ROCK ISLAND, ILL., (10/19/2010)(readMedia)-- Officials from six National Guard states in the Midwest region including the Illinois Army National Guard, sent command representatives to Rock Island Arsenal Garrison Oct. 18 to speak with cadre about their injured soldiers in Community Based Warrior Transition Unit (CBWTU) rehabilitation program.

The program has existed for roughly four years on the nation's largest government-operated arsenal helping injured veterans from Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The program helps rehabilitate Soldiers both mentally and physically and helps transition them back into their normal lives.

The states' National Guard commands work together with the CBWTU, medical facilities and civilian vocational rehabilitation agencies to help Soldiers seek medical attention and find work in the civilian sector.

Soldiers attend one muster every three months at Rock Island Arsenal, but can seek medical treatment in their hometowns instead of being away from family and other support at an active duty hospital in another state.

"In today's Army, the care and medical needs of our injured veterans is paramount," said Celletti. "These men and women went into harm's way while serving their country and they cannot be forgotten and left to struggle to make ends meet in their times of need," Maj. Gen. Dennis Celletti of Springfield, the Assistant Adjutant General - Army of the Illinois National Guard.

Staff Sgt. J.P. Lawson of Marseilles, a platoon sergeant with the CBWTU said the program allows for injured Soldiers to receive the one-on-one care they may not have received at active-duty hospitals after suffering injuries in a combat zone. The facility at Rock Island Arsenal is centralized allowing Soldiers to receive medical attention and take care of personal matters.

"The program is based mainly on getting Soldiers in and getting them to look at their overall care, not just physical but mental," said Lawson. "(The program) is also to help them transition either to a civilian life as they retire out of the military or ... they are actually returning to duty, getting ready for their life outside the war."

Lawson, an Illinois Army Guardsmen now attached to the CBWTP, attended the program in 2007 after returning home injured from deployment to Afghanistan. After going through the program Lawson returned as a cadre member to help fellow Soldiers receive the care they need. As a platoon sergeant, he said he has seen roughly a 90-percent success rate in the Soldiers from his platoon.

Lawson said he has seen Soldiers with all types of injuries in the program. From blindness to broken limbs.

Not all Soldiers going through the transition program have obvious injuries. Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Eric Wolf of Jessup, Iowa, with the 445th Transportation Company out of Waterloo, Iowa suffered multiple noncombat related injuries while deployed to Iraq in 2009.

When he originally came home his treatments were at an active-duty station. With family hundreds of miles away Wolf dealt with mental stress.

Since being assigned to the CBWTU, Wolf has been able to get the medical attention he needs to lead a normal life. With the ability to stay in Jessup between musters, Wolf said he is able to spend time with his family and be present in their lives.

"With this program it allows you to get back your family and your family too does not have to go any longer without you," said Wolf. "When you have a wife taking care of four children and she's already done it through a deployment, it's stress on her too for you to get back. There it's really imperative that you two join back together and support each other."

With medical attention in their hometowns, Soldiers like Wolf are able to receive treatment from their local doctors, family doctors and medical facilities in a place they are comfortable instead of miles away from home.

Wolf said being with his family even during his treatments made his mental and emotional state easier. While Wolf's time with the program is not complete, he said with the treatment and vocational support he has received he has been able to heal both mentally and physically and he is ready to face life and the road to come.

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Black Hawk Chamber Music Festival

10^th-Anniversary Celebration

~  in Davenport on October 21, 22 and 24 at Trinity Cathedral  ~

Tickets and Information:

www.brownpapertickets.com

www.BHCMF.org

Des Moines, Iowa- Soldiers of the 387th Human Resources Co. (HR Co.), which consists of approximately 30 Army Reserve soldiers from many parts of the Midwest, returned from deployment on October 16th 2010.

The mission of the 387th HR Co., based out of Wichita, Kans., was to manage Human Resources and Postal Services for Camp Liberty in Iraq.  A casualty liaison team from the 387th HR Co.'s detachment in Fort Dodge, Iowa also deployed with the unit. This was the unit's first deployment.

