thedrifter
05-02-06, 11:53 AM
May 08, 2006
‘Handbook’ helps healing process
Soldier’s research results in manual for wounded troops
By Karen Jowers
Times staff writer
For his first month at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Army 1st Lt. D.J. Skelton lay in bed, unable to speak or move. But he could hear the agony in his parents’ discussions and questions.
And when he went through his outpatient phase at Walter Reed in early 2005, he also listened to other service members, their parents, spouses, girlfriends.
“I walked away with notebooks and notebooks of concerns,” said Skelton, who lost his left eye and partial use of his left arm when he was wounded Nov. 6, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, while serving as a platoon leader with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, out of Fort Lewis, Wash.
Scooping up such concerns morphed into a personal mission. Skelton’s expanded focus included collecting tips on resources to help wounded troops and their families.
His ideas and initial research have germinated “The Hero Handbook,” which will be finished this summer thanks to a small but determined group of Army wives.
Skelton has returned to active duty, but the handbook, designed for seriously injured troops and their families, remains a personal mission.
‘No one holds your hand’
The 200-page guide, which applies to each service branch, provides information on a variety of resources available through the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as nonprofit groups.
Skelton said advocacy offices for wounded troops run by the services and the Defense Department “do a great job.”
But troops and families “will pass through a lot of organizations. No one holds your hand and walks you through the entire process,” Skelton said.
“We need to set them up for success, and point them in the right direction,” he added. “It requires a joint team, working together. We don’t care who helps us, what their title is, whether they’re Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Air Force, nonprofit, as long as they work to help us.”
If a family is not ready to talk about the nuts and bolts of the road to recovery, “You can arm them with the book,” he said. “They can search and seek out and do it on their own terms.”
Skelton hopes military social workers, family readiness groups and military treatment facilities will use the book as a guide “from Day One of being wounded until the transition back to the military or to civilian life.”
A milestone in the evolution of his handbook came after Skelton spoke at a memorial service for one of his brigade’s fallen soldiers.
He was approached by Andrea Schaill, wife of the former deputy commander of the 1st Brigade, who asked what more could be done to support wounded soldiers and their loved ones.
Skelton told her that the most important thing was to provide resources to help people navigate the government system.
“He was still very much in the midst of his own recovery process, yet he was thinking of other soldiers and families when he had his own medical crisis to deal with,” Schaill said.
The brigade’s family readiness group pulled together resources for Fort Lewis families, adding to Skelton’s work.
After Schaill’s husband was transferred to the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., she and other spouses of military students there decided to accept the task of broadening the scope of “The Hero Handbook,” visiting Walter Reed and talking to social workers and others in the support system, as well as troops and families.
“We figured, if it was complex for us as senior spouses [to get information], it has to be really, really hard for young families and parents,” she said.
A range of resources
The resulting handbook has such hands-on information as packing tips and checklists to consider before leaving for the hospital.
When wives asked various offices what families should bring with them when visiting their wounded loved ones, high on the list was “family members’ prescription drugs,” she said.
The handbook also includes information from experts about government-sponsored travel to hospitals, as well as programs such as “Hero Miles” with donated airline tickets for those who don’t qualify for government-paid travel.
Other topics include: driving directions to Walter Reed, phone numbers and fare information for taxis; Fisher Houses and temporary lodging near Walter Reed; and child care and other resources for children.
Everything from the seemingly mundane — “Where do I do laundry?” — to critical transition back to the military or the civilian world is addressed.
In print, online this summer
After the Army War College publishes the handbook this summer and posts it online, “We hope it finds a home with someone,” Schaill said.
Skelton has been busy discussing the handbook with the numerous military offices that work with the severely wounded, and a plan to post the handbook on the Defense Department’s Military Homefront Web site, as well as other military Web sites, and regularly update it.
“This book has been with me a long time,” Skelton said.
“It came from the wounded and their families and my desire to make life easier for them.
