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A safe investment
28 May 2007
McHENRY, IL – Dennis Smith has good reason for launching the McHenry
County arm of Operation Helmet, a project to ensure that Marines are
equipped with proper helmets.
His granddaughter’s husband is serving his second term in Iraq and
still does not have the proper helmet protection, Smith said.
“Almost every day I wake up saying, ‘Gee, I hope he’s OK today,’ ”
Smith said.
Operation Helmet takes donations to buy upgrade kits for helmets to
protect soldiers from traumatic brain injury.
Since starting in November, McHenry Operation Helmet has raised
about $3,000 in donations. Each new helmet upgrade kit costs $77.
Smith is the former executive director of the Mental Health Board
and serves as the treasurer for the McHenry County Behavior Health
Foundation.
Head injury is a subject that is very close to Smith’s heart. When
Smith’s daughter was 15, she sustained serious head injuries in a
car accident.
“I became aware over the next several years how inadequate the
resources were for people with head injuries,” Smith said. “Head
injuries require a really specific approach to rehabilitation and
many times people with head injuries end up in the mental-health
system because they exhibit symptoms that are similar to mental
illnesses. ... And because they are misdiagnosed, they receive the
wrong treatment.”
Bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and borderline
personality disorder are just a few examples of misdiagnosing brain
injuries.
Traumatic brain injury has begun to characterize the current war in
Iraq “much the way illness from Agent Orange typified the Vietnam
War,” said Warren Lux, a neurophysiologist at the Walter Reed
Hospital.
Sixty percent of soldiers treated for head injuries at Walter Reed
Hospital have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, according
to the New England Journal of Medicine.
Most cases of traumatic brain injury are caused by improvised
explosive devices. Mild symptoms include sensitivity to light and
sound, sleep disturbance and headaches. More severe symptoms are
mood swings, depression, anxiety, emotional outbursts and
impulsiveness.
Ironically, advancements in technology and medicine have made it so
that more military patients can be adequately treated. Therefore,
people who would not have recovered in earlier wars are surviving –
in turn, leaving more soldiers injured, Smith said.
Smith also has run into snags along the way when it comes to fitting
Marines with the helmet inserts. For example, Smith’s grandson said
he would not use the inserts unless his entire fire team was fitted
with them as well, saying that he didn’t want to have better
protection than his friends. The problem is, now they need to figure
out the type of helmet and the size for everyone, but the Marines
will not disclose that information for security reasons.
Operation Helmet is not just a local project. Bob Meaders of Texas
started Operation Helmet in 2004 because he, like Smith, has a
connection to a person serving in Iraq.
The Marines are in the process of upgrading their helmets to include
the inserts, but the helmet upgrade kits that are being provided
right now are not being used by most soldiers because of discomfort,
Meaders said.
“They are uncomfortable ...,” he said. “A helmet is only effective
when you wear it.”
As of today, Operation Helmet has sent 36,177 helmet upgrades
because of donations, according to its Web site.
“[Our troops] deserve better,” Smith said. “These young men are
putting their lives on the line and giving their most.
“They deserve our best equipment and it’s taking a long time to get
it there.”
To donate or for information, call (815) 455-2828 or go to
www.operation-helmet.org.
How to help
To donate to Operation Helmet or for information call (815) 455-2828
or go to
www.operation-helmet.org.
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