Veterans Helping Veterans

22 Suicides A Day Due to PTSD

By Tricia Chiarelli and Maureen Rossi

Larry Noon is a Kings Park native and a proud Vietnam Veteran.  He is also an alumnus of the Northport Veteran’s hospital’s Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) inpatient program.   “There are twenty-two suicides a day – more veterans kill themselves daily than there are overdoses or car accidents,” he said.

That was the headline and beginning of a piece Smithtown Today ran earlier this year.  Angels Without Faces, a Kings Park non-profit was instrumental in

The Northport Hospital has an inpatient PTSD facility that has been in operation about eighteen years; they also have outpatient programs.  “It’s an open door policy, if someone is having a hard time, they can just show up, walk through those doors,” said Dr. Vivian Mendelson who has dedicated her life to this work.

The bucolic grounds just south of 25A in Northport have rolling hills, a duck pond and a beautiful golf course.   However, there is no mistaking the compound for anything outside institutional.  The sturdy brick building play many roles for the treatment of all of Long Island’s veterans.

Earlier this year the program accepted donations for the cooking program from the Kings Park non-profit Angels Without Faces.   “They interact with each other during the program, it allows them to reach goals and be part of the community,” said staff member Dr. Keith Shebairo.

The Kings Park High School Business Club were also instrumental in raising funds.  They  had an ugly sweater contest and they raised the money for the various appliances for the program like a George Foreman grill and other cooking necessities.  However, the most remarkable thing about this fundraiser for local PTSD victims is that instead of the forty gift cards they hoped to raise, they raised two thousand and five hundred cards.

Angels Without Faces is now raising money to purchase exercise equipment for the vets on the PTSD ward. Their goal is to raise $4000.   The monies would be appropriated in this manner:

  • $3,000 for the machine and
  • $1,000 for the life skills program.

“Exercise (PT) is being used to treat PTSD, this is a more holistic approach which is an effort to reduce dependency on prescription medications to treat PTSD,” said Steve Weber an Angel With a Face!   He says and every psychiatrist or psychologist would agree that exercise is important to treat not only PTSD but depression and other mental issues.  It raises the feel good chemicals in the brain known as endorphins.   It also empowers the veterans and allows them to feel they are taking action to help themselves feel better.  It’s a Win Win situation for our esteemed veterans of war.

Click To Donate to ANGELS WITHOUT FACES:

It is a 501 3 © and you can donate directly to the page in a safe and rapid manner, there are $25, $50 clicks to donate but you can donate as little as $5 or $10.    As the Science surrounding PSTD is further emerging, we are all learning how to better treat the debilitating illness which can be brought under control.  Exercise is just one of these ways.