Please take a moment to watch the video below: “Shoulder to Shoulder: I Will Never Quit on Life." It is an Army Suicide Prevention Program video that features vignettes with members of the Army family who received help for psychological distress or who assisted an individual in need.

Congratulations to TRICARE Management Activity for earning the League of American Communications Professionals Silver award in the 2009 Vision Awards Annual Report Competition for its preparation and publication of the 2010 MHS Stakeholders Report.

TMA develops the MHS Stakeholders Report every year to provide the MHS’s 9.6 million health beneficiaries, its leaders and staff, and the general public with an annual accounting of performance within the MHS, and its vision for the future. The report stands to serve as an overall annual benchmark for teamwork, commitment and innovation.

 

Since 2001, the LACP has been a major facilitator in establishing discussion of best-in-class practices within public relations, while also recognizing those who demonstrate exemplary communications capabilities. This year’s competition was exceptionally tough according to LACP, with the 2009 Vision Awards judging more than 4,000 submissions from more than 20 countries in categories ranging from creativity to message clarity.

You can download the 2010 MHS Stakeholders Report at the health.mil publications page: click here.

Post-deployment challenges will be the topic of discussion July 22, when the DCoE hosts a webinar from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern. The webinar will explore the challenges of returning home – readjusting to family life, returning to work and coping with a combat-related injury.

Webinar speakers will share their personal experiences coping with post-deployment and the transition to life at home.

This webinar will provide information that will be especially helpful to warriors and their families, but, as always, government employees, health care providers, subject matter experts and anyone interested in this topic are welcome to join.

To register for this event, or for more information send an e-mail to: DCoE.MonthlyWebinar@tma.osd.mil.

Please share this information with anyone you think would be interested.

 

 

Here’s a tip from TRICARE.mil on fighting childhood obesity. This week is National Youth Sports Week.

Millions of children participate in youth sports each year. National Youth Sports Week is observed the second week of July and it’s a great time to actively promote sports involvement for children.

Sports are not only fun and teach children about teamwork, but they are a big help in the fight against obesity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than nine million American children between the ages of 6 and 19 are overweight. Obesity can lead to a long list of future health concerns, including diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, asthma, depression and orthopedic conditions.

On Tuesday, July 13, the inTransition program will host a 30-minute webinar for behavioral health providers, primary care practitioners, case managers, recovery care coordinators and other health care providers, so that the may learn more about the program. The inTransition program provides support to service members currently receiving mental health treatment as they transfer between health care systems or providers.  

 

This webinar will provide an overview of inTransition and the policy behind the program, the referral process, and how the program assists providers in achieving continuity of care. Click here to register. A second webinar on the same topic will follow in August.

The Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP) provides free assistive technology and services to federal employees with disabilities, wounded service members, federal managers, supervisors, and information technology professionals, increasing employment opportunities and access to the information technology environment.

This weekend we will celebrate our country’s freedom and commemorate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence 234 years ago.

 

As we celebrate America’s birthday, we thank our service members, who volunteer to protect our freedom and liberty. At the Fourth of July parades, barbeques, and fireworks displays that will take place all over the United States, please take time to think about the service members currently deployed in harm’s way who cannot be at home to enjoy the holiday.

 

Have a safe and happy Independence Day!

Counterfeit models of the U.S. Army's Combat Application Tourniquet are available on the Internet and on the open market.

Using the counterfeits can be lethal and the Army considered this enough of a problem to send out a priority message April 14 sounding the alert on these bogus devices.

"While I haven't seen any of these counterfeits in use, I have seen a few ordered by logisticians more interested in cutting costs than in quality control," said Col. John Kragh, U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research at Fort Sam Houston.

"The Combat Application Tourniquet is standard issue to all deploying soldiers. It's in each Soldier's Individual First Aid Kit pouch." Kraugh explained the Army's concern with the counterfeits.

If you missed the recent Military Pathways family resiliency webinar – "Supporting Military Children" – you can now listen to the webinar or view the slide presentation online. Click here.

This webinar features guest speaker Michelle Sherman, Ph.D., Director of the Family Mental Health Program at Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Sherman, the co-author of “My Story: Blogs by Four Military Teens,” reviews research on the impact of deployments and parental trauma on children and discusses the four key needs of military youth. She also talks about how parents and professionals can support military families and what specific resources exist if someone needs help.

During the second part of the webinar, Military Pathways Program Manager Kerry O'Connell Vale discusses the Family Resiliency Kit, a free resource available to those who serve military families.

Cutting-edge virtual reality medical technology, the Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN) system, will soon be available for patients at the new National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE), which will hold its ribbon cutting ceremony tomorrow -- Thursday, June 24.

"CAREN allows the use of virtual reality to be incorporated into the care of wounded warriors and may assist in the return to duty and/or the reintegration process," said Sarah E. Kruger, a biomedical engineer and the CAREN operator for NICoE.

CAREN allows patients to work through a variety of skills after experiencing traumatic injuries, with the focus on promoting resilience and recovery. Troops returning from war are able to work through post-traumatic stress symptoms through a very carefully monitored virtual environment.

"The CAREN system contains an instrumented treadmill embedded into a six degree-of-freedom motion platform that synchronizes in real-time with a virtual environment projected onto a large, curved screen," according to Kruger.