By Shannon Barry

Vietnam veteran Dale Sare, who suffers from multiple myeloma caused by Agent Orange, works with physical therapist Bertha Hurtado at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Palo Alto. The VA serves veterans of past and present wars, including many who have served in the Iraq War.

Last week’s surge of publicity marking the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War shone the spotlight on U.S. soldiers and veterans. Many vets have returned from duty with post-traumatic stress disorder and a range of injuries that require extensive treatment and emotional support as they transition back to civilian life.

A host of organizations in the Los Altos area deal with the physical and emotional aftereffects of Iraq and past wars every day: American Legion Post 558 in Los Altos and the Veterans Administration Palo Alto Health Care System connect with military veterans in a variety of ways.

Extending community outreach

American Legion Post 558, located on First Street in Los Altos, is one of 15,000 chapters worldwide. Congress chartered the American Legion in 1919 as a patriotic wartime veterans’ organization. It continues its work as a not-for-profit community organization that provides help for veterans of American wars.

William Wunderlin, commander of Post 558, said there are 18 American Legion posts in this district, which covers Palo Alto to Gilroy. The goal of the American Legion is to establish funds and locate services such as repairs and construction for veterans who need assistance, he said.

As a full-time Air National Guardsman, Wunderlin said he is motivated on a personal and professional level to search for support for veterans. He is working on several fundraising endeavors, including a possible movie night to make Los Altos residents more aware of local veterans.

Donations would be accepted to jumpstart fundraising efforts needed to support the myriad financial needs experienced by transitioning veterans and their families, Wunderlin said.

Los Altos Hills resident Dave Mahler of USA Together works with the American Legion and dozens of other groups – including the Wounded Warrior Project, Soldiers’ Angels and Swords to Plowshares – to connect injured service members and their families with community members willing to assist them and help them locate services.

Mahler launched a Web site, http://usatogether.org, similar to craigslist. Those logging on can browse through a list of veterans who have specific needs – locally or nationwide. Search options include by hometown, by branch of service and by type of need. The Web site facilitates e-mail communication with the injured service member or his or her representative, then arrangements are made to provide the veteran with the goods or services requested.

Mahler conceived the idea for the Web site in February 2007 when he met with a senior member of the Palo Alto VA hospital about how he could help. The representative told him newly injured veterans and their young families in particular needed assistance.

“I can’t think of a more deserving group of people,” Mahler said.

Mahler used his technological skills – he worked for Hewlett-Packard – and enlisted 12 volunteers to get the site up and running.

The goal of the site is to “give a face to this hidden audience,” he said.

Mahler said it is difficult to find applicants because of the walls of privacy set up to protect veterans, so word is just getting out about the site. There are many people who want to help but don’t know where to funnel the aid, he said.

Transitioning from war

It takes an entire community to use its radar and seek out the needs of veterans, said Carolann Wunderlin, co-chairwoman of the American Legion’s Heroes to Hometowns (H2H) California Network.

H2H is a transition program for severely injured service members returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF). It establishes a support network and helps wounded veterans acclimate back into everyday life.

“There are usually multiple injuries, and the most difficult to understand are the invisible ones,” said Wunderlin, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Lynn Waelde, associate professor at the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, is directing an investigation of the effects of war on the mental health of returning service members for the school’s Los Altos clinic.

Waelde worked as a predoctoral clinical intern at a VA hospital in New Orleans and continues to work with Pacific faculty involved with the VA system.

“We need to go into the community to care for these new veterans who are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan,” Waelde said. “There are quite a lot of military personnel who are still active or have returned … and it’s going to take more than saying, ‘The VA will handle it.’”

There are many ways to extend community outreach, Waelde said, including informing veterans about available services.

There are nine Pacific Graduate School doctoral students involved in the study. They are searching for 120 veterans to participate in the project, which will involve brief surveys and an intense eight-week program.

“Most people serve very well and aren’t having ongoing difficulties,” Waelde said, “but we should be very attentive to those who do have ongoing difficulties. … That’s why we’re doing this. We’re trying to figure out what we can do for this new group of warriors who are coming back.”

