Lt. Gov. Howie Morales spoke to participants at the Arts and Military Roundtable on Oct. 8. (Photo Courtesy of Mimbres Region Arts Council)Article by Mary Alice Murphy

According to New Mexico Arts, which in conjunction with the Mimbres Region Arts Council, organized the Arts and Military Roundtable on Oct. 8, 2019, The event at the Fort Bayard National Landmark New Deal Theater drew one of the largest crowds in their statewide outreach.

Attendees included veterans, art organizations, the Grant County Community Foundation, the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society, the Silver City Museum, and those interested in arts and veterans.

Katherine McGill served as facilitator. "I'm here to be your witness. What can we do together to make life better for our veterans?"

She said the intersection of the military and art would serve as the topic of the day. "We want to know how you can help us. Speakers will create a framework. We will work out a plan and a way forward."

McGill asked Kevin Lenkner, MRAC executive director, how he could help. Lenkner said he was there to listen and learn.

Santa Clara Mayor Richard Bauch welcomed New Mexico Arts and the participants. He noted the old Fort Bayard Medical Center Hospital had numerous murals that were painted on the walls of the hospital. "Veterans painted many of those murals. The only mural we could save is on the wall in here. Veterans, artwork and healing all go together."

Lt. Gov Howie Morales said it was good to be back home. "My grandfather was a custodian at the old hospital. I learned to drive out here on the roads. I recognize so many here who have advocated for veterans. We want to make sure we never forget what our veterans have done for us, and we must continue to do our best for them. Mayor Bauch is so instrumental in keeping this campus alive and in preserving history." He recognized Cecilia Bell of the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society. Morales also mentioned the late Rep. Manny Herrera, whose name is on the plaque at the front of the Theater, where the meeting was held. "We must move forward not just at the state, but also at the regional and local levels." He recognized New Mexico Senator Gabriel Ramos, Municipal League President Cynthia Bettison, Faye McCalmont, former MRAC director and now director of cultural affairs at Western New Mexico University.

"We know we have access issues to health care for our veterans," Morales said. "We will continue making sure they get benefits. We must provide for our veterans. One thing we continually push at the state level is inter-agency cooperation. We can bring together Cultural Affairs, the Health Department, the Department of Education and Veterans Advisory Services. You know what we can do to make it better for veterans. I worked at Gila Regional Medical Center, where there is patient-centered care. Because this is one of the largest turnouts for this initiative, I can't stress how important this is."

Department of Cultural Affairs Secretary Debra Garcia y Griego said the governor told her to miss a cabinet meeting to attend this session. "This is that important an issue."

Phyllis Kennedy, New Mexico Arts program coordinator, said: "I think art is important for veterans. I am the spouse of an Iraqi war veteran. They understand their physical wounds, but not their emotional ones. Our agency works well with the Aging and Long-Term Care Department, Education, Health and others. We have a creative focus initiative through the Veterans Administration and remotely, from national to rural areas. At a recent national arts initiative at Sundance, for 2½ days, we sat around and talked. We call it Americans for the Arts. This type of convening such as today is important. We have done five so far with more than 180 people altogether. You have 45 here today. Treating with art therapy has proved to be helpful. We honor veterans and their families. We feel healing is possible through arts to build a stronger more equitable community."

Larry Campos of the Department of Veteran Services said he serves as the field service director for DVS. "I'm in charge of veteran service officers throughout the state. I retired from the Army in 1994 after just over 20 years of service. I have an artificial hip and suffered a severe concussion. It took about five years to figure it out. It is my calling to help veterans. I've been doing it about 20 years. Every VSO is doing it to help veterans. We get to see the veterans change their lives."

He noted that 20 years ago, the state had 180,000 veterans. "Now, we have about 158,000. We are losing them through death or moving away. We have 18 VSOs to serve that many. Initially we are making sure they have state benefits. For the past five years, VSOs are accredited to help veterans apply for federal benefits. We serve alongside the DAV, the American Legion, the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Marine Corps Leagues, all the service organizations. We moved the VSO position from here to Las Cruces. We have two staff there meeting with about 100 veterans a week. They do come out here on outreach. The older generation still comes into the office. The younger veterans file online. Those in Vietnam served one or two tours. The younger ones are serving as many as 10 or 11 tours. I know a fellow in Las Cruces who served five times in Iraq and seven in Afghanistan. He's back in Afghanistan again. There are a lot of guardists and reservists serving. It's a long-term commitment against terrorism. The VSOs get burned out, frustrated. Hopefully I can contribute to the conversation today."

McGill said Kennedy is passionate about this work.

Kennedy said she is working on art education. "I'm not doing this alone. DVS Secretary Fox has worked with us. The veterans have a shared experience, but each has his own story. We have six or seven veteran-focused programs. Fox said that integration is coming back to doing what they loved before they left. We have a large state call for veteran artists for Art in Public Places. Twelve of the 400 artists represented identified as veterans. In 2019, we are again doing a large-scale call and a New Mexico-only artist call. We want to double the number of veterans. Go to our website to find out about the calls. This year, we have one active-duty artist. He was one of the finalists."

