NATIONAL NEED

Military personnel returning from deployment are confronted with numerous challenges in re-entering society. Some face physical disabilities resulting from blast injuries, with impairments in vision, balance, gait, mobility, speech, hearing and/or cognition. Many face related psychosocial problems such as post-traumatic stress syndrome, substance abuse, family crises and difficult adjustments to workplace, career and community life. The diverse health and rehabilitation challenges for this population far exceed the current capacity and capabilities of the veteran and military health systems. Therefore, effective partnerships with academic and civilian organizations must play a vital role in addressing these urgent, ongoing needs.

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ECU AND ITS MILITARY/VA PARTNERS

Operation Re-Entry NC is a university-wide initiative to address the rehabilitation and re-entry concerns of military personnel, veterans and their families.  East Carolina University trains --by far-- the largest number of nurses and health professionals in the State of North Carolina.  It houses one of the two state-funded medical and dental schools in NC and the only state-funded physician assistant program.  We graduate licensed healthcare professionals at the bachelors, masters and doctoral levels in fields such as social work, nurse anaesthesia, nurse midwifery, athletic training, biomedical research science, medicine, dentistry, physical therapy, speech and language pathology, audiology, occupational therapy, substance abuse counseling, rehabilitation counseling, medical family therapy, health psychology, recreational therapy, etc.  Thus, we are well positioned to train the next generation of military and VA health care workers, focusing especially on the retraining of military personnel and veterans with combat experience and the continuing education of military health providers. 

 

 

PROGRAM ACTIVITIES AND OBJECTIVES  

The overall goal of Operation Re-Entry is to develop and expand partnerships with military and VA organizations to address the rehabilitation and re-entry concerns of men and women in uniform, their spouses and family members.  There are five specific aims:

1. Workforce Training and Recruitment  

     Assist military and VA institutions in training and recruiting health care workers by:
     •  offering adjunct/affiliate ECU faculty appointments for staff of military hospitals and clinic
     •  providing fast-track, fully accredited programs to retrain re-train military personnel in critical 
        shortage areas 
     •  offering service payback scholarships to train health care workers who commit to working in 
        military/VA institutions  
     •  establishing an ECU satellite campus on or near military bases  expanding military/VA clinical 
        clerkship and residency training agreements

2. Clinical Services 

• offer an array of ECU clinical services to address areas of need and overflow on military bases:  e.g., services for spouses and family members of active duty personnel
• establish ECU satellite clinics on or near base:  e.g., substance abuse, medical family therapy, psychology, biofeedback, speech-hearing-balance, psychiatry, etc.
• provide specialty services not typically offered on base, e.g., vestibular assessments, motion/gait analysis, interactive metronome, etc.
• recruit more regional healthcare providers to become Tricare affiliates  coordinate with military healthcare providers to ensure continuity of care off base

3. Research

• work with our military partners to establish a framework and procedures for making our patient populations accessible to health care researchers nationwide:            
• • Camp Lejeune MC WWB and Naval Hospital populations            
  • Durham VAMC and Greenville CBOC populations
    
    
• seek funding for collaborative research programs; possibilities include:                                                
• • pending federal appropriation sponsored by Congressmen GK Butterfield and Walter B. Jones, and Senators Kay Hagan and Richard Burr:

FY 2010 House and Senate Appropriation - Pending

Amount	$3M (House bill), $2M (Senate bill)
Program Title	Operation Re-Entry NC
Appropriation Bill	Department of Defense
Account	Army, RDT&E
Line Title	Medical Advanced Technology
Program Element	0603002A
Line Number	30

• • Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) grants in Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP)
  • Pending three-year $5M grant from US Department of Labor to expand the health information technology workforce in Eastern North Carolina
    
    
• establish agreements with military leadership (MOUs/CRADAs) to execute collaborative projects with faculty investigators at ECU 
• provide grant administration and management infrastructure necessary to carry out externally funded collaborative research projects with the military