Waelde’s interest in helping service personnel stems from her childhood, when she lived in New Orleans, an hour from Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss. Soldiers often stayed the weekend at her family’s home, where her mother provided shelter and food.

“In our family, we had this long tradition of valuing and honoring military service,” Waelde said.

She added that her brother, father and grandfather are all veterans.

Veterans’ health has been an active research area for Waelde, and she continues to work with colleagues at various VA facilities throughout the nation.

“I do a lot of training of therapists and clinicians and a lot of research, but this will be a chance for me to get more directly involved with working myself instead of just training other people,” she said.

Facilitating health connections

Waelde’s study group plans to attend the “Welcome Home 2008” event scheduled 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 10 in Chase Park at Moffett Field for the newest veterans and their families to help identify those available for their research. Romeo Horvath, OIF/OEF transition patient advocate for the Palo Alto VA hospital, will preside over the event.

“The event is for recently returned veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, to let them know about (available) services and setting up a face-to-face (meeting) with VA employees,” Horvath said. “I expect a huge turnout only because the VA has never done a large outreach event before.”

The goal of the VA event is to connect those returning with doctors, nurses and services within the system, he said.

“The transition patient advocate is a brand-new position created as a way to provide care for severely injured patients,” Horvath said. “Once they get treated, they get sent out to communities and sometimes they forget to come to appointments or get lost in the complicated VA system.”

The new position stresses the VA’s commitment to extending outreach, he said.

“We don’t want to create what happened with the disservice to veterans of the Vietnam War,” Horvath said. “This time around we want to be very proactive.”

A former paratrooper, Horvath said his job is rewarding in many facets – helping others and being able to connect with patients.

“After 27 years, I found what I really wanted to do for my life,” Horvath said. “Because I’m a veteran, (patients) have a direct connection.”

VA hospitals often employ veterans within the work force, said Chaplain Marsha Davis, who has worked at the hospital for 21 years.

“As you grow older and see war after war, you (appreciate veterans),” Davis said. “They deserve top-of-the-line care.”

Vietnam veteran Dale Sare is one of many patients who travel several hours to use the VA’s array of services. He comes from Lake Tahoe for treatment at the hospital’s Spinal Cord Injury Center and has occupational therapy for 30-45 minute sessions. The therapy has helped Sare redevelop muscles that deteriorated after two back surgeries left him bedridden for four months.

Last year Sare was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cell that is incurable but treatable. Studies have linked myeloma to exposure to Agent Orange, a chemical weapon used during the Vietnam War.

“I turned 21 on a hill in Vietnam and 62 in an ICU in Reno,” Sare said.

Creating camaraderie

The Palo Alto VA hospital is a place where veterans from various wars – from World War II to Korea, Vietnam and Iraq – intermingle. It’s often a therapeutic experience, said Tom McCarthy, a recreation therapist at the hospital.

That’s certainly been the case for June Moss, an Army veteran and chaplain program support assistant at the VA who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and in Kosovo.

“You don’t realize the effect war will have after (you return),” Moss said.

The former staff sergeant has received support from her church and family, but as the mother of 10-year-old Jacob and 11-year-old Briona, it has been important for Moss to engage professional help through the hospital as well.

“For myself as a veteran, there are not enough programs for vets that have families,” Moss said. “If you have a job, a lot of times you don’t get help. Nobody looks at that.”

Other veterans struggle to sustain themselves. According to Davis, 20 percent to 25 percent of all homeless people are veterans.

And many of those who try to help homeless vets can relate to them.

“What’s most exciting is that the people I supervise who do my homeless outreach are veterans themselves,” said Kate Severin, outreach coordinator at the VA. “It’s really thrilling to see them doing well, succeeding, giving back. … It’s a great way to connect with homeless vets still on the streets.”

While Horvath is pleased that the Veterans Administration is reaching out to veterans in the area, he said he would like to see more community members helping them as well.

“The VA should take the lead in caring for vets as it always has, but local communities, especially in more rural areas, need to step up and provide a stopgap,” he said. “Unfortunately, there isn’t a VA facility in every American town, so the local community government and businesses must provide needed medical and mental health care for their local heroes.”

Contact Shannon Barry at shannonb@latc.com.