Uniformed Services University conducts a study on combat-related injuries
Imagine you are a military spouse working part-time, going to school full-time and raising two kids when one day the phone rings. You are informed your spouse has been injured during combat and you need to fly out immediately to meet them at the hospital and be by their side. In a matter of minutes you need to find someone to watch the kids, contact your job and school, pack suitcases for everyone and prepare to put your life as you know it on pause! This scenario affects many of the military families we serve. With little to no notice or information, they must mentally and physically prepare to take care of their wounded warrior, family, relocate if needed and manage their family’s finances so that they have food, clothing and shelter. I am sure chef Gordon Ramsay of Hell’s Kitchen would melt under that kind of pressure.
Uniformed Services University is conducting a study that looks at the family experience after combat-related injury occurs and asked a few questions like:
- What did you need to know to keep your family strong?
- What information did you need to know on combat injury?
- What do you need more of?
- What are some of the benefits of having resources or assistance like that provided by Operation Homefront Villages?
Interviewers Cela DuPriest and Cheryl Camerillo, both licensed clinical social workers, came to the San Antonio Village and conducted group sessions, one for just military spouses and the other for veterans. Each group was asked the same series of questions and asked to share their answers. In the spouses group, they asked for more help when a family has kids and providing rental cars so that they have better access to supplies. One spouse shared her story after she got the call “My child was five at the time and he was not allowed in the room with my husband because of hospital policy. I was there all by myself so I had no one to watch him while I went to visit my husband. It was so hard being there but not being able to see him, and there were no daycares on base.”
“It’s situations like these that we want to know about so that we can help,” said Ms. DuPriest
This study is ongoing and both ladies will make trips out to the village to continue checking on the families and their progress.