HEALTH MATTERS: High-Tech Execs Rebuild Hope for Injured Veterans

Silicon Valley Executives Give Wounded American Veterans a Helping Hand 
By LJ Anderson / Daily News Columnist

Confusing paperwork, delays and fragmented services often characterize the health care system for injured veterans in need of care. Backlogs for disability claims can take years to settle in an overburdened Veterans Affairs system. Physical changes like spinal cord injuries and amputations require extensive rehabilitation, and a lack of available mental health care for veterans is a major health crisis, according to a Rand Corporation report. Many injured veterans have families and themselves to support, degrees to complete, jobs to find, and are expected to successfully adapt to significant physical and mental health changes – often without adequate resources or guidance.

There was little common ground, ostensibly, between several successful Silicon Valley executives and wounded American soldiers who had served in Iraq or Afghanistan. But Menlo Park businessman Dana Hendrickson and co-founders, Wes Rose and Patrick Corman, decided to find common and higher ground by launching Rebuild Hope (www.rebuildhope.org) in February of 2008, an online financial support network to directly help injured military and their families.

Q: Why did you and your co-founders start this organization? (continued…)

A: We recognized that the financial hardships suffered by injured soldiers and their families amounted to a huge humanitarian crisis that cannot and will not be adequately addressed by our government, and that many Americans would be willing to help if they had an easy way to do so. My team understood how to bring these two communities together using the Internet and our business expertise.

Our beneficiaries suffer from a wide variety of life-altering physical injuries and mental health issues. Diagnosing and treating traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are two major health care needs. When their financial situation is unstable, [veterans] typically "drop out or withdraw into a shell" and do not take advantage of available health care services. For example, they may stop showing up for physical therapy or mental health appointments – so financial aid helps them reconnect. Rebuild Hope was conceived in June 2007 after I visited the Palo Alto VA, and discovered Kiva (www.kiva.org), the successful micro-lending Web site.

Q: What has been the response from local residents?

A: Most local residents (I’ve spoken with) are surprised by the nature and scale of the financial hardships of our injured soldiers. They have no direct exposure to these problems and assume that our government would not allow this crisis to happen. Their first reaction is often, "I heard about Walter Reed so isn’t Congress doing something about that?" But unless you know someone who’s gone through it, no one can understand the individual problems. (People I talk to) say, "It can’t be that bad," but it is.

Q: What makes accessing services for veterans so difficult?

A: There are a wide variety of private sector health services available for injured veterans but they often do not know how to find them. For example, a lot of mental health providers offer pro bono services for veterans, but their work is (geographically) fragmented.

The Department of Defense has a Web site, America Supports You, that lists probably 350 organizations providing services to vets. But if you click on it, you see many organizations but have no idea what they are – so finding (help) is not easy. One group may talk to you about a PTSD issue and help you fill out an application, but that’s the only thing they do. You have to go to somebody else and then to somebody else.

There are people out there in the military support community like me. A veteran comes to me for help and I may say, "You should talk to so-and-so." It’s sort of word of mouth and requires veterans to be resourceful and persistent – and to navigate through something that’s not easy. These people tend not to be in traditional situations, and their world is upside down. Soldiers end up trying to piece together solutions to their problems. There’s no sort of concierge or counselor who says, "You’ve got 17 problems, and we’re going to work our way through them so you can get to your appointments." These are all kinds of decisions – often health and financial – and each affects the other. There isn’t a holistic approach to helping them wade through the transition from being injured to being on their own. They may start having other symptoms and argue for different types of care or higher medical disability, and wait six to nine months before they even get a fair hearing. (They need) someone who is sensitive to who they are, gets to know the specifics of their situation, and gets them through a transition period to some point of stability and better health, but there’s nothing institutional like that. I know a guy in San Diego who visits 20 soldiers every week – checks their refrigerator for food and sees if they are taking their medications – and has become their personal relative. He’s got a big heart, and he’s an ex-soldier.

I’ve seen people survive really well when they have a mother or father who drops everything in their life and can afford to become a personal advocate. They come down from Seattle, for example, and stay here for six months near the Fisher House. They visit their son or daughter every day, and they talk to the doctors every day. I know soldiers who have no advocate, and nobody visits them. It’s not pretty. I get wound up when I think about it.

LJ Anderson writes on health matters every Tuesday. She can be reached at [email protected].

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