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Center run by North Shore-LIJ helps military families deal with war, stress

By Howard Koplowitz

The toll of war extends far beyond the soldier fighting in it.

For Stacy Jankowski, an 18-year-old Shirley, L.I., resident, writing poems gives her an outlet to cope with her father being stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan for a total of 30 months.

A soldier with the Fighting 69th Infantry Regiment based in Bayshore, L.I., the soldier’s wife, the director of the North Shore-LIJ health system’s Rosen Family Wellness Center and Jankowski attended a news conferenceat Fort Totten in Bayside Tuesday to highlight how the wellness center helps soldiers and their families deal with emotional stress triggered by war.

“We’re very much focused on the family,” said Sandra Kaplan, medical director of the center, noting the facility contains psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and mental health trainees to help those who use the center.

Kaplan said the center treats those with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, alcohol and cigarette addictions and family problems caused by the stresses of war.

There have been 2,200 clinical visits to the center, which provides services for free, since it opened in 2007, Kaplan said.

While Jankowski does not use the center, she created an online anthology of poems, stories and drawings for children like her.

“I channel my emotions through writing. Being a child of a military parent is an extremely difficult thing to go through,” Jankowski said. “I definitely wasn’t prepared for that sort of experience. Thankfully, I have amazing friends and they’ve supported me through it.”

Jankowski said she created the anthology “to let children know they’re not alone.”

While her father was away, Jankowski said she was concerned he would miss Christmas and other family gatherings.

“It’s a whole combination of fear and sadness and not knowing what’s going to happen,” she said.

First Lt. Louis Delli-Pizzi said the wellness center has been a godsend for his unit.

“It’s a great benefit because they are remote partners,” he said, since soldiers do not have to travel to the center to get help. “They’ve been really what we call a force multiplier,” Delli-Pizzi said.

His wife, Beth Delli-Pizzi, said the center helps children by letting them know their mother or father is well-trained and has the skills to come back home.

She said the program also helps spouses whose loved ones have been deployed.

“They gave us the tips to go forward on a daily basis,” she said.

Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.