Arnold Fisher: We Owe it to Them

by Arnold Fisher [courtesy of Politics on HuffingtonPost.com]

Traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychological impairment... all medical jargon, are perilous threats to our military personnel. Hundreds of thousands of servicemen and women will return from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan with some form of complex psychological health issue. For this reason, the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (IFHF) has undertaken the project of raising $70 million to fund the construction of a state-of-the-art facility to treat soldiers with these disorders. Once completed, the IFHF will turn over the facility to the government to operate.

This is the second project of this kind the IFHF has taken on. In January 2007, the IFHF opened a center to treat physical injuries called the Center for the Intrepid at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. It is now the finest military physical rehabilitation center for military amputees in the world, all privately paid for by over 600,000 Americans.

The new center, to be called the National Intrepid Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (NICoE), will be located at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center in suburban Washington D.C. The hope is to have enough funds committed to the project for it to be completed next year. It will be a 75,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art treatment and rehabilitation center and a place where scientists from around the world will gather to share their research.

Unfortunately, this is a much tougher project to accomplish because mental and brain injuries are not visible to the untrained eye. Soldiers can be living with problems that no one can see. And, problems such as post traumatic stress disorder can surface years later if left untreated.

It is only recently that we finally understand that many of the homeless living under our nation's bridges suffered from that abnormality. It is only recently that the Rand report identified the fact that up to 300,000 troops have been exposed to some form of TBI and PTSD and that number may actually be much, much higher. And it is only recently that our country has been galvanized to address this national peril. We are no longer embarrassed to talk about mental health for our brave warriors. They deserve the best care and this Center will be the core of that effort.

The centers will not only provide treatment but will also be research facilities. Improvements in screening, diagnosis, and treatment will be fed back out to the military and VA hospitals and the medical facilities in the field. Long-term follow-up care will also be incorporated into the system plan to ensure that, once soldiers separate from the military, they do not separate from whatever continued treatment they need.

The National Intrepid Center of Excellence will send a message to military personnel overseas fighting for the freedom of others. We will always remember the sacrifices made by our brave, young heroes and their families, and we will continue to support our soldiers by providing them with world-class support when they return.

For further information go to www.fallenheroesfund.org.

Arnold Fisher
Honorary Chairman of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund