BATAVIA, OH — Emily Dillenberger, Christy Panzarella and Nancy Young from the Clermont County Veterans Service Commission will serve as Grand Marshalls in the annual Veterans Day Parade on Main Street in Batavia at 7 p.m. Nov. 11. Lineup for the parade, which goes from Haskell Lane to Clermont Sun offices, begins at 6 p.m. (Lineup is on Haskell Lane.)
Dillinberger, a receptionist, served as an E-3 (Seaman) in the U.S. Navy, in 2012; Panzarella, veterans’ service officer, was an E-3 (Seaman) 2007-2009; and Young, administrative specialist, was an E-2 (Airman) discharged on disability from the U.S. Air Force in 2000.
Commission Executive Director Frank Morrow will deliver the keynote address. He served as a Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, 1989-92.
Veterans Services sees more than 1,000 Clermont County veterans a year to help them with everything from disability claims to filing for health care insurance offered through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
“We are seeing more veterans with PTSD for various reasons,” said Rodger Young, Senior Veterans’ Service Officer, and Master Sergeant, USAF (Ret). “Some of the veterans coming back from Iraq/Afghanistan have as many as eight deployments under their belt. Older veterans who have served in past wars are now retired/retiring and have more time to think about their war experience and fewer distractions to offset those memories. Most of our claims are for PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and hearing loss.”
In one major study of 60,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, 13.5 percent of deployed and nondeployed veterans screened positive for PTSD, while other studies show the rate to be as high as 20-30 percent. As many as 500,000 U.S. troops who served in these wars over the past 13 years have been diagnosed with PTSD.
The Veterans Service Commission is also seeing more veterans getting enrolled in Veterans Administration (VA) healthcare because of the high cost of medical insurance/treatment.
Among the services offered to veterans at the Veterans Service Commission:
For more information on the Veterans Service Commission, go to its website at www.clermontcountyveterans.com. Its office, 76 S. Riverside Drive, Batavia, is open 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call 513-732-7363 for more information.
