UCLA’s Operation Mend for Veterans

There’s a lot of news about the events of 9/11 and every year people discuss the events that occurred and what has happened since then.  UCLA created a program to care for post-9/11 veterans.  Those who served in Afghanistan and came back to the U.S. injured can look to Operation Mend, a partnership between UCLA Health and the United States military that provides comprehensive surgical and psychological treatment to post-9/11 service members and their families.

Operation Mend was established in 2007, inspired by philanthropist and former UCLA Medical Center board member Ronald A. Katz and his wife, Maddie Katz. After watching a news report about a young Marine seriously burned by an explosion while serving in Iraq, the couple imagined connecting wounded warriors with the nation’s top plastic surgeons.

Jo Sornborger, PsyD is the executive director for military medicine at UCLA Health. She says that veterans’ training, resiliency, and commitment can be channeled into healing from even the most catastrophic injuries. “One of the most brilliant things about our mind is its quest to heal,” she says. “Even if we repeat negative coping strategies over and over, we have an internal quest to heal, and I believe so strongly in that process.”

Though Operation Mend was initially conceived to provide complex facial plastic surgery to wounded service members, the program expanded in 2016 to include psychological treatment for PTSD and mild traumatic brain injuries.

This expansion included the development of Operation Mend’s intensive treatment program, unique in its provision of PTSD counseling and services for veterans and their caregivers. The six-week program includes three weeks of treatment at UCLA. Military service members and their spouse or caregiver are brought to Los Angeles for a concentrated healing regimen that includes individual and group therapy, qigong, acupuncture, art and equine therapies and even some Southern California sightseeing. The treatment continues through telemedicine and local agencies upon returning home.

All of Operation Mend’s surgical and psychological services are provided at no cost to military veterans and their families.

For more information visit Operation Mend
https://www.uclahealth.org/operationmend
Operation Mend
924 Westwood Blvd, Suite 400
Mailcode: 738546
Los Angeles, CA 90095

(310) 267-2110 (Ph)

(310) 983- 3724 (Fax)

[email protected] (Email)