Assessments and Reassessments
I had drill this last weekend and it was my second month as a Staff Pogue. I did get out to a range for a couple of hours on Sunday morning to watch Alpha Company conduct a shoot with their LAV’s, so it was not all bad. I returned home Sunday evening to Dominic, Jocelyn, and DominicsMom. DominicsMom let me know that I had received a call from the Post Deployment Health Reassessment (PDHR) and they asked me to call their 1-888 number.
I had filled out the PDHR survey form during our February drill. They have each service member fill out this survey 90 days after their return from a deployment. It covers your typical aches & pains, were you exposed to chemicals, radioactive material, loud noises for extended periods of time, etc. They also have an extended section on mental health and it is obvious that they are searching for signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression. I had just missed their call, but with helping DominicsMom feed both kids and then putting them to bed, I didn’t have time that evening to call.
Today I took a moment out of work to call their office. Before I did so I started to think, “Did they find something in the survey that I filled out? Did they see some sign that I don’t know about? Am I supposed to be depressed? Am I depressed?”
I called the number and it picked up gratifyingly quickly, but it was one of those d@mn voice answering systems. “Press 1 if you are returning a call from the Post Deployment Health Reassessment team. Press 2 if you need to blah blah blah.” I choose 1. “Press 1 if you need to speak to a nurse practitioner. Press 2 if you need to complete your PDHR survey.” I completed my survey, so I must need to speak to the nurse. I do??? There must be something wrong with me….
Of course, I was immediately placed on hold. After listening to some soothing elevator music for 20 minutes and intermittently being told that I was behind 1 other caller (that guy must be REALLY screwed up if he’s on the phone this long), it cut over to an answering machine and I left a message. It has been a couple of hours since I left the message and they still haven’t gotten back to me.
Now I’m depressed.
UPDATE (27 Mar 07): Whew! I finally got through to the PDHR office. I am not crazy or depressed! Yay! They were just following up on my referral to the Veteran’s Administration and to see if I was being taken care of.
VA?
Maybe I am depressed…
No Mom, I'm not depressed!
DominicsDad
I had filled out the PDHR survey form during our February drill. They have each service member fill out this survey 90 days after their return from a deployment. It covers your typical aches & pains, were you exposed to chemicals, radioactive material, loud noises for extended periods of time, etc. They also have an extended section on mental health and it is obvious that they are searching for signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression. I had just missed their call, but with helping DominicsMom feed both kids and then putting them to bed, I didn’t have time that evening to call.
Today I took a moment out of work to call their office. Before I did so I started to think, “Did they find something in the survey that I filled out? Did they see some sign that I don’t know about? Am I supposed to be depressed? Am I depressed?”
I called the number and it picked up gratifyingly quickly, but it was one of those d@mn voice answering systems. “Press 1 if you are returning a call from the Post Deployment Health Reassessment team. Press 2 if you need to blah blah blah.” I choose 1. “Press 1 if you need to speak to a nurse practitioner. Press 2 if you need to complete your PDHR survey.” I completed my survey, so I must need to speak to the nurse. I do??? There must be something wrong with me….
Of course, I was immediately placed on hold. After listening to some soothing elevator music for 20 minutes and intermittently being told that I was behind 1 other caller (that guy must be REALLY screwed up if he’s on the phone this long), it cut over to an answering machine and I left a message. It has been a couple of hours since I left the message and they still haven’t gotten back to me.
Now I’m depressed.
UPDATE (27 Mar 07): Whew! I finally got through to the PDHR office. I am not crazy or depressed! Yay! They were just following up on my referral to the Veteran’s Administration and to see if I was being taken care of.
VA?
Maybe I am depressed…
No Mom, I'm not depressed!
DominicsDad
posted by DominicsDad at 9:04 PM
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