Veterans’ advocate promotes PTSD site

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Tammy Duckworth, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, discusses the attack on her Black Hawk helicopter in 2004 that caused her to lose both legs.


Veterans’ advocate promotes PTSD site
By Mark Abramson, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, October 20, 2008

Nearly four years after Tammy Duckworth lost her legs in Iraq, she is breaking new ground in her role as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.

As an Illinois National Guard major and former Black Hawk pilot, Duckworth is no stranger to the emotional and physical toll of war. She lost her legs when a rocket-propelled grenade hit her chopper in November 2004.

Duckworth, who spoke in Heidelberg, Germany, on Thursday about overcoming her disability, is credited with starting a program that helps veterans and servicemembers get help for post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries. The program is called the Illinois Warrior Assistance Program, and its Web site, www.illinoiswarrior.com, can be accessed by anyone.

"It was something that I approached our governor about doing when I realized that many of our returning veterans had never been screened for post traumatic stress disorder or specifically the traumatic brain injury component of it," Duckworth said.

Although the department has not released exact numbers as to how many people have logged on to the site since it was created in January, it has received over 10,000 hits and callers to its 24-hour hotline, the latter of which is only available to people in Illinois.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58264%2e