Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Some of the roughly two dozen people who accepted a 22-count pushup challenge during St. Joseph Hospital's Veterans Day program Wednesday count their way to 22. The program featured U.S. Navy Capt. Lynne Blankenbeker, a member of the Reserve Nurse Corps, whose presentation is designed to raise awareness of mental illness and suicide affecting military personnel and veterans.

NASHUA – In 2005, Capt. Lynne Blankenbeker, a career military nurse who’d just returned to Walter Reed military hospital from a two-year deployment in Operation Iraqi Freedom, had among her patients a young man named Eric, who came in with a leg injury.

Eric was luckier than many wounded soldiers Blankenbeker and her nursing staff treated over the course of their careers, she recalled last week while speaking as part of a Veterans Day observance at St. Joseph Hospital.

“He had a leg injury, but it wasn’t going to take his life,” Blankenbeker said. It wasn’t long before Eric was discharged, but Blankenbeker and Eric’s family stayed in touch, swapping letters and greeting cards.

Sometime in 2008, the family stopped writing, Blankenbeker told her listeners. “I figured they’d just moved on,” she added.

Some five years later, Blankenbeker, who by then was focusing her experience and expertise on the growing problem of mental illness and suicide among both military personnel and veterans, sat down one day and opened her book that lists the names of deceased soldiers buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP U.S. Navy Capt. Lynne Blankenbeker, a member of the Reserve Nurse Corps, addresses those who turned out for her Veterans Day presentation at St. Joseph Hospital Wednesday. Her appearance was part of the hospital's Veterans Day observance, which included representatives of Veterans Count and Easter Seals of New Hampshire.

“I opened it to the page with Eric’s picture,” Blankenbeker said, sharing with her audience how stunned she was to see it.

“I thought, ‘how could he be at Arlington? He was fine when he left the hospital,'” she said.

It turned out, Blankenbeker said, “we did a great job with his physical (injuries), but not with his invisible wounds.”

Eric’s leg healed, but he continued to struggle with the emotional impact of the war – until the night, Blankenbeker later learned, he took off on his motorcycle, ditched it in a storm drain, and died of exposure.

St. Joseph Hospital marketing director Tim McMahon put together the Veterans Day observance, according to hospital president John Jurczyk, who thanked Blankenbeker for sharing her mental illness and suicide awareness and prevention presentation, “Out of the Darkness,” with hospital employees, guests and the public.

Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Cameras roll as U.S. Navy Capt. Lynne Blankenbeker, a member of the Reserve Nurse Corps, delivers her presentation, "Out of the Darkness," at Wednesday's Veterans Day program at St. Joseph Hospital. Blankenbeker's presentation is designed to raise awareness of mental illness and suicide among military personnel and veterans.

“When I came here in 2018, I saw this as a place that cares about its people,” Jurczyk said, referring to the hospital. “We have so many employees here who were either in the service or has a family member serving. I thought, ‘how do we go about recognizing those who have given so much?'”

Present for the event were representatives of Veterans Count, the organization founded in 2007 to help create resources for veterans needing services that range from counseling, emergency financial support, substance use disorder, health coverage and assistance in gaining employment.

Veterans Count, which is affiliated with Easterseals, just recently opened a chapter in the state’s Upper Valley, making five chapters statewide, according to Veterans Count director of development Kathy Flynn.

All funds Veterans Count raises go to veterans and their families, said Joe Emmons, Easterseals’ chief development officer.

Calling veterans “a very proud group … and rightfully so,” Emmons noted that military personnel and veterans often choose to deal with their issues on their own, but an increasing number are beginning to reach out for assistance.

Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP Tim McMahon, marketing director at St. Joseph Hospital, unfurls a large U.S. flag afghan that was a gift to U.S. Navy Capt. Lynne Blankenbeker, a member of the Reserve Nurse Corps, who spoke at the hospital's Veterans Day program Wednesday.

Blankenbeker, meanwhile, said so-called “invisible wounds” of war – ongoing mental health problems and suicidal tendencies – are certainly nothing new for soldiers.

The earliest known references of what today is called PTSD – post-traumatic stress disorder – go back to 2,000 BC, when a warrior began suffering nightmares and terrifying dreams after seeing his friend killed in battle.

“Battle fatigue” was the common term for affected World War II soldiers, while World War I era military personnel and veterans suffered from “shell shock,” Blankenbeker said.

Mental illness diagnoses and cases of suicide have become increasingly common since 2001, she said, adding that “we have seen more deaths by suicide since 2008 than in all of Vietnam.”

Studies show that veterans “who take their own lives do so mainly because they come back to no family support,” Blankenbeker said. Many are struggling already with mental health issues, and thus cannot find employment.

“They find it very hard to integrate back into their community,” she said.

But things have been trending in the right direction, Blankenbeker said, due in large part to organizations like Veterans Count and others.

“There are so many places now where communities have stepped up to help us,” Blankenbeker said, referring to her fellow military personnel and veterans.