New interactive Web site for veterans and military family members

Geisinger recently launched www.PAVetFamilyWeb.com. This Web site is designed to serve Pennsylvania families who are coping with military separations and multiple deployments of a service member as well as caregivers, wounded warriors, service members and military veterans.

Sponsored by Passport Health Communications Inc. and powered by PenTeleData, the site includes community resources, maps of Pennsylvania's Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities, along with insights from professionals who can address family issues and tips from family members who are coping with deployments.

Veterans and military family members are invited to discuss relevant topics regarding deployment and post-deployment issues on the site's bulletin board. With this informal resource and forum, the Web site's creators hope to create a virtual community where military families can share their life experiences and offer advice and guidance from the veterans' and families' points of view.

The Web site is an outgrowth of Geisinger 's Returning Rural Veteran Initiative, which developed from interest and ideas identified at Geisinger's 2008 national conference on issues related to post-traumatic stress (PTSD) experienced by rural veterans and their families.

Site developers and content managers include Adele Spegman, Ph.D., director of Geisinger's Institute on Nursing Excellence and an expert on early child development and family-centered care; Jill Rouse, a Geisinger employee, Navy veteran and spouse of a Pennsylvania National Guard member; Eric Hill, LCSW, who serves as the Returning Rural Veteran Initiative's program navigator; and research and clinical professionals from Geisinger Clinic and Geisinger Center for Health Research.

"We are developing an information repository for veterans, their families and their family doctors that will identify their needs and provide them with options and resources," said Hill. "This Web site is one way we are addressing those needs."

According to Sharon Larson, Ph.D., co-director of Geisinger's Rural Policy Institute, approximately 44 percent of U.S. military recruits are from rural areas. Rural veterans seek out healthcare less frequently than those from cities because of the distances to VA and private hospitals. In addition, rural veterans have fewer options for specialty mental health services.

Although Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities are available to help veterans readjust to homelife following deployment, rural veterans often opt out of psychiatric and other mental health services for a number of reasons. Symptoms of combat stress-related injuries are non-specific and may develop months or years following military deployment. In addition, VHA facilities are generally located distantly from rural areas. As a result, rural veterans and/or their families often see their family doctor for treatment of combat stress-related injuries, including sleep problems, pain, irritability, poor concentration, excessive alcohol consumption, feelings of edginess or being an outcast, issues regarding readjustment to home life and employment, or even thoughts of suicide.

"Veterans groups have told us that there is a lack of coordination of veterans' resources," said Stephen Paolucci, M.D., chair, division of psychiatry, Geisinger Health System. "There is just no central repository of that information."