Some followers of Herbalogic have asked how we would use one of the twelve $250,000 small business grants being offered by Chase and Living Social through their Mission: Small Business program. (If you've voted for us already, thanks very much. If you haven't voted yet, please do so quickly, because time's almost up.) We thought this might be a good occasion to share one of the initiatives we're working on and hope to accelerate with grant funding: the development of a formula to help veterans experiencing symptoms typical of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
Few things deserve our attention more than the disturbing number of military servicemen and servicewomen who suffer the debilitating aftereffects of sustained and repeated combat stress. Just the other day, the Pentagon announced that more active duty military died from suicide in 2012 (154 at last count) than were killed in combat, a rate of one death per day. Among non-active duty military — the veterans — that rate has recently reached as high as 18 deaths per day. Among the many factors contributing to this epidemic of self-destruction is a lack of timely diagnosis and care. Some vets with PTSD-like symptoms wait six months for an appointment with the VA. And while they wait, many of them struggle every day to win their own private war.
We've been inspired by Austin's own Sean Hanna, a former US Navy corpsman turned acupuncturist, who is working to close the care gap for active duty and veteran military members. He has started a non-profit organization called Stage Seven to develop, train, and mobilize a network of alternative health professionals to treat the special health needs of veterans. He treats vets himself, and he's found that the most immediate need his patients have is for a fast way to relax, get some sleep, and calm the state of intense alertness known in the PTSD community as hypervigilance. He knows that if he can just take off that very sharp edge that shreds normal life for these soldiers, he can then begin to do battle with the other, deeper demons. That's where Herbalogic can help.
Dave Jones, who develops each of our formulas, has already begun formulation and testing of a natural herbal formula to address these PTSD-like symptoms. The working name for the formula is "Stand Down," a term used in the military that refers to putting down one's weapons and leaving the battlefront to rest and recuperate. There's much more to do, and we have proposed to use a portion of the grant funding to conduct a wider, clinical study to gather data on how well it works and help refine and improve the formula. Other monies from the grant would also be used to get the word out to the widest possible audience — from practitioners and retailers to the service members themselves — so they know the formula exists. Our hope is to get the formula in the hands of as many vets as possible as quickly as possible.
You may wonder why we've chosen to focus our efforts on a PTSD formula. In part, it's because we have a special connection with veterans at Herbalogic. Our own VP of Finance, Matthew Adinaro, has so-far served 15 years in the Army Reserve with two deployments to Iraq and one to Kuwait since 2001. And Robert Whitlock, who guides the Herbalogic brand, is himself an Air Force veteran. But beyond that, all of us are simply concerned that we have asked too much of too few too often, and that not enough is being done to make the transition to a life without combat possible for hundreds of thousands of our fathers, brothers, mothers, and sisters.
Whether or not we receive a small business grant, Herbalogic is committed to developing this new formula. So for those of you concerned the formula is contingent on the grant, rest easy. A grant certainly would get things moving faster and help us reach a lot more veterans in need. To be even considered, however, we need 250 votes. So, if you feel so inclined, please support our grant application by visiting MissionSmallBusiness.com, logging in, searching for Herbalogic, and casting your vote. Then leave us a comment, "like" this post on Facebook, or share it with someone who might be willing to vote. It's fast, easy, and could make a big difference in the lives of those to whom we owe more than any of us can ever repay. ::