Today’s Star Spangled Salute honors US Army Reserve Veteran David Brancho and a pilot program designed to help healthcare workers with the trauma of fighting against the pandemic. David was deployed twice and he says what he saw in Afghanistan is similar to his Covid-19 unit. David said when he was deployed he knew there was going to be someone coming to relieve him, he says there is no relief for healthcare workers across the country. Nurses are working 16-hour shifts and picking up more just to keep patients alive. There is now a new program, thank to Combat Veteran Mark Schimmelpfennig, using treatment given to soldiers called Growing Forward. It’s similar to group therapy where participants attend six sessions for 30 minutes. They also journal, and acknowledge what they feel and learn healthy ways to decompress. To all healthcare workers, THANK YOU for fighting against Covid and to David and Mark, THANK YOU for your service.
