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GREAT FALLS, Mont. - As the situation in Afghanistan unfolds, the Taliban gaining power, and the American troops withdrawing, there is a wide range of opinions and emotions amongst service
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The Department of Veterans Affairs Monday became the nation’s first major federal agency to require health care workers to get COVID-19 vaccines. Montana VA officials are now carefully reviewing the new mandate that applies to about 500 workers in the state.
Montana VA officials tell MTPR the new directive mandating COVID-19 vaccines for specific health care workers includes VA physicians, registered nurses, dentists, optometrists; basically, anyone providing direct care to veterans.
“Our main priority at the Veterans Health Administration is to provide safe, high-quality care to our veterans,” Montana VA Executive Director, Dr. Judy Hayman says.
Montana VA Health Care System Chief of Staff, Dr. JP Maganito, estimates over half the agency’s health care workers are already vaccinated. Officials are combing through several different software record-keeping systems for an exact head count.
Montana VA encourages residents to think about veterans with PTSD before lighting fireworks
Alexie Aguayo
and last updated 2021-07-03 00:15:34-04
MONTANA â Montana VA Health Care System (MTVAHCS) encourages all Montanans and non-Veterans to consider Veterans and the impacts of fireworks on people with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) before they light a firework. The VA says many people are not aware that a Fourth of July celebration could affect others, and a conversation is the simplest way to start that awareness and support people with PTSD.
âThe Fourth of July can be a difficult time for our nationâs heroes because fireworks create sights, sounds and smells that can activate flashbacks, nightmares, and anxietyâ explained MTVAHCSâs Acting Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health Services, Dr. Robert Connell. âThe sudden, sharp explosions of unexpected fireworks can create a state of hyperawareness and hypervigilance for Veterans with PTSD.
But many people may not be aware that those celebrations could affect others in a negative way.Â
Whether it s the booming sounds, bright sights, or even the burning smell fireworks can cause nightmares, flashbacks and anxiety in those with PTSD who fought for those freedoms we re celebrating. Smells in particular, that old factory system, our sense of smell and our connections to the brain, that s very powerful. And then when a person smells those smells again - which may be many years later - that can often activate those traumatic memories to rush back and cause a powerful anxiety response in the individual, said Dr. Robert Connell, acting associate chief of staff for mental health services with the Montana VA Health Care System (MTVAHCS).