4. Telemedicine and Advanced Technology

• Expand the use of telemedicine and advanced technology to address issues of psychological health and traumatic brain injury 
• utilize ECU's extensive telemedicine network to expand services and explore new capabilities
• build upon ECU's telemedicine experience in psychiatry, mental health care, dermatology and other areas
• apply the latest technologies to address military rehabilitation from injury and illness: virtual reality, serious gaming, human simulations, etc.  
• train military clinicians in the latest approaches in telemedicine and advanced technology

5. Statewide Leadership, Planning and Coordination

• Conduct strategic planning and coordination with other academic and civilian organizations through the Operation Re-Entry NC Statewide Planning Team 
• Negotiate and execute large-scale partnerships with veteran and military institutions to effectively address current challenges in health care and rehabilitation, including rural heath issues.

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EXAMPLES OF MILITARY-RELATED PROJECTS AT ECU  (partial list)

Carmen Russoniello – CHHP, Recreational Therapy
Biofeedback and behavioral medicine for PTSD and TBI in Wounded Warriors  

Hunt McKinnon – CHE, Interior Design
Design of Wounded Warrior Barracks at Camp Lejeune  

Angela Lamson – CHE, Medical Family Therapy
Innovative fast-track accredited training programs for military and VA personnel
Clinical research and counseling services for military, vets, reservists, Nat. Guard  

Paul Toriello – CAHS, Rehabilitation Studies
Project Working Recovery:
Substance abuse counseling coupled with employment support  

Vivian Mott – College of Education
Partnership with U.S. Army in training of Army educational interns  

D. Moore, E. Manlao – Brody School of Medicine
Rehabilitation medicine and research in TBI and PTSD  

G. Jones, P. Kragel – Brody School of Medicine
Innovation in the delivery of telemedicine services  

S. Jones, L. Allison, N. Murray – CAHS, CHHP
Vestibular Balance & Gait Project with the Naval Hospital, Camp Lejeune  

Eric Everhart – Arts & Sciences, Psychology
Sleep disorders resulting from TBI and PTSD  

Leonard Trujillo – CAHS, OT
Interactive Metronome therapy for TBI and PTSD  

Sy Saeed – Brody School of Medicine, Psychiatry
Telemedicine Support for Military and their Dependents  

Ann Dickerson, CAHS, OT
Driving evaluations in Marines with TBI and PTSD

Elizabeth Carroll, CHE, Child Development and Family Relations
Military Readiness and Life Skills for a Healthy Marriage

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OPERATION RE-ENTRY ADVISORY TEAM

Brigadier General Patricia J. Anderson, R.N., M.S.N., (US Army, retired)

Nick Benson, M.D., Vice-Dean and Professor, Brody School of Medicine, ECU

Colonel Mike DeYoung (US Army, Retired), M.S., Vice President, SMI Inc., Washington, DC

C. Steve Duncan, Ph.D., Associate Vice Chancellor for Military Affairs and Administration & Finance, ECU

Marti Engelke, R.N., M.P.H., Ph.D., Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship, ECU

Erik Everhart, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology, Harriott College of Arts and Sciences, ECU, and Director of Research, PCMH Sleep Center

Marti Gallagher, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Research, College of Human Ecology, ECU

Glen Gilbert, Ph.D., Dean, College of Health and Human Performance, ECU

Captain Thomas Johnson, M.D., Staff Neurologist, Naval Hospital at Camp Lejeune

Dan Moore, M.D., Chair, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Brody School of Medicine, ECU

Ted Morris, Ph.D., Associate Vice Chancellor for Economic Development, Division of Research and Graduate Studies, ECU

Sy Saeed, M.D., Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Brody School of Medicine, ECU

Colonel W.T. (Tim) Wiseman (US Army, Retired), CDFM-A, MBA, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enterprise Risk Management, ECU  

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OPERATION RE-ENTRY EXECUTIVE TEAM (Pending Confirmation)  

David P. Cistola, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Dean for Research and Professor, College of Allied Health Sciences; Professor, Brody School of Medicine, ECU

Ernie Marshburn, Ph.D., Director of Strategic Initiatives, Division of Research & Graduate Studies, ECU

Al Schreier, Ph.D., Director of Program Development, Division of Research & Graduate Studies, ECU