TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY DOCUMENTS FROM THE WEB
The list below is a living document of TBI (traumatic brain injury) articles I've found at various locations on the web. I've listed the title from the web site or blog, the date I found the article or post, and the first few lines or paragraph to give you an idea of the content. The documents are listed newest to oldest. Good luck in your search.
This Google document can also be viewed in the following location on the web. It may be more up-to-date than the information listed in my blog:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddc4gdn8_2ds967r
The Army's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (PTSD/MTBI) Chain Teaching Program - 11/19/2007
Jul 18, 2007
Soldier Version:
The Soldier version of the PTSD/MTBI Chain Teaching program is for internal use by commanders and leaders. The intent of this chain-teach is to train leaders and educate and inform Soldiers to identify the signs and symptoms of PTSD/MTBI and reinforce the collective responsibility to take care of each other. Army ALARACT 153/2007 DTG 171457Z: Interim Guidance – Army Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI)/Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness and Response Program, requires all Soldiers in all components to complete this training by 18 October 2007.
Boustany Urges Democratic Leaders to Hold Vote on Independent Veterans’ Bill Before Veterans’ Day - 11/19/2007
November 8, 2007
http://boustany.house.gov/LatestNews.asp?ARTICLE3149=6683
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Charles W. Boustany, Jr., M.D. (R-Lafayette) today urged Democratic Leaders in Washington to allow a vote on the Military Construction and Veterans’ Affairs Appropriations Conference Report.
“Supporting our veterans, those who served our country admirably, is one of the most important jobs we in Congress have.” said Boustany. “To vote on this bill – to ensure our veterans have adequate benefits – is simply the right thing to do, and to delay or partner this with any unrelated legislation is unconscionable.”
JRRD Releases Single-Topic Issue on Traumatic Brain Injury and Polytrauma - 11/19/2007
11/18/2007
http://news.biocompare.com/newsstory.asp?id=205448
http://www.rehab.research.va.gov/jour/07/44/7/pdf/contents.pdf
Source: Journal of Rehabilitation Research
The Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (JRRD) today released a single-topic issue on traumatic brain injury (TBI) and polytrauma. Focused on the diagnosis and treatment of TBI, this issue examines the clinical characteristics of military personnel returning from combat and describes several healthcare models that are providing care and support to them and their families.
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Vow Accountability for Failure to Override Bush Veto on Veterans Spending - 11/19/2007
By VoteVets.org | Press Release
PUBLISHED: November 16, 2007
http://votevets.org/news?id=0093
IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETERANS VOW ACCOUNTABILITY FOR FAILURE TO OVERRIDE BUSH VETO ON VETERANS SPENDING
WASHINGTON - The largest political group of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans today reacted angrily to news that the House of Representatives failed to get the 2/3 vote needed to override President Bush's veto of spending for military veterans.
"It is unconscionable, with estimates of problems veterans face getting worse every day that so many in Congress would fail to stand up to this President on behalf of our nation's veterans," said Jon Soltz, Iraq War veteran and Chairman of VoteVets.org. "It honestly makes those of us who served this nation feel worthless. Virtually every Member who voted to sustain the veto voted to send us to war, and it is offensive that they think of us as pieces on a chessboard, not worthy of care."
VA may win boost in funding for mental conditions caused by war
By Chris Adams | McClatchy Newspaper
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/reports/veterans/story/17133.html
WASHINGTON — Congressional appropriators are pushing a huge increase in spending for the Department of Veterans Affairs, despite some resistance from the White House.
Prompted by concerns that the VA can't adequately care for soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as older veterans already in the system, Congress is instructing the VA to push more money toward treatment of mental health and traumatic brain injuries.
A Different Operation For U.S. Doctors in Iraq - 11/13/2007
Severe Cases, Grueling Hours Are Norm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/31/AR2006013101627_pf.html
By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 1, 2006; A19
BALAD, Iraq, Jan. 31 -- Maj. Hans Bakken and Maj. Brett Schlifka were bone-tired as they sipped bad coffee from foam cups on a chilly morning in a U.S. military tent. The men, both neurosurgeons, had worked on two serious head wound cases the previous evening and then, after going to sleep about midnight, were awakened at 1:30 a.m. to treat a soldier flown in with a gunshot to the head.
