To the Editor:
Thanks for Ashley Claire Simpson's article, “Arlington: Health Initiative Focuses on Veterans,” in the Arlington Connection, Dec. 2, 2014
(http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2014/dec/02/arlington-health-initiative-focuses-veterans/).
It tells of yet another step (this one by the American Academy of Nursing) toward more much needed individual attention given to veterans. It seems that a more individualized approach to veterans' health is also being explored by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), not only for diagnoses, but also for actual treatment. The VA and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) are now researching possible complementary treatments for veterans that will be more holistic, patient-centered, and less drug-based. To find effective treatments, NCCIH Director Josephine Briggs, MD, is seeking authentic “individualization” by directing the research to be conducted more in real-life settings and less in the laboratory. Real-life accounts seem to support that approach. I recall a spirituality.com broadcast of the real-life accounts of Col. (Ret) Janet Horton, U.S. Army chaplain who served overseas as well as at the Pentagon on 9/11. Col. Horton explained that wounded and traumatized soldiers responded more successfully to care when she tried to look past diagnosis labels and embrace more of each soldier's own spiritual identity. This certainly seems to make sense. Cherishing a patient’s identity and giving individual attention holds a lot of promise for helping veterans (and others) experience better health.
Richard Geiger
Arlington