Chapter 994 Event Addresses PTSD

Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 994 joined Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7339 and American Legion Post 108 in sponsoring a resolution in Franklin, N.C., focusing on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The resolution designates Oct. 27, 2018, as Macon County’s Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day.

An event to be held Oct. 27 at Franklin High School will feature at least 15 veterans reading from Brothers Like These, the product of a therapeutic creative writing program for PTSD sufferers at the Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville, N.C. All contributors to the book are veterans from Western North Carolina, and the book will be sold at the event.

“The treatment program at Charles George VA in Asheville was intended to use writing to open the box — to get memories out and on paper instead of just talking about them,” chapter member Rick Norton told the Macon County News. “This program has been a successful means of coping.”

Norton added that if attendance and interest in the event is significant, Franklin may launch a similar creative writing program.

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