Wichita ? The veterans medical center in Wichita is expanding its mental health department and will be treating more cases of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The $495,000 addition at the Robert J. Dole Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center is to be completed by June.

Center clinical psychologist Jeremy Crosby said the facility is averaging 15 to 20 new veterans every month. He said the new veterans, unlike Vietnam-era war veterans, have fought in urban environments and return home to urban settings, where simple encounters on the street can trigger panic attacks.

“The biggest challenge is to get patients to believe they need to actually come here in the first place,” Crosby said. “When your life is threatened, the most normal thing to do is to survive. In their mind, that’s normal. So, how can that result in a disorder? But family and co-workers are the ones who notice big changes. They see the personality has changed.”

The Wichita Eagle reports that about 30,000 U.S. troops have sustained physical injuries from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to national VA estimates, and that many more have psychological wounds.

The center in Wichita is increasing its mental health staff from 23 to 39 as part of its expansion.

“Even with the numbers of the new veterans, along with that, we have the veterans from World War II, Korea and Vietnam seeing things on the news that’s bringing up their own trauma,” Crosby said. “Their trauma happened 40 to 50 years ago and they never dealt with it.”

Duane Jaeger, director of behavioral health at the Wichita VA center, said the facility has been building its front-line staff in behavioral health since 2004. Last year, the center’s mental health clinic saw 5,000 clients.