REMINDER
The
Pittsfield Historical Society will hold its annual meeting on
January 10, 2017 at the Society headquarters at 13 Elm St. The
meeting will start at 7:00 PM.
REMINDER
Casting
call for 40th and final year of the Dove Singers. Singers, techies
and musicians, among other roles, are needed. First rehearsal is at
Emmanuel Baptist Church, 14 Mammoth Road, Manchester, on Monday,
January 9th at 7 p.m. Open to all, just bring yourself. www.dovesingers.org
Due to
unforeseen circumstances, the January meeting for the American
Legion Peterson-Cram Post 75 is cancelled. The next scheduled
meeting will be on February 6, 2017 at 7:30 pm in the Post Home, 3
Loudon Rd. More information for the meeting will be plans for the
upcoming year.
If you
are new to the area and looking to join our organization, you can
still do so. If you have any questions, please, feel free to
contact me the Post First Vice Commander at 603-344-0264.
Concord
Regional VNA Seeks Hospice Volunteers
Concord
Regional VNA is seeking volunteers to offer companionship and
support to hospice patients. The next eight-week training session
starts on Thursday, February 9 from 12 to 2 p.m. at 30 Pillsbury
Street in Concord.
Hospice
volunteers assist with:
•
Providing companionship to hospice patients
•
Reading to hospice patients
•
Holding a hand and lending a listening ear
•
Running errands for hospice patients
•
Cooking meals at the Hospice House
•
Providing pet therapy, music therapy, and therapeutic arts
•
Giving Reiki, Massage, or Therapeutic Touch
•
Assisting staff with office work (e.g. filings, mailings)
•
Facilitating grief support groups
•
Connecting as a veteran volunteer with patients who are also
veterans
Please
call (603) 224-4093 or (800) 924-8620, ext. 2826 or e-mail
[email protected] by
Friday, January 13 to learn more.
TOPS
News
Recently the Pittsfield TOPS chapter had its annual Christmas dinner
and party. A wonderful meal was prepared by the Berakah staff and
enjoyed by everyone. There was a fun gift exchange and even a
surprise visit from Santa.
As
always, members encourage one another in the challenges of losing
and/or maintaining weight. The real challenge this time of year is
to enjoy the family and friend get-togethers and yet make good food
and portion choices.
Our
chapter meets on Tuesdays 6:30 at Berakah on Fairview Rd. if you
would like to visit. Call Pat- 435-5333 or Beth- 435-7397 if you
have questions.
VA
Study Finds EEG Can Help Tell Apart PTSD & Mild Traumatic Brain
Injury
Submitted Via Merrill Vaughan
A
recent VA study points to a possible breakthrough in differentiating
between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic
brain injury (mTBI), otherwise known as a concussion.
The two
disorders often carry similar symptoms, such as irritability,
restlessness, hypersensitivity to stimulation, memory loss, fatigue
and dizziness. Scientists have tried to distinguish between mTBI and
PTSD in hopes of improving treatment options for Veterans, but many
symptom-based studies have been inconclusive because the chronic
effects of the two conditions are so similar. If someone is rating
high on an mTBI scale, for example, that person may also rate high
for PTSD symptoms.
The
researchers used electroencephalogram, or EEG, a test that measures
electrical activity in the brain. The size and direction of the
brain waves can signal abnormalities.
Analyzing a large set of EEGs given to military personnel from the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the researchers saw patterns of
activity at different locations on the scalp for mTBI and PTSD. They
saw brain waves moving slowly in opposite directions, likely coming
from separate places in the brain.
The
researchers emphasize that these effects don’t pinpoint a region in
the brain where the disorders differ. Rather, they show a pattern
that distinguishes the disorders when the EEG results are averaged
among a large group.
“When
you’re looking at an EEG, you can’t easily tell where in the brain
signals associated with TBI and PTSD are coming from,” said Laura
Manning Franke, Ph.D., the study’s lead researcher and research
psychologist at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in
Richmond, Virginia. “You get kind of a coarse measure – left, right,
anterior, posterior. We had a different distribution, which suggests
that different parts of the brain are involved. In order to
determine what patterns are tracking their TBI and PTSD, you need an
average to do that,” Franke added.
The
study linked mTBI with increases in low-frequency waves, especially
in the prefrontal and right temporal regions of the brain, and PTSD
with decreases in low-frequency waves, notably in the right
temporoparietal region.
The
differences in the levels of the waves may explain some of the
symptoms of the two disorders, suggesting a decline in
responsiveness for someone with mTBI, for example, and more anxiety
for someone with PTSD.
Franke
also noted that more low-frequency power has also been linked to
cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and less
low-frequency power to problems such as drug addiction.
Additionally, spotting distinct patterns of mTBI and PTSD in
separate parts of the brain is key for two reasons: the possibility
these conditions can be confused with each other is reduced. That
can help improve diagnosis and treatment and the patterns show that
electrical activity appears to be affected long after combat-related
mTBI, suggesting long-term changes in neural communication, the
signaling between cells in the nervous system. “That could help, in
part, explain the reason for persistent problems.”
The
study included 147 active-duty service members or Veterans who had
been exposed to blasts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of those, 115 had
mTBI, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of all traumatic brain
injuries. Forty of the participants had PTSD, and 35 had both
conditions.
Despite
the new findings, Franke and her team believe more work is needed to
better explain the differences in the patterns of both conditions in
the brain’s electrical activity. Researchers need to analyze the
differences in scans from larger numbers of patients.
Meanwhile, though, she said she hopes the research will play a role
in helping medical professionals better diagnose someone’s condition
through an individual EEG—whether that person has PTSD, a brain
injury, or a combination of the two.
