America’s veterans face healthcare difficulties that others do not. From PTSD, to substance abuse and to moral injury issues that haunt them throughout their lives, veterans present a unique set of needs. Recognizing veteran concerns, Angelic Health has partnered with the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization We Honor Veterans Initiative to respond to the increasing needs of those that served this country. This focused program offers guidance and resources for veterans and their families during the challenging time of a terminal or life-limiting illness.

“We must look beyond the diagnosis and understand the history of these men and women as it relates to their experiences in military service,” says Krystyna Cechulski, MSW, who heads up the We Honor Veterans Initiative at Angelic Health.

 An Army veteran herself, Cechulski is passionate and well-versed in the trepidations that veterans confront at the end of life. She serves as a resource guide and educator for hospice nurses, home health aides, social workers, professional support staff and volunteers, healthcare facilities and the public on how to recognize and treat veteran-specific concerns. Recognizing the military service of individual patients with pinning, certificate and flag presentations provides an opportunity to thank our veterans face to face.

Angelic Health offers holistic support which includes working with veterans organizations within the community.

“We find that many veterans and their families are unaware of the resources available to them,” explains Cechulski. “We connect them with services and programs that can help their situation. The way we provide quality end-of-life care to our veterans is to learn more about them and address concerns surrounding isolation, trauma and their illness.”

Each era of service presents its own specific concerns. It’s important to understand that there were and continue to be many concerns about the association between the illnesses and symptoms veterans report and their exposure to toxic agents, environmental and wartime hazards, and preventive medicines and vaccines they received. In addition to physical health issues, the experiences of veterans including death, torture and mutilation, and both civilian and military atrocities contribute to mental health issues such as PTSD, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, homelessness, anger issues and suicide.

While military veterans all have similar maladies from exposure to nuclear, chemical or biological agents, trauma from the use of artillery and assaults on the mind and body, each theater of war presents specific problems.

Veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq (Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom) have breathing issues, high-altitude illness, percussion, burn and blast injuries, infectious diseases and multi-drug resistant infections.

A Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) study revealed that Persian Gulf War veterans are more than twice as likely as other veterans to develop amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Chronic fatigue, muscle and joint pain, memory and concentration issues, headache and rash are also prevalent.

The Vietnam War was a long and unpopular war, and for many veterans the wounds of serving in it will never heal. They reported coming home to a hostile civilian environment, being spat upon and being uncomfortable wearing their uniform in public. Following the war, Vietnam War vets experienced readjustment problems and adverse health effects attributed to Agent Orange.

The VA now recognizes conditions which are presumed to be related to service in Vietnam including soft tissue sarcoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, painful and disfiguring skin disorders, respiratory cancers, multiple myeloma, prostate cancer, acute peripheral neuropathy, and also spina bifida in offspring.

According to the We Honor Veterans initiative, cold-related injuries including frostbite and immersion (trench) foot constituted a major medical problem for U.S. service personnel during the Korean War. It is important for healthcare staff examining and caring for veterans that have experienced cold injuries to be familiar with the recognized long-term and delayed symptoms which include peripheral neuropathy, skin cancer in frostbite scars and arthritis in effected areas. Such problems may worsen as veterans age and develop complicating conditions such as diabetes and peripheral vascular disease, which place them at higher risk for late amputations. 

During WWII, morbidity from such diseases as tuberculosis, rheumatic fever and hepatitis along with tropical diseases was high. Besides infectious diseases and wounds, other health risks of WWII included injuries from excessive cold which may result in long-term health problems, including changes in muscles, skin, nails, ligaments and bones; skin cancer in frostbite scars; vascular and neurologic injury with symptoms such as bouts of pain in the extremities hot or cold tingling sensations and numbness.

In the 1940s, the Department of Defense recruited “volunteer soldier” subjects for experiments using mustard agents to evaluate clothing, ointments and equipment to protect American troops from such potential attacks. The We Honor Veterans project reports that nearly 60,000 military personnel were involved in research from drop patch testing to severe, full-body exposures.

Veterans who were involved in the occupation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, and veterans who were prisoners of war in Japan during WWII may have participated in cleanup following the use of the nuclear bombs.

For more information on the We Honor Veterans Initiative at Angelic Health, call 1-844-948-0645 or email [email protected].

Margie Barham, MBA, is director of public relations with Angelic Health