THE ANITA KAUFMANN FOUNDATION

The heads up for vets program (huv) huv is a collaborative effort between the anita kaufmann foundation (akf) and the department of veterans affairs epilepsy centers of excellence (ecoe).huv supports us veterans from all previous and current wars that have experienced exposure to ied (improvised explosive devices) blasts and other explosions, leaving a percentage with traumatic brain injury (tbi) and a risk of developing post-traumatic epilepsy and seizures. Some seizures are confused with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) and other illnesses. These seizures, especially those that do not present as commonly recognized convulsions, may go unrecognized as seizures. This often leads to an incorrect diagnosis and a lack of proper treatment. In order to improve support for these veterans, the va established 16 epilepsy centers of excellence. Our program is designed to help ensure that current and accurate epilepsy information is disseminated to veterans discharged from service. Huv provides the following support to veterans and their families: "free information about epilepsy"free assistance within the va to resolve benefit disputes regarding epilepsy and seizures"free seizure recognition and first aid trainings for individuals, employers, community groups and other organizations"free consultations and linkages to resources for social support, employment, transportation, etc."opportunities to connect with akf veteran advocates experiencing similar situations"opportunities to become involved in the epilepsy community as an advocate, educator or volunteerhuv distributes the following unique informational sheets and seizure first aid posters at no cost to us veterans, veteran organizations and the general community at large upon request:"seizure recognition and first aid poster "seizure recognition and first aid flyer"traumatic brain injury and epilepsy flyer"psychogenic non-epileptic seizure (pnes) flyerakf has provided more than 45,000 huv and epilepsy information pieces to individuals, organizations, publications, blogs, and radio and tv programs that support veterans and their families. Many have linked huv to their websites, other social media sites and have included our information in their publications and distributed them during their conferences. Huv continues to support countless veterans, their family members and caregivers who have reached out to us over the past four years. It is impossible to measure the veteran connections we have made as social media distributes our program information daily. And, many veterans, as in the general population, utilize our information but want to remain anonymous, because of the stigma associated with epilepsy. The huv program director is a member of the ecoe national advisory committee, which is responsible for providing guidance, direction, and oversight of all clinical, educational, and research activities within the ecoe.