Heartland Therapeutic opening Regional Veterans Whole Health Center
Heartland Therapeutic Programs, a 501c3 Georgia nonprofit, is announcing the opening of the the Regional Veterans Whole Health Center with programs being phased in starting May 20, according to Bobbie Allison-Standefer of HTP.
“The VA Portal has opened for community partnerships to take place.. per our Washington DC Under Secretary for Health Dr. Clancy. Of course, these are ‘non-monetary partnerships’.”
The federal Department of Veterans Affairs has sent a request to all VA facilities to make partnerships with organizations and nonprofits in local communities to get much needed programs and therapies to returning soldiers and veterans suffering from PTSD and TBI and their families.
Heartland Therapeutic Programs is partnering to bring alternative therapies to regional veterans. The first will be its Operation Song Music Therapy which has traditionally been out of the VA Hospital in Murfreesboro, Tenn., with well-known songwriters from Nashville and music therapists. Area vets got to experience Heartland’s Operation Song Music Therapy Retreat in July and went back to the VA and told other vets what a great experience it was for them. Now there is a waiting list.
Heartland will start weekly Operation Song Music Therapy May 20 with area partner Erlanger Health Systems at its Lifestyle Center on Market Street.
“We are currently looking for a home for a Veterans Whole Health Center in north Georgia that would be convenient for north Georgia veterans. We would love to have a place for not only therapy but also socialization where they can talk vet to vet and have their families get together for some fun and relaxation. Of course, this also would be the ideal time for children and spouses of vets to be able to express what they are going through and talk about solutions and experiences which would be helpful in healing.”
The second therapy slated to be launched will be the Multi-Sensory Environment Therapy, which is an intense therapy in a room with equipment designed to stimulate and utilize the senses to reprogram experiences the brain remembers. Linda Messbauer and Janice Ryan want to work with veterans and train area OT interns to use the MSE therapy. They want to do the research for a paper or book.
Multi-sensory environments can be used for different reasons. Snoezelen is usually for relaxation and calming, while stimulus preference and Human Systems Dynamics Environments are for aggressive therapy utilizing light therapy as well as others.
Linda Messbauer, OTR/L, is a leading expert in the use of multi-sensory environments. She has been working with this unique approach since 1992, when she established the first MSE/Snoezelen Room in the USA at Lifespire Inc. in New York for individuals with developmental disabilities. Messbauer graduated from NYU with a master’s degree in occupational therapy. Her work experience spans early childhood to adult services, also working with dementia and brain injury.
She and Janice Ryan, OTD, OTR/L, Certified Human Systems Dynamics Professional Human Systems Occupational Therapy, Distance Education Academic Fieldwork Coordinator Roane State Community College, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy University of Tennessee, and former Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, will be presenting at this year’s American Occupational Therapy Association’s national conference which will be in Nashville April 16-19.
They have delved into the “body-mindspirit” or whole health aspect which is the goal of alternative therapies.
Alternative therapies such as relaxation and meditation, art, yoga, and others will be phased in.
Heartland Therapeutic Programs is also partnering with veterans who want to start their own unique therapy nonprofits such as Operation Freedom Dogs, service dogs for vets with PTSD, founded by Adam Keith and Matthew Weitz, an Iraq veteran living in Walker County who has suffered from PTSD and sees this venture as a way to help other veterans. Matthew sits on Heartland’s Veterans advisory board. Please “Like” them on Facebook and support their efforts (www.operationfreedomdogs.org).
For more information or if you would like to be a part of this unique model to heal the whole health of our veterans who have given everything for the country, contact Bobbie, whose office is at Wilson’s Funeral Home, Ringgold, Georgia, at 423-504-9954 or bastande@aol.com. Funding comes 100 percent from donations, corporate funding, and Heartland Charity Bingo which is on Wednesday nights presently at Rossville Charity Bingo at 7 p.m.