“That’s
the holy grail,” said Franke. “We want to use the EEG to
differentiate the problems, but also to predict recovery and be able
to measure how people are doing in a more biological way than just
measuring symptoms, although those are still relevant. But symptoms
are also problematic because they’re influenced by so many things
that aren’t the disease that we’re interested in.”
For
more information about VA research on PTSD and TBI, visit
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury.
Information about Franke’s study may be found at the International
Journal of Psychophysiology
Loudon
American Legion Post #88 New
Submitted By Shawn Jones
Many of
a Christmas gift or tasty treat could be found in the newly
completed Legion post.
Loudon
American Legion Post #88 Historian Mike Moffett was a featured
speaker at a special veterans event in Marco Island, Florida, on
Dec. 19 where he spoke of his experiences in the Persian Gulf as
well as Afghanistan in addition to talking about life in the Granite
State. (l-r) American Legion Commander Lee Rubenstein, Lt. Col. Mike
Moffett, Marc Island activist Steve Stefanides, and VFW Commander
Tom Meeker.
On
December 7th on the 75th Anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor
we lost one of our WWII Marine Corp veterans Fred Osgood. He served
in the South Pacific during World War II. Fred served as our post
Chaplain for many years before retiring to the NH Veteran’s Home.
Fred’s picture has graced many newspapers and he attended a number
of note worthy veteran events over the years. I’ve been told there
will be services held for Fred sometime 2017. He will be missed by
many of us. Semper Fi Fred.
Thanks
to those post members who came out to the post on December 3rd to
our first Christmas Craft fair. Some members stopped by for the
first time to tour the post. I want to thank the public who stopped
in to see the new post and who shopped around for a unique holiday
gift. Your comments where very positive on how well the post
renovations turned out. Your Commander sold a hot dog lunch and
popcorn to raise money for the post.
We
continue to make small improvements to the post such as installing
hand made window curtains. They where hung up last month and
recently Kenneth Ward attached the military branch patches. Stan
Prescott and Alfred Page installed an outside LED exterior light on
the back side of the building. Ken has offered to install a solar
LED exterior light that I donated. The additional light will
illuminate the area outside the front door after the outside lights
are turned off. I added a POW/MIA flag to the flag pole just below
the American flag.
As I
write this we only need one more member to make 100% for 2017, if we
can reach this goal by the end of December we might be the first
post in District Five to achieve this goal for 2017. Thanks to all
the post members who renewed before January and those new members or
transfers to our post for helping us to get very close to 100
percent. I hope to be able to share with you in my next post news
article that we did make 100 percent or more before December 21st.
I came
across this article that may be of interest to some of our readers.
NGAUS
Applauds Congressional Action On Guard And Reserve Veteran Status
WASHINGTON (Dec. 12, 2016) — All retired National Guardsmen and
Reservists are now only a presidential signature away from finally
being recognized as veterans.
Congress approved legislation late last week that expands the legal
definition of a veteran to include Guardsmen and Reservists that
honorably serve 20 years. It will now go to the White House as part
of a package of veterans bills.
The
current definition requires a Guardsman or Reservist to have spent
more than 179 days on federal active duty for other than training to
be considered a veteran, regardless of how many years they served.
“The
current definition has long been out of date,” said retired Maj.
Gen. Gus Hargett, the NGAUS president. “It fails to recognize the
deterrence value of training and readiness to our national security.
Many of those affected underwent arduous, even dangerous, training.
They helped win the Cold War. Others worked in direct support of
those who did deploy. Yet our nation tells them that they aren’t
veterans.
“That’s
wrong,” he added, “but we’re on the cusp of righting that wrong.”
NGAUS
has been pushing the change for six years. It easily passed in the
House in every session only to be halted in the Senate by fears that
an expansion of the definition would raise the cost of veteran
entitlement programs.
“This
has never been about money for us,” Hargett said. “It took a while,
but we finally convinced everyone in the Senate that Guard retirees
weren’t looking for more benefits. They just wanted the honor of
their nation calling them veterans.”
The
House and Senate actually approved the change last year, but the
language was not identical. This forced the two chambers to come up
with a compromise provision, which they did last week.
Hargett
credited Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-
Ga., Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Rep. Timothy J. Walz, D-Minn.,
for the final push in their respective chambers to bring the matter
to a vote before Congress adjourned for the year Friday.
- See
more at:
http://www.ngaus.org/newsroom/news/ngaus-applauds-congressional-action-guard-and-reserve-veteran-status#sthash.hZIOBOSZ.dpuf
In my
civilian job this past year I’ve had the opportunity to be involved
with a couple of veteran related service committees. The first one
is with the NH Division of Child Support Services and our new
outreach program we are standing up. We will be able to offer some
assistance to members of the military and their families as well as
veterans with their child support order needs. The second committee
is the Justice Involved Veteran’s Task Force. This is a work group
that brings state, county and non profit partners together to find
ways on how veterans can reach out to and be assisted by many
agencies including the NH State Police, NH Judicial Court system,
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Easter Seals, NH DCSS,
Military Officers Association of America(MOAA), among many other non
for profit agencies.
As I
close I think of how truly blessed I am to have served as your
commander over the past year. We have accomplished much over the
past year with moving into our new post, the Memorial Day Parade,
Sponsoring the State High School Oratorical Winner, the donations we
made to community non profits, supporting one another and listening
to each other’s views on post matters. We continue to come together
and serve our members and the town of Loudon. I look forward to
seeing what we can accomplish in the coming year.
I wish
everyone a Healthy and Happy New Year.
|