Your veteran brother or sister, daughter or son returns from a combat zone tour in Afghanistan. The beloved one can’t get to sleep, has frequent moody periods, and can’t focus on getting a job or working regularly. What’s the problem? And who can help?
Mercy Health Systems and in particular its two nearby major health units, Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby and Mercy Philadelphia Hospital at 54th and Cedar Streets have been gearing up for some time to provide specialized care for our veterans and current military and their families.
This commitment was highlighted in recent weeks at two “Dine With the Docs” sessions at the respective care centers led by Dr. Theodor Katz, himself a U.S. Army veteran and leader of Mercy’s ongoing Military and Veterans Health Program.
The problem according to Dr. Katz is that veterans suffer from an almost endless variety of extremely dangerous situation and exposure to conditions and toxic materials in their active duty. These produce mental stresses for which from lack of information or pride, they do not immediately seek treatment. Perhaps a third of returned veterans and active duty service people suffer from mental illness of some kind but less than half of them seek care – either from the Veterans’ Hospital like the nearby Crescenz Center at 3900 Woodland or at a non-military medical facility.
As Dr. Katz explained vividly at Mercy Philadelphia on June 22, Mercy has instituted its Military and Veterans Health Program which has a motto “Serving You as You Served Us.” “This program honors those who have given so much on our behalf,” indicted Dr. Katz. As partners with our military service members, veterans and their families, we provide them with convenient access to high-quality, caring, people-centered health care services that meet their unique needs. We are committed to becoming their provider of choice.”
Mercy providers and staff have been trained through the Trinity Health system to understand and respond to the health concerns and challenges specific to the military community including the unique military cultures branch by branch, illnesses and injuries – particularly the mental ones – coming from military service and the special care required for current and former female service members
Call 1.877.GO MERCY (1.877.466.3729) to find out more about veterans and military care or mercyhealth.org
Information and photos for this article were graciously provided by Tom Logue and Zach Raczka at AKCG PR Counselors.
