Northwestern Health Sciences University to open veterans support center

Home Depot grant will create resource for students who have served.

Northwestern Health Sciences University (Northwestern) will create a new Veterans Support Center, specifically designed to serve the needs of students who have served in the military, with help from a grant from the Home Depot Foundation.

The nearly $6,400 grant from the charitable arm of nationwide home-improvement retailer will go to Northwestern’s Students Serving Veterans Club and will offset some of the costs of the new center, to be built in the lower level of the Wolfe-Harris Center for Excellence.

“It’s a safe place on campus where current and future veterans can go to relax and get away from a busy academic atmosphere,” said Josh Schreiner, a Northwestern chiropractic student and Air Force veteran who helped apply for the grant. “It’s spot where they can communicate with others from a similar background.”

Angela Thomsen, a chiropractic student who serves in the Army National Guard and helped complete the grant application as president of Northwestern’s Students Serving Veterans Club, said: “It goes to show that Northwestern is very supportive of our veterans to provide a veteran-friendly place for students.”

The grant is one of 50 that the Home Depot Foundation provided to student veterans’ groups at colleges and universities nationwide. The Northwestern grant will help furnish the new center with tables, chairs, couches, bookshelves, and electronic devices. Northwestern expects to open the center on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

James McCloden, a senior admissions counselor, chairman of Northwestern’s Veterans Task Force and an Army veteran, will serve as director for the new center, working with the national Student Veterans of America organization to establish guidelines and policies.

“Veterans just want a place to go and study and relax with people who understand what they are going through—and what they have gone through—without having to explain themselves,” he said.

Northwestern offers a 20 percent tuition discount to veterans, can cover additional costs as a veteran-friendly Yellow Ribbon School, has created a military leave of absence policy and has organized “Feed ’Em and Treat ’Em” events for veterans to try chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, and other treatments to address pain, often caused by injuries they suffered during their military service.

Northwestern, based in Bloomington, provides world-class professional education and research as well as comprehensive health and wellness services. Its more than 130 faculty members annually teach about 6,500 students pursuing degrees and continuing education in accredited programs in chiropractic, acupuncture, therapeutic massage, nutrition, and other health treatments. The university, which will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2016, has more than 7,500 graduates throughout the U.S. and in 21 countries.

Source: Northwestern Health Sciences University