Dr. Dan Quinn, a physician at UNM Hospital, said he treats military veterans with traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. "We work continually to determine how to better deal with them. We only have three or four TBI specialists in the state, so it's a challenge. With TBI, you can't talk about it without PTSD nor PTSD without TBI. Most of the time, the TBI is concussion. TBI goes back thousands of years. It was a head injury, physical with psychological damage. It was hard to tell them apart. In World War I, the British government called it shell shock. It has become even more important with the Middle East conflicts, because of IED (improvised explosive device) blasts. 1) A soldier can get hit with shrapnel. That's a physical injury. 2) The wave of air from the blast affects the brain and causes physical damage to the brain and 3) even the psychology of almost being hit and what happened can cause psychological damage to the brain. We have millions of dollars of funding at the UNM and the VA hospital. In 2019, we spent $400,000 with TBI and PTSD patients. All four service branches are impacted, but particularly the Army, with about 3,000 a year in the Army being impacted."

He went on to describe polytrauma. "It's when you get an injury, you get three diseases in one – physical to the brain and to other parts of the body and the psychological injury. We have a polytrauma clinic. I'm a psychiatrist. That's why I'm part of this treatment. New Mexico has a high rate of TBI per capita. The VA is in first place in the state. The number of causes of TBI, out of 34 potential causes, in second place is falls, assaults and accidents. It's not enough for us to just be in Albuquerque. We're looking at creative solutions throughout the state."

TBI causes sensory deficits. "A person hits his head and it causes an alteration of brain function, makes him confused, he can't tell where he is and there is neurological dysfunction. TBI has to be caused by external force. The person may not have recognized the concussive wave passing through the brain. Now we do scanning of the brain. Once the person has TBI, the whole thing can cascade over at least a week. Sometimes the symptoms don't go away. That's where my field of treatment is. TBI doesn't affect the whole brain, but it affects the frontal and temporal lobes. It's personally what helps you make decisions and organize. It's a silent epidemic. It's mild in 80 percent to 90 percent of the cases. The symptoms are physical/somatic, cognitive, emotional, and the same with PTSD, which makes the patient anxious, irritable and depressed. Sensory symptoms are in vision, hearing or balance. The ears and eyes are functioning normally, but the person can't make sense of what they are seeing or hearing. They hear what you say but can't understand it. Words swim on a page. We are doing a lot of MRIs, which are sometimes helpful. A lot of times, the structure is normal. Newer techniques include functional MRI, with the patient doing something while in the scanner. We can see the activity in the brain. We appreciate veterans volunteering for the study. The brain has to work harder on simple tasks and on harder tasks it shuts down."

"We have one final test, of which only 20 have gone through it so far," Quinn said. "It's magneto encephalography, which measures the magnetic fields coming out of the brain. We can see differences actively studying that. Treating for mild TBI needs a holistic treatment plan. We come up with a multi-disciplinary treatment, including any other medical conditions or mental health issues, https://medfitnetwork.org/public/xanax-alprazolam-details/. What happened before and after the head injury, the age when injured, pre-injury function, social and psychological conditions. How important resilience is, with the meaning we can ascribe to our lives. The individual treatment plan includes medications, which are the least important part, therapies to exercise the brain to build it back up, community resources, and compensatory resources."

In answer to a question, he said the magneto encephalography is surficial, whereas the autonomic nervous system is deep.

Yoga therapy causes relaxation, which helps to reduce pain, he noted

"The functional MRI has been around a long time, since the 1990s," Quinn said. "A person can get gentle electrical stimulation. That's a new treatment."

A person in the audience asked if UNM had a music program at UNM, as she is willing to provide music therapy.

McGill said the power to create is similar to the power to destroy.

Debra Good and Dana Desconis Phillips, licensed in New Mexico for art therapy, spoke next. They are trained on how to calm the flooding of emotion that occurs during the art process. "We are hoping the VA hospital will reopen the art therapy in collaboration with other therapies." They noted that Gallup has the largest percentage of veterans in the U.S.

Phillips said in August, she held an unmasking workshop in Gallup creating masks. "We start with creating a sacred space. Art is a powerful way to express hidden wounds. Images speak louder than words. Green, red and yellow are the colors most used. There are repeating themes—crosses, tears, candles and dark eyes. I have them explain what they are trying to get out with their masks. They dialogue with their masks. At the end they sat around a circle again to express themselves. Many began to cry. Once they process it, the emotions can begin to recover. I am part of the Art Therapy Association. I am available for masking workshops."

Good said when she got licensed as an art therapist, counselors and marriage therapists got insurance reimbursements, but "art therapists aren't on the list to get reimbursed by Medicaid."

The participants separated into groups and each person did an art project with a partner. The first time, without talking, the first one drew something, and the second person added something, and back and forth until time ran out. The second time, they discussed what they were putting down on paper. All agreed that the first time, without talking, created more impactful images.

The second half of the program in the afternoon, involved a training.