CRAPO PUSHES VA ON VETERANS' BRAIN INJURIES - 11/18/2007
Explosive devices a leading cause of Iraq, Afghanistan injuries
http://www.crapo.senate.gov/media/newsreleases/release_full.cfm?id=286742
Contact: Susan Wheeler
Friday, November 2, 2007
Washington, DC – Idaho Senator Mike Crapo says veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts need increased treatment and attention regarding traumatic brain injury (TBI). This type of injury has been described as the “signature wound” of the recent Mideast conflicts because of the use of roadside bombs and other explosive devices that have been unique to the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A Shock Wave of Brain Injuries - 11/13/2007
By Ronald Glasser
Sunday, April 8, 2007; B01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/06/AR2007040601821_pf.html
"We can save you. But you might not be what you were."
Neurosurgeon, Combat Support Hospital, Balad, Iraq
This is the new physics of war. Three 155mm shells, linked together and combined with 100 pounds of Semtex plastic explosive, covered by canisters of butane or barrels of gasoline, can upend a 70-ton tank, destroy a Humvee or blow an engine block through the hood of a truck. Those deadly ingredients form the signature weapon of the war in Iraq: improvised explosive devices, known by anybody who watches the news as IEDs.
Traumatic Brain Injury - 11/13/2007
Traumatic brain injury is an unintended and disturbing consequence of modern warfare triggered by improvements to military protective equipment, most notably life-saving helmets that can deflect bullets and shrapnel.
By John Schutte
http://www.military-medical-technology.com/article.cfm?DocID=1994
It is an unintended and disturbing consequence of modern warfare triggered by improvements to military protective equipment, most notably life-saving helmets that can deflect bullets and shrapnel. Thanks to such new helmet materials and technology, many warfighters in the global war on terror are surviving head injuries that in previous wars would have been fatal, however, they subsequently are plagued by traumatic brain injury (TBI), which can be a chronic and debilitating condition without proper diagnosis and treatment.
Susan Okie, M.D.
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/352/20/2043
Sergeant David Emme, a supply officer with a U.S. Army Stryker Brigade, was stationed at a submachine gun on a truck rolling through northern Iraq last November, in a convoy transporting Iraqi volunteers to Mosul for military training. As they entered the town of Talafar, Emme noticed that the streets were unusually quiet: no children were outdoors running toward the vehicles demanding sweets. Emme got on the radio and warned others in the convoy: "Something might happen. They might have some plan for us." Moments later, as they slowed at a traffic circle, an improvised explosive device (IED) went off right next to Emme's truck, knocking him out.
The Price of Veterans’ Health Care - 11/13/2007
November 9, 2007
http://www.cfr.org/publication/14770/price_of_veterans_health_care.html?breadcrumb=%2F
For Gamal Awad, the son of a Sudanese immigrant, the costs of war are measured in credit-card debt and persistent thoughts of suicide. Memories of rocket attacks and violence during his deployment to Iraq broke him, the California resident told an Associated Press reporter recently. His health care bills keep him down. Yet advocates for wounded soldiers like Awad say it’s the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)—often the only financial lifeline for soldiers returning from war—that bears much of the blame. VA officials insist their “prime motivation” is to help disabled veterans. Critics, however, are unconvinced. “The wounded and their families no longer trust that the government will take care of them the way they thought they’d be taken care of,” observes Mary Ellen Salzano, a veterans’ advocate.
What We Have Learned From the Marine Casualties Returning from War - 11/9/2007
Video (35 minutes)
http://health.scribemedia.org/2007/05/03/marine-casualties/
Dr. Michael Yochelson, M.D., joins NRH as the Director of Brain Injury Programs. He obtained his B.S. from Duke University and his M.D. from George Washington University School of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine internship, neurology residency and PM&R residency in the National Capital Consortium (National Naval Medical Center/Walter Reed Army Medical Center), where he was the only military physician dual board certified in neurology and physiatry.
