Someone needs to take responsibility for the brave souls who fought for our country. If not government, then the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.
The government has been saying for some time now that they do not have enough funds to treat the enormous number of psychologically and physically damaged troops returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq. To throw their hands up in the air and cry defeat would be inexcusable. Sourcing funds to help veterans, the government partnered with the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (Fund), an entrepreneurial and dynamic group busy raising $100 million to erect clinics on military bases.
The purpose of the new buildings is to treat and research traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, the main and extremely devastating results of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The Fund is blessed with the ability to bypass government bureaucracy when dealing with construction projects, and is able and willing to fund medical advances to help returning vets.
A brainchild of 9/11, the Fund has been credited with building a burn-victim and amputee rehabilitation center in San Antonio, Texas and a stellar brain injury center in Bethesda, Md. Both facilities are considered to be among the nation’s top medical facilities that specialize in treating injured troops. They offer very targeted and specific treatment, and provide the opportunity for all doctors treating a patient to meet with them at once, so they are all on the same song sheet, treatment wise.
Vets treated in these facilities are not rushed from one doctor to the next. They do not bounce around to different physicians, and unlike other hospitals, there are a number of other alternative treatments for patients. For instance, the injured may be helped by service dogs or art therapy.
The plan is to build seven to ten more clinics at the largest military bases in the U.S., based on the unique hub and spoke model. Military officials hope to streamline treatments by sending patient information up to the research section and subsequently making use of treatment modalities suggested, based on the initial information.
Already underway is a clinic in Virginia at Fort Belvoir and in North Carolina at Camp Lejeune. More facilities are in the works for Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Carson, Colorado; Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Fort Hood, Texas; and Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington. Although the clinics are built and funded by private enterprise, once they have been completed, the base takes over control, operating the clinic, staffing it, and making sure their services are second to none. Things are looking a great deal brighter from veterans returning home from deployment overseas, and it’s about time. With any luck, these models and research will lead to successes that can be extended to the private sector to help private individuals too.
Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.
