When the Department of Defense (DOD) divided up its medical centers of excellence over the past two years, one of the new units created is the Hearing Center of Excellence (HCE).
The new HCE is charged with creating a database of military hearing-related injuries and care management to help create best practices among VA caregivers.
In an interview with the Military Officers Association of America, the center’s interim director Air Force Lt. Col. Mark Packer said the HCE is at initial operational capability and should be completely operational by 2013.
The HCE will create a registry of every case of acoustic injury to service members, Packer told the MOAA. Service members suffer hearing loss in a variety of ways – from IEDs to ship engine noise and ship gunfire to aircraft noise.
“Data available from the Registry will spur a research agenda leading to better prevention, optimal diagnosis, best practice guidelines and optimal rehabilitation strategies,” said Air Force Surgeon General Charles B. Green in a speech on the HCE to the House Committee on Armed Services in 2010.
By creating the HCE, the DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs is responding to alarming statistics on hearing-related injuries among service members.
The VA’s annual report indicates that since 1998, hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears) are the most prevalent cases, Packer said. There are about a million unique cases of auditory system disabilities among veterans since 2001, he said.
The HCE’s registry will have two main objectives. The first will be to identify cases of hearing damage among veterans. The second objective is to collect hearing conservation information, Packer said. The VA does not currently have access to any of this information in order to provide the quality of care it wants for veterans.
Instead of a brick and mortar building, the HCE is a virtual office. Its headquarters is at Lackland Air Force Base’s Wilford Hall Medical Center in Texas.
The HCE will work with military medical centers in Washington, D.C., San Diego, Hawaii, Portsmouth, Va., and at Ft. Lewis in Washington and San Antonio, Packer said.
The new center will be fully operational when it achieves the goal of a fully functional registry of injuries that serves to guide care among medical centers. Packer told the MOAA, the HCE strives “…to standardize the care and the management of the hearing-related events in the Department of Defense.”
In his overview of the HCE to congress, Green said “…the Hearing Center of Excellence will provide policy oversight and will coordinate the sharing of information and clinical advances in all areas of auditory system injury to optimize prevention, clinical care and research.”
Veterans who suffer from hearing loss after serving should contact an attorney who can help them access the VA’s benefits and care. Legal Help for Veterans PLLC has experienced professionals on staff.
James G. Fausone is a Veterans disability lawyer and Veterans attorney with Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC. Learn more at http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com.