Following an assignment to the U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka in Japan, he returned stateside and has served for the past two years as the associate program director for the neurology residency, director of the EMG laboratory and chairman of the pain committee at the National Naval Medical Center where he established and directed the TBI multi-disciplinary team to evaluate and follow the many brain injured marines and sailors returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
NAMI launches Veterans Resource Center on Mental Health; Online - 11/9/2007
http://www.anxietyinsights.info/nami_launches_veterans_resource_center_on_mental_health_onl.htm
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has established an online Veterans Resource Center www.nami.org/veterans to help support active duty military personnel, veterans and their families facing serious mental illnesses such as depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and schizophrenia.
"We are a nation at war," said NAMI executive director Michael J. Fitzpatrick. "The war includes mental illness. Many veterans who return from active duty face a second war at home, confronting profound mental health problems. Their families also are affected."
President pledges to help injured vets - 11/9/2007
http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2007/11/09/news/national/20071109_us_news_20.txt
Friday, November 09, 2007
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- President Bush paid an emotional visit Thursday to soldiers maimed or badly burned in combat and said his administration is determined to mend the nation's system of caring for veterans.
Medical advances provide troops with treatment unimaginable just a decade ago, but the system for managing that care has lagged, Bush said.
"Our system needs to be modernized," the president said after touring a new $45 million, privately funded rehabilitation center for veterans at Brooke Army Medical Center.
Mitchell, Military TBI Task Force Highlight the Importance of Traumatic Brain Injury Research; Mitchell Endorses Ground Breaking Traumatic Brain Injury Study - 11/9/2007
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,220702.shtml
DENVER, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. Rep. Harry E. Mitchell today joined members of an inter-organizational Military TBI Task Force by endorsing a paper highlighting the important role that neuropsychology plays in treating combat-related traumatic brain injury.
The paper, The Role of Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation Psychology in the Evaluation, Management and Research of Military Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury, is currently in press and an executive summary will be released Nov. 13 at a press conference at the National Academy of Neuropsychology's 27th Annual Conference. The Military TBI Task Force, led by Drs. Neil Pliskin and Mike McCrea, were comprised of members from the American Psychological Association Divisions 40 (Neuropsychology) and 22 (Rehabilitation Psychology), the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology, and the National Academy Neuropsychology (NAN)
The Other Wounded
Volunteer Therapists Aid War-Stressed Families and Partners of Soldiers
Tuesday, November 6, 2007; Page HE01
They are the other casualties of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: spouses -- mostly wives -- of military personnel as well as their children, parents and even siblings struggling with the fear that accompanies combat separations or the wrenching readjustment that often marks the return home. Some are troops themselves, home for good or for a while between deployments, trying to cope with depression, anxiety, alcoholism or reentry.
The minimally conscious state - Definition and diagnostic criteria - 11/08/2007
Neurology 2002;58:349-353
© 2002
http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/full/58/3/349
Article Abstract
Objective: To establish consensus recommendations among health care specialties for defining and establishing diagnostic criteria for the minimally conscious state (MCS).
Hodes Supports Tax Relief for Veterans - 11/7/2007
http://www.hodes.house.gov/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=1452
November 6, 2007
Washington, DC – Congressman Hodes voted this evening in support of HR 3997, the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act (HEART) of 2007. This bipartisan legislation passed the House unanimously on a vote of 410 to 0. Congressman Hodes is a strong supporter of this legislation.
The HEART Act provides $2 billion in tax relief for military families, including the Earned Income Tax Credit. This legislation also provides low-interest home loans for veterans, and makes the tax and pension provisions permanent for military families.
VA says 6 percent of combat vets have TBIs - 11/7/2007
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/11/military_TBI_numbers_071102w/
Posted : Sunday Nov 4, 2007 9:32:27 EST
About 6 percent of Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans seeking treatment at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries, according to preliminary data released Friday.
A VA mandatory screening program that took effect in April has looked at 61,285 veterans of the wars. Of those, 19.2 percent were identified on the screening questionnaire as potentially suffering from traumatic brain injuries and were referred for more tests.
