{"id":27084,"date":"2023-09-12T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=27084"},"modified":"2023-09-12T15:14:46","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T15:14:46","slug":"my-life-my-story-project-helps-veterans-reflect-heal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=27084","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMy Life, My Story\u201d project helps Veterans reflect, heal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marine Corps Veteran Ken Whitford didn\u2019t know what to expect when he was approached in early 2020 by Seth Jovaag, a writer\/editor for VA\u2019s \u201cMy Life, My Story\u201d project. He was asked to share his experiences as a Veteran.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a whole new deal to me, but I thought why not give it a whirl. Before you know it, words just started coming out. It was tough but I got through it all,\u201d Whitford said.<\/p>\n

Three years later, Whitford (pictured above) believes it was a therapeutic journey, a way to open up and share personal feelings not long after his wife died. \u201cIt rekindled a lot of emotions. It was a good thing to do. My kids said, \u2018Mom would really be glad you did this,\u2019\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n

Through the \u201cMy Life, My Story\u201d program, writers interview Veterans for about an hour and write brief stories about their lives. The stories are reviewed by the Veteran and, with their approval, are added to their medical record. Stories are capped at about 1,000 words so busy care providers can read them in a few minutes.<\/p>\n

The stories provide a window into patients\u2019 lives, and they gives nurses and doctors a chance to get to know Veterans on a personal level.<\/p>\n

Program launched in 2013<\/h2>\n

This spring, the program turned 10. It launched in 2013 at the William S. Middleton VA<\/a> in Madison, Wisconsin. Since then, \u201cMy Life, My Story\u201d has spread to more than 70 VA hospitals across the U.S. and has gained interest from health care facilities outside of VA.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/a>
Program in more than 70 VA hospitals<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

As of August 2023, more than 8,000 Veteran stories have been captured by VA staff, volunteers and medical students.<\/p>\n

Many of the stories are emotionally gripping\u2014and Whitford\u2019s is no exception. The Vietnam War Veteran saw intense combat in the Da Nang region, and said he suffered multiple bullet wounds to one of his legs, and his hearing was damaged.<\/p>\n

Despite his injuries, Whitford survived. Many of the buddies he served with did not.\u00a0\u201cThis one guy heard his son being born on a tape from back home. Two weeks later, a sniper popped out of a little rabbit hole and shot him in the back of the head,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

Therapy services from VA have helped him overcome survivor\u2019s guilt. Participating in \u201cMy Life, My Story\u201d also made him proud to be a Vietnam Veteran, something he didn\u2019t feel when coming home to protests and backlash.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the story was placed in the patient record, I got comments from some of the young nurses and doctors. They said, \u2018Oh man, we read your story and it was really good.\u2019 And the story helps them get to know me better, whether I\u2019m seeing the eye doctor or my therapist,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Family:\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re happy to get to know the whole you.\u201d\u00a0<\/h2>\n

After Whitford\u2019s story was completed, he requested 20 copies, which he distributed to friends and family. \u201cThey told me, \u2018We didn\u2019t know it was like that. But we\u2019re happy to get to know the whole you,\u2019\u201d he shared.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whitford encourages other Veterans to take part in the program. \u201cThe process of sharing experiences\u2014good and bad\u2014could feel like a heavy weight being lifted off the shoulders. It would do good for some Veterans. It\u2019s therapy,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Carol Gibson-Gill, chief of the spinal cord injury department at New Jersey VA<\/a>, connected with Thor Ringler, the program\u2019s national director, in 2017. Soon after, she received training to start the program at her hospital.<\/p>\n

Two college students volunteered to conduct interviews and write stories, and the program was off and running. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing talking to the Veterans. When you are collecting their story, you learn so much about them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Now when Gibson-Gill opens a patient\u2019s electronic medical record, the first thing she does is look to see if a \u201cMy Life, My Story\u201d is listed on the cover page. If it is, she will click on the link and read the story before meeting her patient. \u201cIt really helps formulate my approach and address what really matters to them. Because you hear the story and you feel like, \u2018OK, this person has resilience or this person\u2019s family is really important to them, or this person has some trust issues because of trauma they\u2019ve suffered.\u2019 They\u2019re not just a diabetic or a heart disease patient. They\u2019re a person.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marine Corps Veteran Ken Whitford didn\u2019t know what to expect when he was approached in early 2020 by Seth Jovaag, a writer\/editor for VA\u2019s \u201cMy Life, My Story\u201d project. He was asked to share his experiences as a Veteran. \u201cIt was a whole new deal to me, but I thought why not give it a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":27086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,64,660],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-inside-veterans-health","category-my-life-my-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27084"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27092,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27084\/revisions\/27092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}