A Welcome Home Warrior Citizen Award will be scheduled in the future to honor the soldiers of the 387th HR Co.

A Welcome Home Warrior Ceremony publically acknowledges our Army Reserve Soldiers for their selfless-service and sacrifice in support of contingency operations.   The soldiers have been released from duty to travel home to their families.  For additional information, please contact the 103rd ESC Public Affairs Office.


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New Advisory Panel will Address Disparities in Breast Cancer Rates

CHICAGO - October 18, 2010. Governor Pat Quinn today announced a new initiative to fight breast cancer that will improve access to mammograms and treatment. The effort will be overseen by a new advisory panel charged with raising the quality of care for all women, focusing specifically on strategies to reduce the racial disparity in breast cancer mortality.

"Breast cancer is a deadly disease that affects women across Illinois," said Governor Quinn. "We are doing everything we can to make sure more women have access to lifesaving screenings and treatments. The Breast Cancer Quality Screening and Treatment Board consists of highly-qualified medical experts and health care advocates who will work hard to fight this disease."

The members of the newly formed Breast Cancer Quality Screening and Treatment Board include :

• Dr. David Ansell, Vice President for Clinical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer for Rush University Medical Center and Associate Provost for Medical Affairs, Rush University.
• Dr. Bechara Choucair, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Public Health
• Sister Sheila Lyne, CEO and President, Mercy Hospital
• Eileen Knightly, Director, Mercy Hospital Breast Care Center
• Anne Marie Murphy, Executive Director, Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force
• Dr. Pamela Ganschow, Director, John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County Breast & Cervical Cancer Screening Program
• Dr. Elizabeth Marcus, Chair, John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County Division of Breast Oncology
• Stephani Huston Cox, Director of Patient Services, Planned Parenthood Springfield Area
• Linda Maricle, Executive Director, Susan G. Komen for the Cure Peoria
• Donna Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, Access Community Health Network
• Elizabeth S.A. Patton, Administrator, East Side Health District
• Salim Al Nurridin, Chief Executive Officer, Healthcare Consortium of Illinois
• Vicki Vaughn, Director, St. Mary's Hospital

The mission of the Breast Cancer Quality Screening and Treatment Board is to work with the Medicaid Program and IBCCP to identify gaps in screening and diagnostic mammogram services throughout the state; expand the use of digital mammography; recommend common quality standards; identify best practices for effective outreach to reduce racial disparities; and monitor the pilot projects.

The new initiative is a joint project by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). It will include an increase in the Medicaid reimbursement rate beginning in 2011 for screening providers who commit to high-quality service and data sharing on detection rates with the Chicago Breast Cancer Quality Consortium. Medicaid spending for the program will qualify for federal matching funds.

"I am very glad to be working with Governor Quinn, our partners at IDPH and our board of experts to improve access to-and the quality of-breast cancer screening and treatment for women throughout our state," said HFS Director Julie Hamos.

The initiative will include three new pilot projects to assist women who have breast cancer and are being treated through either the Medicaid Program for low-income women or the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (IBCCP), which provides free breast and cervical cancer screenings and services to uninsured eligible women in Illinois. The pilot projects will test different approaches to best assist these women in navigating the complex system of breast cancer health care and treatment.

"Early detection can help save lives, and mammography remains the most effective means available to detect cancer in its earliest stages," said IDPH Director Dr. Damon T. Arnold. "We look forward to working with the new board to help ensure all women have access to quality mammography and other breast cancer services."

As part of the initiative, the state will ramp up its educational outreach programs about early detection and treatment of breast cancer. Women over the age of 40 will be informed of access to free annual mammograms - whether they are enrolled in Medicaid or Medicare, have private insurance coverage or are uninsured. Under the new federal Affordable Care Act all new and renewed private health insurance policies will offer free annual mammograms.

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