Joseph Reis is in charge of the Post Deployment Health Reassessment Program (PDHRA) at LHI, a position he has held since 2008. Recognizing the vulnerable nature of Service members returning from combat operations, the Department of Defense has designed this program to support Service member’s reintegration into their relationships, communities and work environments post deployment. The key elements of this program are outreach, education, health assessment and follow-up. More than 100,000 Service members each year complete this very important health assessment, receiving a thorough person-to-person interview with a trained health care provider, an opportunity to explore any deployment-related health concerns and a referral for care as needed.
Reis brings almost 25 years of health care experience to his position at LHI. Dual board certified as both a psychiatric and an adult nurse practitioner, Reis understands the unique nature of the Service members served by the PDHRA program. With more than 20 years experience in the U.S. Army Reserve, Reis left the service in December of 2005 at the rank of Major. He worked in a variety of health care positions in the service including a deployment to Desert Storm where he received the Bronze Star for his leadership of a Combat Stress Control Center and his crisis intervention work for the soldiers involved in the bombings in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.