As more and more U.S. troops return home from America’s wars overseas, many communities across the country are facing the challenge of how best to care for the nation’s wounded and disabled veterans and to effectively support their successful transition into civilian life.
As more and more U.S. troops return home from America’s wars overseas, many communities across the country are facing the challenge of how best to care for the nation’s wounded and disabled veterans and to effectively support their successful transition into civilian life.
Retired Army Col. Kevin McDonnell, director of the U.S. Special Operations Command Care Coalition, will speak to those challenges during a free public lecture at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“So many may face physical issues or emotional concerns,” said Jack M. Richman, dean of the School of Social Work. “They may require employment and training assistance, health services, partner and parenting counseling, or assistance in dealing with homelessness or housing issues.”
McDonnell served 29 years as a Green Beret in many command positions and provides direct oversight of non-medical case management for the Care Coalition. The coalition offers recovery, rehabilitation, reintegration, and transition services to special ops troops who are wounded, ill or injured.
The lecture also will include a panel discussion with McDonnell, Tommy Norman, president of Norcom Properties and founder of Charlotte Bridge Home, a nonprofit that assists Charlotte veterans with education, employment, and health care needs; Paul Passaro, a U.S. Army combat veteran and program director of Charlotte Bridge Home; and Easter Maynard, a 1997 graduate of UNC’s School of Social Work and leader of Golden Corral Corporation’s signature philanthropy project Camp Corral, a free summer camp for children of wounded, disabled or fallen soldiers.
The event will be held in the auditorium of the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building on UNC’s campus, at 325 Pittsboro St., in Chapel Hill. Parking will be available in the deck of the FedEx Global Education building on the corner of Pittsboro and McCauley streets.
School of Social Work contact: Michelle Rogers, (919) 962–1532, michrog@email.unc.edu