“[They] need this. I want it for them.”
Ellie
‘Handbook’ helps healing process
Soldier’s research results in manual for wounded troops
By Karen Jowers
Times staff writer
For his first month at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Army 1st Lt. D.J. Skelton lay in bed, unable to speak or move. But he could hear the agony in his parents’ discussions and questions.
And when he went through his outpatient phase at Walter Reed in early 2005, he also listened to other service members, their parents, spouses, girlfriends.
“I walked away with notebooks and notebooks of concerns,” said Skelton, who lost his left eye and partial use of his left arm when he was wounded Nov. 6, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, while serving as a platoon leader with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, out of Fort Lewis, Wash.
Scooping up such concerns morphed into a personal mission. Skelton’s expanded focus included collecting tips on resources to help wounded troops and their families.
His ideas and initial research have germinated “The Hero Handbook,” which will be finished this summer thanks to a small but determined group of Army wives.
Skelton has returned to active duty, but the handbook, designed for seriously injured troops and their families, remains a personal mission.
‘No one holds your hand’
The 200-page guide, which applies to each service branch, provides information on a variety of resources available through the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as nonprofit groups.
Skelton said advocacy offices for wounded troops run by the services and the Defense Department “do a great job.”
But troops and families “will pass through a lot of organizations. No one holds your hand and walks you through the entire process,” Skelton said.
“We need to set them up for success, and point them in the right direction,” he added. “It requires a joint team, working together. We don’t care who helps us, what their title is, whether they’re Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Air Force, nonprofit, as long as they work to help us.”
If a family is not ready to talk about the nuts and bolts of the road to recovery, “You can arm them with the book,” he said. “They can search and seek out and do it on their own terms.”
Skelton hopes military social workers, family readiness groups and military treatment facilities will use the book as a guide “from Day One of being wounded until the transition back to the military or to civilian life.”
A milestone in the evolution of his handbook came after Skelton spoke at a memorial service for one of his brigade’s fallen soldiers.
He was approached by Andrea Schaill, wife of the former deputy commander of the 1st Brigade, who asked what more could be done to support wounded soldiers and their loved ones.
Skelton told her that the most important thing was to provide resources to help people navigate the government system.
“He was still very much in the midst of his own recovery process, yet he was thinking of other soldiers and families when he had his own medical crisis to deal with,” Schaill said.
The brigade’s family readiness group pulled together resources for Fort Lewis families, adding to Skelton’s work.
After Schaill’s husband was transferred to the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., she and other spouses of military students there decided to accept the task of broadening the scope of “The Hero Handbook,” visiting Walter Reed and talking to social workers and others in the support system, as well as troops and families.
“We figured, if it was complex for us as senior spouses [to get information], it has to be really, really hard for young families and parents,” she said.
A range of resources
The resulting handbook has such hands-on information as packing tips and checklists to consider before leaving for the hospital.
When wives asked various offices what families should bring with them when visiting their wounded loved ones, high on the list was “family members’ prescription drugs,” she said.
The handbook also includes information from experts about government-sponsored travel to hospitals, as well as programs such as “Hero Miles” with donated airline tickets for those who don’t qualify for government-paid travel.
Other topics include: driving directions to Walter Reed, phone numbers and fare information for taxis; Fisher Houses and temporary lodging near Walter Reed; and child care and other resources for children.
Everything from the seemingly mundane — “Where do I do laundry?” — to critical transition back to the military or the civilian world is addressed.
In print, online this summer
After the Army War College publishes the handbook this summer and posts it online, “We hope it finds a home with someone,” Schaill said.
Skelton has been busy discussing the handbook with the numerous military offices that work with the severely wounded, and a plan to post the handbook on the Defense Department’s Military Homefront Web site, as well as other military Web sites, and regularly update it.
“This book has been with me a long time,” Skelton said.
“It came from the wounded and their families and my desire to make life easier for them.
“[They] need this. I want it for them.”
Ellie