May 17, 2009 — About 70 members of the Virgin Islands National Guard attended its fourth annual Health Fair Saturday at the SFC Leonard B. Francis Armory on St. Thomas.
Designed for VING soldiers and family members, retirees and active legionnaires and auxiliary, the health fair was themed "Ready and Resilient" and is part of a 10-year strategic deployability and readiness marketing campaign, called the "Decade of Health," according to Maj. Sandra Benjamin.
The thrust of the campaign is to enhance the soldiers' ability to adapt to and to recover from the many stresses of challenging missions, according to a memorandum from the Joint Force Headquarters National Guard in Christiansted.
"The idea is for soldiers to be flexible, pliant, tough, durable and elastic enough to bounce back from stress associated with war and being in a war environment," Benjamin said.
Organized by the State Medical Command, the health fair focused on a number of facets of the soldiers' health and other aspects in their lives that impact their readiness for deployment.
Adult workshops and presentations included:
-federal and local benefits, including Veterans Administration benefits, health care benefits, compensation and pensions, educational benefits, home loan guarantees and vocational rehabilitation;
-sexual assault;
-battle mind for spouses;
-mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder;
-nutrition;
-parenting;
-suicide prevention;
-suicide prevention for families.
Children have a special support network called Operation Military Kids, which delivers a wide range of recreation, social and educational programs. Special workshops designed for children included:
-battle mind for children;
-abuse prevention;
-substance abuse awareness.
Counselors from the Joint Family Assistance Program provided a number of different kinds of services included one-on-one counseling sessions and financial and material assistance.
The JFSAP is made up of the Military and Family Life Consultants who can provide non-medical, short-term counseling services to servicemen and their families. For more information, contact Dr. Rita Bobino at 340-227-8360 or by email at jfsap.mflc@gmail.com
Four financial counselors were also on hand to speak one-on-one with Guard members and their families.
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