GREAT NECK, NY – The North Shore-LIJ Health System today announced that it has received a matching grant of $300,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to support a behavioral health center for military veterans and their families in Bay Shore. Working in collaboration with the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and its Northport Medical Center, the program will ensure that service members, especially those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, receive high-quality mental health services for themselves, their spouses and children under one roof.

In accord with the Robert Wood Johsnon Foundation program, local funding partners have also pledged essential support for the new center.  These include: The Fay J. Linder Foundation, The Berlin Family Foundation, The Jack & Dorothy Kupferberg Family Foundation, The Randi and Mark Jacobson Charitable Foundation, The Martin B. Greenberg Foundation.

“The new center is a collaboration which demonstrates that a private and public agency, both committed to honoring and serving our nation’s veterans and their families, can come together to offer a blending of our combined expertise to deliver the quality, care, and compassion America’s heroes and their loved ones deserve,” said Charlene Thomesen, MD, associate chief of staff of mental health for the VA Medical Center in Northport.

Many American military service members are returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan with physical injuries and emotional and cognitive disturbances unique to modern warfare. These health challenges dramatically impact not only the veteran and his or her reentry into the community, but also the veteran’s family unit. Many veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) or both. These conditions are not only linked to other behavioral health disturbances such as depression, sleep problems and substance abuse, but can also significantly affect partner and spouse relationships, and parent-child relationships.

“With over 150,000 military veterans living on Long Island there is great demand for the coordinated family treatment that will be provided at the new Bay Shore facility,” said Andrew Roberts, director of the Office of Military and Veterans Liaison Services at North Shore-LIJ, and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Since 2006, North Shore-LIJ has served military personnel and their families, including young children, at its Manhasset-based Rosen Family Wellness Center for Law Enforcement and Military Personnel and Their Families. As a result, the health system has extensive experience diagnosing and treating military service members and their families with behavioral health issues. This experience will help to inform evaluation and treatment in the new Bay Shore center.

The facility is slated to open in early 2012 at 132 East Main Street in Bay Shore. For more information, contact North Shore-LIJ’s Office of Military and Veterans Liaison Services at (516) 562-3235.

Media Contact: Betty Olt
(516) 465-2645
bolt@nshs.edu