Warrior Transition Unit develops ‘healing triad’ for soldiers

Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Review ^ | Bill Hess

[SandRat]

FORT HUACHUCA — There’s a special group of Army patients at this Southern Arizona Army post — warriors in transit.

They are active duty soldiers, National Guard members and Reservists who have suffered physical or emotional problems while serving in combat, have been injured while on duty or have other serious illnesses as the Army’s medical community takes a holistic approach to either return them to a unit or prepare them to return to civilian life.

Much of what is part of a Warrior Transition Unit is fallout from health care problems that came to light last year at the Army Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., in which wounded GIs were provided less than satisfactory care.

Fort Huachuca’s Warrior Transition Unit is one of 35 in the Army. On Wednesday, Dr. (Col.) William Humphrey outlined how the program is an important part of the Army’s effort to transform warrior care.

The care of soldiers and incorporating family members of married and single soldiers are part of the plan in creating Soldier and Family Assistance Centers, the commander of the post health center said.

However, the focus is centered on the soldier and developing a “healing triad” for each patient.

“The center of the triad is the soldier (being treated),” Humphrey said.

Each point of the triad — a triangle — is occupied by a primary care provider, a nurse care manager and a squad leader. “All are responsible for a soldier’s total care,” he added.

The Warrior Transition Unit is a new concept that reaches out to a multitude of experts in the Army and other agencies involved in medical care, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The military and the VA are working together to reduce the time it takes to process a person for VA benefits so a person who will not be remaining in the service can more quickly rejoin civilian society with the appropriate benefits than have a person go through additional paperwork after being discharged, Humphrey said.

VA medical centers and clinics, as well as off-post health providers, are important parts of the program, the colonel said.

The post unit currently has an administrative staff of seven set up as a typical military organization, with a commander, first sergeant, a platoon sergeant and four squad leaders.

The unit now has 40 soldiers in various stages of being cared for medically and psychologically.

One of them is Maj. Mark Henry, who suffered head, neck and spine injuries when he fell off the top of an up-armored Humvee in Afghanistan. His injury occurred when he was getting out of the top gun turret after serving a two-hour stint as a gunner in January.

He and his family are no strangers to Fort Huachuca or Sierra Vista. He has been assigned to the post as a Signal Corps officer in the 11th Signal Brigade and 111th Military Intelligence Brigade.

He and his wife, Christine, and their three children live in Sierra Vista, and his parents recently moved to Sierra Vista.

For the major, he was fortunately wearing his helmet when he fell off the Humvee and onto his head.

Admitting to be a man who sometimes can be too macho, Henry said he didn’t want to go to the medics. For a few days he walked around and forcibly held his head up, despite the growing pain. “If it hurts, take Motrin and lie down” is his philosophy, he said.

With the pain increasing, others ordered him to get medical treatment.

He went from Kabul to Bagram, then found himself on a flight to Landstuhl, Germany, and then back to Arizona.

When Henry landed in Tucson, his family met him and he got his first taste of the fort’s Warrior Transition Unit.

Even his wife didn’t know the unit’s commander, Capt. Brendan Donovan, was going to be there.

But there “was this six-and-a-half-foot tall captain with a placard with my name on it at the airport,” the major said. “I was expected to take my rucksack (from the airport baggage claim to a car).”

Donovan met Henry, and there was a cell phone call from a doctor at the post health center who made arrangements to meet Henry at Gas City at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Highway 90 with a prescription for pain medication so the major could get it filled in Sierra Vista before heading home.

“It’s a huge difference,” Henry said about how the Army is now ensuring soldiers with medical needs are handled. “I didn’t expect any of it.”

But Henry sees his deployment mission as incomplete.

“He wants to get back to Afghanistan. He feels bad he left the guys behind. But he can’t go back until he gets better,” Christine Henry said.

Some of his treatment and appointments are done at the William Beaumont Medical Center at Fort Bliss, Texas, which means traveling to the facility on a bus run from the Arizona post.

Henry returned this week from one appointment, and he said he was told it will be at least six months before there is a possibility of him rejoining the 1st Infantry Division unit he deployed with. He grudgingly has accepted that he has physical imitations that will have to be overcome before he can return to full duty.

His wife shook her head and said he has a hard time accepting his limitations, which include that he can’t doing things such as lift weights.

His 20 years in the Army and the routine he developed during those time have to be changed, especially when Henry learned he apparently also suffered a mild traumatic brain injury when he fell.

The Warrior Transition Unit program allows him to be assigned to an organization where his medical care is the prime focus of his current military career. Humphrey said the only mission of soldiers assigned to the unit “is to get well.”

There are many elements in the healing process, and not all are medical.

When soldiers are wounded, injured or suffer from serious illnesses, there can be behavioral problems that pop up, Humphrey said. It is not unusual for soldiers to think they can immediately be healed and return to a normal routine.

But that’s not true.

And when a individual is not succeeding as fast as they think they should, there can be psychological problems.

Then there are the issues of post traumatic stress disorder and a growing understanding of mild traumatic brain injuries, which means finding ways to help soldiers “cope and rebuild their social skills,” Humphrey said.

The Army’s medical warrior transition program is repairing “mind, body and spirit in a holistic approach involving the whole being,” the colonel said.

The Army has recognized the need to take care of the physical and mental needs of a soldier, Humphrey said. The Fort Huachuca health center has increased its behavioral staff to more than a dozen, up from half of that that was authorized in the past.

On the post, a family readiness group for soldiers in the unit is being developed. The Warrior Transition Unit’s group “will be part of the healing process,” Humphrey said.

The concept is to ensure “soldiers don’t fall through the cracks,” he said.

While Henry and his family have a home in Sierra Vista, some soldiers in the unit do not.

One soldier who was at a VA center in Phoenix Wednesday for treatment is a Reservist who was injured while serving in South Korea. He has a home elsewhere in Arizona, but to help him recover, his wife and two children were provided quarters in family guest housing.

Garrison Commander Col. Melissa Sturgeon said the soldier’s children attend schools on the post, and he is living in the quarters at no cost out of his pockets.

Single GIs also are helped with housing.

If having family members or a person to assist with care will help a soldier recover more quickly, arrangements will be made to provide accommodations on the fort. “They have priority,” Sturgeon said.

herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or at bill.hess@svherald.com.