Fresno County’s Veterans Court Focuses On Treatment Instead Of Incarceration
In the new program, veterans are examined by judges who are familiar with post-traumatic-stress disorder, substance abuse and the treatment services available. In other veterans health news, those who take care of a disabled spouse gathered to share experiences and talk about ways to handle stress, and a hydrogen bomb accident may have sickened airmen in the 1960s, but the Air Force is denying those claims.
The Fresno Bee:
Fresno Court Seeks To Rehabilitate, Not Incarcerate, Veterans
Fresno County has a new court that may be his best road to success and sobriety – a Veterans Treatment Court. The program aims to rehabilitate veterans through treatment rather than incarceration. It connects veterans like [Robert Henry] Reed, who served in the Navy, with health programs and veteran mentors during their probation periods. The new court’s first hearing occurred Friday afternoon, in a room that featured the five flags of the military branches alongside the national and California state flags. (Kroeker, 6/18)
KPCC:
For Women Taking Care Of Disabled Veterans, A Welcome Break
For many women in Los Angeles, taking care of a disabled spouse is a full-time job. And on Saturday morning, more than 80 women got together in the basement of Bob Hope Patriotic Hall downtown to take a little bit of a break from being a caregiver. Each of them was a military veteran, or was taking care of a veteran spouse or significant other. ... Non-profits were there to offer help with employment, housing, and educational needs – the kind of help Duncan said can be difficult for some caregivers to ask for. (Ismay, 6/20)
The New York Times:
Decades Later, Sickness Among Airmen After A Hydrogen Bomb Accident
It was a late winter night in 1966 and a fully loaded B-52 bomber on a Cold War nuclear patrol had collided with a refueling jet high over the Spanish coast, freeing four hydrogen bombs that went tumbling toward a farming village called Palomares, a patchwork of small fields and tile-roofed white houses in an out-of-the-way corner of Spain’s rugged southern coast that had changed little since Roman times. It was one of the biggest nuclear accidents in history, and the United States wanted it cleaned up quickly and quietly. But if the men getting onto buses were told anything about the Air Force’s plan for them to clean up spilled radioactive material, it was usually, “Don’t worry.” (Philipps, 6/19)