Therapist helps veterans overcome PTSD struggles

Lester I. Weiss remembers the first time he counseled a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress.

Weiss was a longtime social worker for Altoona Regional Health System's Behavioral Health Department when a Vietnam veteran - a solid family man and member of the community - had been in a traffic accident.

The accident and the veteran's near death for some reason brought back memories of the terrible fighting he experienced many years before.

"All his PTSD came out like gangbusters," said Weiss, who now counsels with hundreds of veterans suffering from the stress of wars fought decades ago - and from not so long ago - in his job at the Van Zandt VA Medical Center in Altoona.

The VA is putting a great deal of emphasis on dealing with PTSD, anger and potential suicide - problems that can rise to the surface when a veteran returns home, Weiss said.

Experienced people like Weiss are attempting to contact service men and women within days of their return from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, the present military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Van Zandt center provides services to veterans in 14 counties, and Weiss operates five PTSD support groups and an anger management group. He also does one-on-one counseling with the veterans, having contact ith more than 300 veterans experiencing post-traumatic stress.

For Weiss , it's a labor of love, not just a job.

While he has a daily schedule, his life is anything but routine.

"It is a challenge every day. You don't know what you are going to face. Emergencies come in. You have to be very flexible," Weiss said.

Weiss, who worked from 1977 to 2006 at Altoona Regional, knew from the beginning he was getting into a very specialized and challenging field when he signed on with the VA.

He said he was contacted by Dr. Rodolfo Medina to join the VA staff after his many years with Altoona Hospital, where he dealt primarily with high-risk children, the elderly and Alzheimer's patients.

"For me, it was really a whole new experience. I am not a veteran," Weiss said.

He questioned if he could effectively work with veterans, but he then remembered his experience with the Marine veteran at the Altoona Hospital.

He noted that his father, Milt, who is nearly 90 years old, was in the Air Force in World War II and was part of a crew that faced danger daily in making bombing runs in Europe.

Weiss felt that he is giving back to veterans like his father by helping them deal with their traumatic experiences.

Post-traumatic stress is a problem that can be keyed by any number of experiences, the death of a parent, or, as in the first case he dealt with, an accident, Weiss said.

Symptoms include heightened vigilance. The person becomes easily startled and tends to be always on edge and guarded, not wanting to be around other people. He becomes isolated and, in many cases, can experience nightmares and flashbacks.

The veteran's family knows something is wrong and so does the veteran, who often becomes depressed.

Weiss and his colleagues try to bring stability back, using a combination of counseling and medication.

The VA is seeing many Vietnam War veterans these days even though the war ended nearly 40 years ago. The Vietnam veterans, Weiss said, "never talked to anyone over the years about the experiences that happened."

The value of talking about the experiences allows the veterans to realize they are not isolated, that others have gone through similar experiences.

Many suffering from post-traumatic stress experience what Weiss called "survivor guilt."

This feeling possibly has roots in a soldier's basic training: the idea that you do not leave anybody behind. Veterans often say, "Maybe there is something I could have done. ... Maybe I should have been in that spot," Weiss explained.

A veteran may have been on a rest and recreation leave when somebody in his unit was killed, or he may have canceled plans for a flight and everybody on the flight was killed.

Getting at the root of the problem is the challenge, Weiss said.

What Weiss and others are hoping is that by addressing the experiences recent veterans have had in Iraq and Afghanistan and other hot spots, they may be able to prevent what has happened to the Vietnam veterans who now have suffered with their inner thoughts for decades.

The VA has experts ready to address the drug and alcohol problems many veterans experience and also has a suicide prevention coordinator on staff

Weiss is a Pittsburgh native who earned bachelor's and master's degrees in social work from the University of Pittsburgh.

He was hired by Altoona Hospital after graduation in 1977. His first job involved discharge planning or helping patients deal with their illnesses once they returned home.

During his time at the hospital, he not only headed the social services department but also worked on many hospital committees and with community agencies such as Blair County Children and Youth Services, Family and Children's Services, and Home Nursing Agency.

He said he got his desire for social work from his mother, Vera, who had counseled underprivileged high school students.

Weiss knows that there is such a thing an burnout by therapists, which is why he has a whole different life outside his job. It's hard, he said, to just "put away" all the veterans' stories he hears every day.

Weiss is involved in singing with the Holliday Harmonizers, part of the Altoona Horseshoe Chorus, and with a group called the SharpTones.

Weiss said the SharpTones, specializing in '50s, '60s and '70s hits, have more than 100 gigs each year.

Oscar Stuckey, Denny Ivory and Weiss comprise the SharpTones.

Weiss said "the most fun we ever had" was performing at the Mishler Theatre in Altoona in a play called "Forever Plaid" in which a music group, killed in a car wreck, gets to come back for one last performance.

Ivory said Weiss often sings his own songs. Weiss "has a nice sense of humor" as well as being a good singer.

Weiss, at age 56, also was just married in July.

Lucy Weiss, who works at the Altoona Mirror, said the two met online and noted that while the Mirror and the VA are across Pleasant Valley Boulevard from each other, they probably would never have met had it not been for the Internet. Between the two of them, they have five grown children and three grandchildren.

Another outlet Weiss has is to take his dogs for a run at Highland Park every night or at Canoe Creek State Park

Many veterans are coming to the VA these days, Weiss said, and he said what he hopes will happen is that some veterans are able to form their own support groups meeting in the community, outside the hospital.

The VA therapists want to make sure nobody falls between the cracks, Weiss said.

Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.