Center for LifeLong Planning - for individuals with cognitive disabilities - 11/06/2007
http://www.cllp.org/index.html
Our Mission
The Center for LifeLong Planning (CLLP) was established to provide comprehensive resources for professionals and caregivers dedicated to the support and planning for persons with cognitive disabilities. We are committed to promoting better communication and understanding of the multiple issues related to planning for individuals with cognitive disabilities, and their families, over the course of their lifetime.
DEMOCRATIC PRESS RELEASE - July 19, 2007
House Veterans' Affairs Committee Holds Symposium on Traumatic Brain Injury
July 19, 2007
House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Holds Symposium on Traumatic Brain Injury
Roundtable Discussion Addresses the Signature Injury of the War in Iraq
On Wednesday, with both Democratic and Republican Members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee in attendance, Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) led a symposium to address innovative and comprehensive ways to provide treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI is considered the signature injury of the war in Iraq. Among veterans and service members from Iraq and Afghanistan treated at Walter Reed for injuries of any type, approximately 65% have TBI as a primary diagnosis or simultaneous injury.
Veterans testify about gaps in benefits
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071010/NEWS03/710100398/1019
NEW WINDSOR - Sgt. Eddie Ryan made an impressive entrance yesterday at a congressional field hearing on veterans' disability assistance.
Dressed in camouflage and wheeled down the aisle by a police sergeant from his hometown of Ellenville in Ulster County, the 23-year-old Marine, who was severely wounded in Iraq, received a standing ovation from most in the audience of dozens as well as three congressmen who had come to hear his story and the stories of three other Hudson Valley veterans who have had difficulty obtaining necessary benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
NEW WINDSOR - Sgt. Eddie Ryan made an impressive entrance yesterday at a congressional field hearing on veterans' disability assistance.
Dressed in camouflage and wheeled down the aisle by a police sergeant from his hometown of Ellenville in Ulster County, the 23-year-old Marine, who was severely wounded in Iraq, received a standing ovation from most in the audience of dozens as well as three congressmen who had come to hear his story and the stories of three other Hudson Valley veterans who have had difficulty obtaining necessary benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Prevalence and consequences of sleep disorders in traumatic brain injury - 10/10/2007
This is a medical "abstract" that talks about sleep issues of people with brain injury.
CONCLUSIONS: There is a high prevalence of sleep disorders (46%) and of excessive daytime sleepiness (25%) in subjects with TBI. Sleepy subjects may be more impaired than comparable non-sleepy TBI subjects, yet be unaware of problems. Given the high prevalence of OSA (23%), PTH (11%), and narcolepsy (7%) in this population, there is a clinical indication for NPSG and MSLT.
Clinton's bills frame '09 agenda - 10/10/2007
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/clintons-bills-frame-09-agenda-2007-10-09.html
On that same day in March, Clinton unveiled three bills to help military veterans, a constituency over which Republicans and Democrats are locked in a perpetual tug of war.
Clinton introduced legislation to improve death and survivor benefits for members of the armed forces. She also put forth a bill to improve the physical evaluation processes for military personnel and legislation purporting to improve the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injury affecting members and former members of the armed forces.
His war on brain injury - 11/1/2007
Newsman Bob Woodruff struggles for words because of a bomb in Iraq. But he's getting better by speaking up for troops.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071101/NEWS05/711010346/1007
Bob Woodruff struggles to talk about his work in raising awareness of traumatic brain injuries.
"Some of it is ... is ... " Woodruff says and stops.
Woodruff suffered a traumatic brain injury on Jan. 29, 2006, when a roadside bomb exploded in Iraq, where he was doing reports for ABC News.
Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, has been called the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of troops have suffered mild or moderate TBI with symptoms that include headaches, dizziness, memory loss, vision problems and irritability.
Others have suffered severe brain injuries -- their memory is shattered and they cannot walk, talk or feed themselves.
Woodruff, 46, considers himself a lucky one, even though he struggles to remember words and names.