February 7, 2019
By uclahealth 
Clare Suomi and her family volunteered to become an Operation Mend Buddy Family back in 2009. In 2016, after lovingly caring for five warriors and their families, Clare happened upon a job opening for a Buddy Program Coordinator and knew it was perfect for her. Clare, who quickly earned the nickname “Clarebear,” is an incredible […]
Tags: Buddy Family, psychologic support, PTSD, UCLA Buddy Family Program, UCLA Operation Mend, veterans, Warrior Care Network, Wounded Warrior Project, wounded warriors
January 31, 2019
Treating the invisible wounds of war
By uclahealth
“I left the Operation Mend program in a much better place mentally and spiritually. You really do feel better when you come out of it,” says U.S. Marine John Kob, who went through UCLA Operation Mend’s intensive outpatient treatment program for PTSD and TBI, offered in partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project. With a total […]
Tags: brain injury, intensive treatment program, PTSD, TBI, UCLA Operation Mend, veterans, Wounded Care Network, Wounded Warrior Project
May 29, 2018
Kindergarten class supports wounded veterans with homemade ‘quilt of valor’
By Amy Albin 
The quilt was presented to the UCLA Health Operation Mend program A kindergarten class from the Berkeley Hall School in Los Angeles presented a homemade “quilt of valor” to UCLA Health Operation Mend, a program that provides health services for wounded post 9/11 service members. Quilts of valor are given to injured military service members […]
Tags: community, quilt of valor, UCLA Health Operation Mend, veterans, Wounded Veterans, Wounded Warrior Project
June 29, 2017
Kindergartners create quilt of valor for Operation Mend program
By Amy Albin
On Flag Day, June 14, a group of kindergarten students from the Berkeley Hall School in Los Angeles presented a homemade “quilt of valor” to UCLA Health Operation Mend, a program that provides medical, surgical and psychological services at UCLA for wounded members of the military who have served after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist […]
Tags: Berkeley Hall School, nursing, Operation Mend, patriotism, Patti Taylor, quilt of valor, UCLA Operation Mend, veterans, wounded warriors
June 27, 2017
Veterans with PTSD need integration into the family, not isolation
By Amy Albin
When it comes to helping a veteran with PTSD, families too often tend to focus the majority of their physical, emotional and mental resources into taking care of that person, inadvertently creating an imbalance that can both constrain the veteran’s healing and further stress the family. Dr. Jo Sornborger, director of psychologic health for the […]
Tags: Dr. Jo Sornborger, mental health, Operation Mend, psychological injury, PTSD, UCLA Health Operation Mend, veterans, wounded warriors
June 7, 2017
Nervous system doesn’t form as we thought; finding could aid nerve repair
By Tiare Dunlap 
It’s time to rewrite the textbooks. A new study from Samantha Butler of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA has overturned long-standing theory about how our nervous systems develop. Butler’s findings could lead to new medical treatments that help nerves regrow and reconnect – whether they’ve been […]
Tags: axons, diabetes, nerve damage, nerve regeneration, nervous system, nervous system development, neurons, research, samantha butler, stem cells, UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center, veterans
November 15, 2016
Coping with the hidden wounds of war
By Amy Albin
With more than 3 in 4 post 9-11 veterans reporting that they suffer from post-traumatic stress, many American military families are coping with this invisible wound of war as their loved ones’ transition back into civilian life. “PTSD and mild traumatic brain injury greatly impact the veteran’s family, friends and community too,” says Dr. Jo […]
Tags: Dr. Jo Sornborger, intensive therapy program, Operation Mend, Post traumatic stress, PTSD, TBI, traumatic brain injury, UCLA Operation Mend, veterans, Warrior Care Network
April 22, 2016
New program helps vets suffering from invisible wounds of war
By Meg Sullivan 
More than 100 well-wishers gathered April 13 at a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony for UCLA Operation Mend’s new program that is designed to heal the hidden, yet lingering, wounds of war. “This is a new day, a program we can be proud of,” said retired General Peter W. Chiarelli an executive advisor to the Ronald A. […]
Tags: Amy Albin, integrative medicine, intensive care, media, military, neurology, neurosurgery, Operation Mend, psychiatry, Tiverton House, traumatic brain injury, veterans
