Red Sox Team With Boston Hospital For Program Aiding Soldiers

The Boston Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital today are expected to announce the launch of a $6M program to "treat the rising number of men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries," according to a front-page piece by Liz Kowalczyk of the BOSTON GLOBE. The foundation and the hospital each have promised to raise at least $3M over three years, and Red Sox P Tim Wakefield has filmed the first of an unspecified number of PSAs "in which he implores veterans to get treatment." The effort, titled Home Base Program, also aims to "encourage reluctant veterans to seek services." The program will include a "clinic at Mass. General to evaluate and treat veterans and to counsel family members," and also will provide "training for psychiatrists in the community and expand research into post-traumatic stress and combat brain injuries." Kowalczyk notes the initiative "grew out of the team’s visit to Walter Reed hospital and a previous trip there after the 2004 World Series victory." Red Sox Chair Tom Werner, who heads the foundation's BOD, said, "There was a connection between the vets and the team, and we felt the Red Sox could do a lot in educating the public" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/17).