GREAT NECK, NY -- President Abraham Lincoln’s promise to “care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan' -- by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's veterans,” forms the core of the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs mission statement. 

And while it’s true that both warfare and medicine have changed a great deal since the Civil War, what hasn’t changed is that the men and women who serve our country often need care for themselves and their families after they return home.

That is why, in addition to paying homage this veterans day, the North Shore-LIJ Health System today announced a new partnership with Ft. Drum, NY as part of Major League Baseball Charities’ and the McCormick Foundation’s “Welcome Back Veterans” program for returning Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) veterans who have served in operational theatres in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Through North Shore-LIJ’s Rosen Family Wellness Center, established in 2006 to provide behavioral health treatment at no cost to military and law enforcement personnel and their families, and the generosity of a $250,000 McCormick Foundation grant, the “Welcome Back Veterans” program will provide evaluation and treatment to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or traumatic brain injury (TBI).  As part of the TBI component, the health system has developed an innovative partnership with the medical and behavioral health leaders of the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum in upstate New York to outplace a newly hired neuropsychologist to its newly established TBI Center.

“As a health system, we take great pride in doing whatever we can to take care of past, present and future veterans,” said Michael J. Dowling, president and CEO of the North Shore-LIJ Health System. “It is perhaps one of the most important and meaningful ways we can let our veterans know how deeply we appreciate the sacrifices they make on behalf of us all.”

The “Welcome Back Veterans” program is the latest addition to North Shore-LIJ’s programs to support veterans.  Its other programs include: 

• The creation of an Office of Military and Veterans’ Liaison Services that partners with agencies such as the US Department of Veterans Affairs, local VA medical centers and others to meet the health care needs of veterans in our extended community;
• Recently completed negotiations to be an official network provider of TRICARE, the healthcare program serving active duty service members, National Guard and Reserve members, retirees and their families;
• A  veterans supplemental pay program, which pays health system employees on military leave the difference between their military pay and the regular salaries they would have received had they not taken military leave from their jobs at North Shore-LIJ;
• Warriors to Work, where North Shore -LIJ partners with Nassau County to assist returning service members with finding employment in the health system.

Media Contact: Brian Mulligan
516-465-2618/2600
bmulligan@nshs.edu