Research projects to probe PTSD in Alberta get $100,000 boost

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Alberta research projects probing post-traumatic stress disorder in military veterans and first responders will benefit from $100,000 in funding and a new collaboration between the University of Alberta and Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital.

It is hoped the partnership — which will also include veterans’ and first responders’ agencies, Veteran Affairs Canada and Covenant Health — will “improve research, innovation, rehabilitation and mental health for our military, veterans, first responders and their family,” said University of Alberta rehabilitation medicine associate dean John Misiaszek.

While there is no reliable number of sufferers in Alberta, Misiaszek said nationally about nine per cent of the general population suffers from PTSD. That number jumps to about 20 per cent in the first responder community, he said.

Misiaszek said it made sense to address the PTSD “crisis” because of the large military presence in Alberta and the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital’s role in caring for military personnel and first responders. 

“We really put our heads together to work out what they can do and how to improve this because these people put their lives on their line for all of us on a daily basis and this is one way we can give back,” he said. 

The group plans on putting out a call for research projects for academics and health care researchers early in the new year with an expectation that research will be underway by mid-2018.