JEFFERSON CITY, MO (KFVS) - The Missouri Department of Mental Health is pushing to better train behavioral health professionals on how to help returning veterans and their families with the stress readjusting to everyday life.

The department is asking its contracted providers and other behavioral health care professionals to take special training in military culture, the impact of combat stress, the effects of deployment on children and families and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). 

Officials say the goal is to get 2,000 professionals in the mental health and substance abuse fields to complete this important, free training by September 30.

(KFVS) - Communication Manager, Dan Fox, for the Missouri Illinois blood district says blood collections are at a 15-year low.

According to Fox, collections are down, not donations, because sometimes people donate but they can't actually use the blood because of HIV, Syphilis, etc. He says the last time collections were this low was 1997.

Fox says nationwide, the fiscal year numbers include:

• 2012 - 5,871,195 collections
• 2011 - 6,182,386 collections
• 1997 - 5.6 million collections

He says the 2012 fiscal year ended June 30.

According to Fox, in the Missouri/Illinois area, they need to collect 800 blood pints a day to keep up with the hospital need. He says right now, they're reaching that, but are close to the point of having to cancel surgeries. Fox says the hospital will cancel surgeries if the blood collections get too low.