Dr. Charles Youngblood served in Iraq when treating post-traumatic stress disorder meant giving a Marine a day or two off before he returned to the fight.
Now Youngblood is Creighton University Medical Center's point man on a national plan meant to ensure that veterans living with PTSD are properly diagnosed and treated in ways that would have been unimaginable in Iraq at that war's outset
Omaha's two medical schools have signed on to the Joining Forces initiative, which was co-founded by first lady Michelle Obama.
The idea: Get the nation's top medical schools thinking about the best ways to train doctors to detect and treat PTSD, as well as traumatic brain injuries, often caused by roadside bomb blasts.
Then get those medical schools — more than 100 have signed on — to agree to share information, making it more likely that a struggling veteran in Omaha could get a new kind of medication or therapy that's proving effective in Orlando.
Even the initiative's supporters say Joining Forces is somewhat symbolic — after all, there's no new funding set to flow to Creighton University Medical Center or the University of Nebraska Medical Center to study PTSD or combat-related brain injuries.
But the symbolism does matter, say administrators from both schools.
After a decade of war, most of the country's medical schools are pledging to better help veterans living with PTSD. Research suggests that up to 18 percent of troops who deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan might have post-traumatic stress disorder when they return home, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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