South Wiltshire charity supporting veterans during hospital stays
Help for Heroes have a specialist nurse at Salisbury District Hospital
A former army nurse from South Wiltshire has told us how she's continuing to support veterans with a Wiltshire-based charity.
Julie Wadham is the Help for Heroes nurse at Salisbury District Hospital and works with both current and former service personnel who are staying at the hospital.
Her role is fully funded by the Downton-based charity, which helps signpost patients and carers and providing specialist physical and clinical support across the hospital.
Telling us about her role, Julie said: "I'll go and see them, see if they need anything and just sit and have a chat with them. A lot of the time, meet their family and get to know what's going on with them."
Help for Heroes identified a gap in support for members of the armed forces community, who can find it difficult to engage with hospital services and treatment and because of their injuries and other conditions, may require additional support during treatment and recuperation.
She also works with the hospital to identify patients who are veterans or are from military families, encouraging staff to ask patients if they've served in the military.
When patients tell staff that they are a veteran, it puts a note on the hospital system allowing Julie to find veterans and begin helping them get the support they need.
Julie, who was an army nurse for 22 years, said many veterans, due to their nature of being the forces, sometimes struggle to ask for help, meaning when they end up going into hospital, they're at crisis point.
But her role extends beyond the hospital wards, as she also visits veterans in the community to provide support at home and ensure they're accessing the services they need.
Julie uses her two decades of experience in the armed forces to build relationships with the service personnel she's working with.
She said: "I've worked in regiments. I've worked in hospitals, so I'm familiar with every stage of a soldiers career. Having gone through it myself and supporting others so.
"That really helps when, when speaking to veterans, I understand their language."
Julie said being able to speak veterans 'language' allows her to build those relationships quicker.
She's urging other veterans finding life after the military tough to reach out wherever they feel safe to get support.
"Please just ask for help. You're not alone. It won't be anything that we haven't seen before and we can definitely support you."