From the CEO: This Veterans Day, support a veteran in need.

Dear Melwood Community,
We’re writing to tell you about something new at Melwood… something that is changing lives for the fastest growing segment of the population we serve, veterans and active duty military personnel with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTS(d) and mild to moderate Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) resulting from deployment-related trauma.

We’ve completed the pilot programs and have now launched Operation: Tohidu™, a series of week-long immersive programs for up to 20 combat veterans or active duty military participants, that is changing the way we think of our warfighters. But more important, Operation: Tohidu has proven to change the way our warfighters cope with the trauma of war when they return home.

• Today, post-traumatic stress is the fourth-most commonly diagnosed condition in the United States, with an estimated 600,000 reported cases … and an untold number of cases that go unreported due to fear that the diagnosis will disrupt careers.
• In the United States, 22 veterans commit suicide each and every day.

Melwood’s Operation: Tohidu is provided absolutely free of charge to veterans and active duty military self reporting with PTS(d) and mild to moderate TBI. We need your help to continue to expand this program and make it available to the thousands of veterans who are waiting for real help.
Won’t you join us in supporting these warfighters who have served our country so well? Your gift today could help one of our nation’s defenders reclaim their peace, their roles as breadwinners for their families and their lives.

In a program that utilizes multiple complementary therapeutic modalities, the emphasis is on weaning the participants off of the anti-depressants and other psychotropic drugs often prescribed to manage the condition and which, far too often, create another problem… addiction. The response to Operation: Tohidu has been overwhelming. This new Melwood program has already been featured on regional and national news as an innovative approach to supporting veterans with PTS(d).

At Melwood, we believe our warfighters deserve our respect; timely and appropriate care; and support in dealing with the adjustment to “normal” life when they return home from war. We believe they are not “crazy” … they just need guidance in making the huge adjustment from regularly experiencing trauma to the day-to-day busyness of life in their families and communities.

We’re asking you to show your support of them through Operation: Tohidu because we believe that you, too, appreciate and honor the service these young men and women have so unselfishly given to us and to our nation. We sincerely hope you will sit down right now, before something else demands your attention, and make a gift to support Operation: Tohidu and it’s compassionate, healing mission.

For over 50 years, Melwood has been a regional leader in advocating for and providing programs for those in our communities with developmental, emotional and physical challenges… from job training and support programs to real employment that guarantees at least a minimum wage to workers of differing abilities. Now, Melwood is using all that experience in providing programs for our veterans and active duty military members through Operation: Tohidu… and garnering national attention for this effective program that’s helping our warfighters and their families.

Won’t you please consider making your gift today, before Veteran’s Day? It would be a fitting tribute to our veterans and active duty military men and women.

Thank you in advance for your consideration and support!

Sincerely,

Cari DeSantis
President and CEO