MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -New combat veterans returning from war wont have to wait long if they seek help dealing with the horrors they’ve survived, thanks to a new priority system at the VA Medical Center.

“They are our highest priority. If they need services, they will get them as soon as possible,” said Terrie Raposo, who coordinates mental health services for veterans from New Hampshire, southern Maine and northern Massachusetts.

The VA has set up a system that allows for almost immediate response to calls for help with stress-related problems, usually with an appointment on the day of the call, Raposo said.

Raposo began working with veterans following the first Gulf War. She said she and colleagues have learned that the quicker they help, the quicker veterans can get on with their lives.

But veterans are slow to seek help. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine this week found that nearly one out of 20 U.S. troops returning from the war may be affected with stress-related disorders, but less than half of them seeking help.

Raposo told The Telegraph of Nashua that almost 2,000 reservists from units in Londonderry and on the Seacoast have returned from Iraq within the last three months, and many are scheduled to go back. During the past six months, she said, between 20 and 30 veterans, most from the fighting Iraq, have been treated for stress disorders at the Manchester hospital.

“Many of the returning vets are reservists. They are working, raising families, going to school,” Raposo said. “Their lives are in place and theyre called up. When they come back, theyre thinking theyll go back to where they were, but things have changed.”

Returning veterans often carry psychological scars – symptoms that include fatigue, shortness of breath, palpitations, headache, excessive sweating, dizziness, disturbed sleep and fainting.

They often find it difficult to “turn off” the heightened sense of danger they have carried.

Returning to normalcy – work, family life, and social activity – appears to be critical to recovery, experts say.

Dr. Ehsan Biswas, a psychiatrist at the VA in Manchester, said the goal is to enable patients to become as independent as possible, as soon as possible. Medicine is prescribed to relieve symptoms and during brief therapy sessions, the veterans are taught how to regain control of their lives.

Usually, the counselors meet with a veteran once or twice, then schedule a follow-up.

“I saw an Iraqi veteran here at the emergency room, gave him medication and made an appointment for a follow-up in three to four weeks after he began the medication,” Biswas said. “He didnt show up. When I called him, he said, Doc, Im sorry. I went back to work and Ive been so busy. “

Thats fine with Biswas and Raposo.

“You call us,” Raposo said she tells patients. “Theyre in control of their treatment – and their life.”

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Information from: The Telegraph, http://www.nashuatelegraph.com

AP-ES-07-03-04 1304EDT