ALEXANDRIA BAY, N.Y. -- This is the kind of story I plan to do more in-depth for the newscast. Hopefully soon.

It's hard to understand how important news like this can be without speaking with the people who use it. That's how you really know.

But until that gets set up, I wanted to provide the details given to me by River Hospital:

ALEXANDRIA BAY, N.Y. – July 27, 2016 – River Hospital announced today that eligible Veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) or who are seeking mental health services can now, with a VA referral, use their VA benefits to access programs offered by the hospital.

PTS and mental health support services are offered through River Hospital’s Veterans Program. The program is an outgrowth of the organization’s successful Military Partial Hospitalization Program, which serves active-duty military stationed at Fort Drum near Alexandria Bay, N.Y.

“For too long our region’s Veterans could not easily use their benefits outside the Department of Veterans Affairs network and too often needed to travel long distances to receive PTS treatment,” said Ben Moore, River Hospital CEO. “With today’s announcement, the Veterans who valiantly served our country can access River Hospital’s services with little or no wait time.”

River Hospital currently operates the country’s only civilian hospital-based outpatient PTS treatment program for active-duty military. Launched in February of 2013, the program initially served 10 soldiers a day from Fort Drum. Over the past three years the program has increased significantly.

In 2016, River Hospital opened this program to Veterans suffering from PTS.

For more information on River Hospital’s PTS services, call 315-523-7964 or visit www.riverhospital.org/veterans.

In order to use VA benefits to participate in River Hospital’s PTS services program, Veterans must be enrolled in and receiving VA Healthcare and be referred to the program by their VA health care provider. Veterans interested in information on VA health care eligibility can visit www.vets.gov/healthcare/apply/ or call 1-877-222-VETS (8387).

“When nearly 22 veterans commit suicide every day, the need for unencumbered access to PTS services is unquestionable,” said Bradley Frey, director of the River Community Wellness Program. “We are overjoyed the Department of Veterans Affairs now allows its members to use their VA benefits to access River Hospital’s Veterans Program.”

Before opening the program, River Hospital spent nine months hiring and training staff members. Team members were carefully selected and have a history of treating America’s warriors. Today, full-time employees are dedicated solely to the treatment of Soldiers and Veterans. Furthermore, River Hospital offers a program designed for female Soldiers and Veterans with a co-morbidity of sexual assault trauma.

River Hospital’s Partial Hospitalization Program has graduated over 300 Soldiers to date.