A clinic at the University of Central Florida helping veterans with PTSD is seeking funds to stay open. Dr. Deborah Beidel started the clinic with a Defense Department grant in 2011.
Her task was to develop a treatment program and see if it works. It did.
“After treatment, 67% of the veterans and active duty personnel that we’ve treated no longer have a diagnosis of PTSD,” said Beidel.
That number is better than treatment numbers reported by the Veterans Administration, she said.
Each year the RESTORES clinic treats about a hundred veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to overcome PTSD. That includes homeless veterans and those referred from veterans courts.
They come from across Florida and 15 other states.
The Defense Department grant only covers veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, but Beidel gets requests from veterans of other wars and first responders.
The DOD grant runs out May 1st, and Beidel wants to continue the program and expand its coverage.
So far, she’s received a $1 million donation to create an endowment. She’s seeking more funding to run the operation that costs $400,000 a year.