UIUC's Center For Wounded Veterans

By Christina Oehler on March 23, 2015

The Center for Wounded Veterans at the University of Illinois is currently under construction in its lot on Nevada St where it is set to be completed in May 2015. This building, which plans to be up and running in fall 2015, will be a place where wounded student veterans can receive a variety of helpful services to help them assimilate into campus life after being injured in battle.

“This center is one of a kind, and there currently aren’t any other University-based programs like this in the U.S. yet,” said Kyle Kostelecky, director of the center and U.S. Navy veteran.

Kostelecky has been a part of the formation of the program since it went under construction in July 2014. Kostelecky explained that this program differs from the Veteran Student Support Services because the center will cater specifically to each wounded veteran’s physical, emotional and academic needs. The center will provide services such as academic tutoring, assistance in the transition to becoming a student, counseling on using VA benefits and GI bills, as well as psychological therapy for dealing with military trauma. The center will also provide family counseling for families of wounded veterans and additional assistance with career searches.

The center will be a three floor building, where each floor has a specific purpose for assisting wounded veterans. The first floor, which will be mainly comprised of a lobby and offices, will also contain classrooms for students to receive tutoring and a dining area where residents will not only eat meals, but learn how to cook.

The second floor will be made up of other offices for psychological therapy sessions, financial counseling and career support services. The second floor will also be home to an advanced research center, where the Center for Wounded Veterans will work with other academic research fields.

“The research center will be an area where different departments can help the veterans through research, and where the veterans can help the departments find more helpful discoveries for people like themselves,” said Patricia Starks, U.S. Air Force student veteran and social media strategist for the center. “For example, the engineering department could learn more about constructing prosthetics by working with veterans, and in return, the veterans would be able to use some of the research to help simplify their lives,” continued Starks.

The research center within the Center for Wounded Veterans plans on working with departments such as the College of Engineering,  the College of Fine and Applied Arts and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to expand research data to benefit the wounded veterans.

The third floor of the center will be used as a 14 room residence hall for wounded veterans with severely debilitating injuries. This floor will provide specialized housing with advancements that include total wheelchair accessibility and portable lifted swings that allow veterans to move around their room with ease.

“It’s really clear that severely disabled veterans have a much harder time assimilating into campus life than most incoming freshmen,” said Eric Swenson, U.S. Army student veteran. “If you are missing a limb from an explosion, or have a hard time memorizing things from a traumatic brain injury in the field, it’s going to be an added challenge to being a student.”

Swenson, an intelligence analyst for the military, was deployed in Iraq from 2006-2007 where he sustained an injury to his spinal cord during battle. Swenson is now a senior in in the college of Agricultural, Consumer and Environment Sciences.

The center, whose residence hall will primarily cater to physically disabled veterans, will still be available for veterans with brain injuries, PTSD or any other form of mental or psychological injury.

“Imagine having to shoot a child because you’re commanded to, or imagine holding the remains of a friend in your hands. Then imagine trying to fit in like any other college freshman, but with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from those experiences,” said Kostelecky. “This sort of situation is very common for student veterans, and it’s what the Center for Wounded Veterans hopes to help with.”

http://woundedvetcenter.ahs.illinois.edu/services.aspx

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