April 4, 2008

 

This is News from Chairman Filner on House Veterans Affairs Committee regarding the April 2, 2008 hearing that the Blinded Veterans Association requested and brought in two blinded Operation Iraq Freedom OIF veterans to provide testimony. Many members of congress were deeply concerned over the lack of progress on the Military Eye Trauma Center of Excellence and Eye Trauma Registry that was included in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008 enacted in January.

 

BVA is now working with both key senate and house members to get directed funding for both a multi-center TBI vision impairment screening program, and $5,000,000 for the Defense Military Eye Trauma Center of Excellence.

 

NEWS FROM…CHAIRMAN BOB FILNER

 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 2, 2008

 

Contact Kristal DeKleer at (202) 225-9756

 

http://veterans.house.gov

 

Press Release

 

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Holds Oversight Hearing to Address Vision Needs of Veterans with TBI

 

Washington, D.C. – On Wednesday, the House Veterans’ Affairs Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, led by Chairman Harry Mitchell (D-AZ), conducted a hearing to examine vision dysfunctions resulting from traumatic brain injury (TBI).  Recent research suggests that vision problems may be a common and previously unrecognized consequence of TBI.   

 

“Traumatic brain injury is one of the signature injuries for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and I am afraid that vision problems are becoming the unrecognized result of that injury,” said Chairman Mitchell.  “We now know that military and VA health care providers must be especially alert to vision deficits resulting from TBI, even when there is no obvious physical injury to the eye.” 

 

Dr. Thomas Zampieri of Blinded Veterans Association discussed the prevalence of visual impairments and suspected inaccurate vision diagnoses as a result of service during the current military operations, Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF): “As of February 26 of this year, there were 29,317 wounded in OIF/OEF operations, of which 8,904 required air medical evacuation. Another 8,273 military personnel injured in non-hostile action have also been evacuated from Iraq or Afghanistan. Between March 19, 2003 and September 17, 2007, 1,162 of those evacuated had sustained direct eye trauma. This means that 13 percent of all evacuated wounded had sustained direct eye trauma, the highest percentage of eye wounded in more than 160 years of American wars. Based on additional information that we have received during the aforementioned four-year period, mostly anecdotal in nature, BVA believes that perhaps many more than 1,162 service members evacuated from Iraq or Afghanistan have experienced direct eye trauma.”

 

Navy veteran Glenn Minney testified to his experience with getting treatment for vision problems following a mortar blast during his military service at Haditha Dam in Iraq. Minney was wounded on April 18, 2005 and was initially treated for direct injury to his eyes, not for brain injury.  Only after having an MRI at the Wounded Warriors Barracks at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, ten months after his initial injury, did he learn he “was suffering from a severe TBI.  All the medical centers I described above and not one had performed any sort of MRI, CT Scan, or even an X-Ray…It was then they discovered I had a loss of brain tissue in the parietal lobe as well as the occipital lobe (which works the eyes). I went through several neuro-psych exams to determine the extent of my injury, and after several tests, it was determined that the TBI was also a major cause in my loss of sight. The eye healed from the surgeries, but it was also the optic nerve that was damaged as a result of the TBI that was now a concern.  In 9/06 I was officially retired from the Navy, and I was rated at 100 percent disabled.”

 

Staff Sergeant Brian Pearce and his wife, Angela, testified to a similar experience.  Sgt. Pearce suffered significant injuries in an Improved Explosive Device blast in 2006, including TBI.  Sgt. Pearce still has 20/20 vision, but as a result of the TBI, he is legally blind.  As he testified, “[i]t is my brain that will not allow my eyes to function appropriately.”  Sgt. Pearce needed recognition of the nature of his injuries and seamless cooperation on his care between VA and the Department of Defense.  Partly due to a failure to appreciate the nature and extent of his TBI-related visual dysfunction, Sgt. Pearce and Angela encountered obstacles and delays in obtaining proper treatment. 

 

The Subcommittee heard from VA clinician-researchers about their ground-breaking research into the connections between TBI and visual dysfunction.  The panelists offered recommendations to improve screenings and assessments for veterans with vision issues and also discussed technological advances in equipment and rehabilitation programs.   This technology, which includes the development of computerized visual stimulation devices, is available to veterans, though on a limited basis.

 

In recognition of the importance of identifying and treating eye injuries and vision dysfunction in injured service members, Congress included a provision in the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act which directs the Department of Defense to create an eye care center of excellence which is required to “collaborate to the maximum extent practicable” with the VA.  Reports from both Departments and testimony from hearing witnesses suggested that progress on this eye care center has so far been limited to developing a computerized registry of those suffering from vision deficits.

 

“We cannot wait any longer to implement these new technologies and make them available to our wounded service members and veterans,” said Bob Filner (D-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.  “Our veterans did not wait for research results before navigating an alley in Iraq or patrolling a village in Afghanistan.  They did not perform a cost-benefit analysis before implementing the orders that were given to them.  We owe these heroes prompt and bold action.”   

 

Witnesses:

 

Panel 1

 

 

 

 

 

Panel 2

 

 

Accompanied by:

 

 

 

 

Panel 3

 

 

 

 

Accompanied by:

 

 

 

Accompanied by:

 

 

Prepared testimony and a link to the webcast of the hearing is available on the internet at this link:  http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/hearing.aspx?newsid=219.

 

EVERYONE should check the web site and read through the testimony of the Blinded Veterans Association for more information on this important hearing. It would appear to BVA that visual impairment screening should be more prevalent, and cooperative in DoD and VA medical centers. Traumatic Brain Injuries can cause lasting visual complications from mild, moderate, to severe resulting in blindness. Many of our Operation Peer Support veterans who attended our last convention were TBI blinded service members or veterans including retired Sgt Brian Pierce and Navy veteran Glen Minney.

 

Will keep everyone posted on this effort.

 

Tom Zampieri

Director Government Relations, Blinded Veterans Association

Washington, DC      
BVA's Legislative Alerts Group

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