veterans returning from service in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas.

We learned that the U.S. Department of Defense is expecting many service members to return home with post-traumatic stress disorder and problems stemming from substance abuse. Steps are being taken to prevent a repeat of Vietnam War veterans’ experience, in which soldiers were socially ostracized and rejected when they returned home instead of receiving the care and support they needed to resume civilian life.

Regardless of how you may feel about war in general or the United States’ current military commitments in particular, our service members have sacrificed many aspects of their lives in order to protect their country and make the world a safer place for us all. There are many ways that we, as a caring community, can provide support and services that will make a tremendous difference in the lives of our military veterans and their families. I strongly encourage anyone with an interest in helping our service members return to a healthy civilian life to attend the special program from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 1, at the VFW Hall on the Washington Junction Road in Ellsworth. For more information, call Open Door at 667-3210.

Barbara Royal is the director of Open Door Recovery Center in Ellsworth. Please join our weekly conversation about Maine’s substance abuse problem. We welcome comments or questions from all perspectives. Letters may be mailed to Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04401. Send e-mail contributions to findingafix@bangordailynews.net. Column editor Meg Haskell may be reached at (207) 990-8291 or mhaskell@bangordailynews.net.

From the Heart

Editor’s Note: Several readers responded to last week’s Finding a Fix column about the death of Ashley Joy McKague.

No one could disagree with the statement that “even one methadone-related death is one too many.” It should be noted, however, that the tragedy in the particular case of Ashley is most likely due to the inadequate availability of methadone treatment for opiate dependence, and not to its limitations. Clearly, nothing can possibly make up for this terrible loss of life or ease the grief that it has caused. But to save the lives of others, it seems vital to ensure that “waiting lists” – for methadone as well as for any and all other forms of care – be eliminated, and that those who want and need help in overcoming their dependence can get it promptly.

– Robert G. Newman, MD, director, International Center for Advancement of Addiction Treatment, Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York City.

As a mother, I am very sorry to learn of Ashley’s death, and extend my sympathies to her loving family. However, what is needed is more well-run methadone clinics, not fewer. If Ashley had been able to become a clinic patient as soon as she wished, instead of being placed on a waiting list, she would be alive and thriving today.

Narcotics Anonymous is rarely a lasting solution for most addicts because opiate addiction is a medical condition that requires medication for treatment. Suboxone is a very effective medication for some, but not all, patients. Methadone remains the gold standard for effective treatment. Those who sell their take-homes should be dealt with harshly, but we also have to ask why they are buying it on the street instead of in a medically supervised methadone maintenance clinic. Waiting lists kill.

– A. Dougherty, Rochester, N.Y.

For everybody who dies from illegal or unauthorized use of methadone, there are 20,000 whose lives are saved by methadone. Nothing is without risk. Addiction is a very serious disease and some will be lost.

– Frank Cannella, opium smoker saved by methadone treatment