Cognitive Rehabilitation for Military
Brain Injury Victims
Online Little Rock salutes Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln for urging Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to add cognitive rehabilitation therapies to the TRICARE health care program for members of the military.
In a letter dated August 4, 2008, Senator Lincoln joined Senators Barack Obama, Evan Bayh, Hillary Clinton, Edward Kennedy, John Kerry, Claire McCaskill, Ken Salazar, Joe Lieberman, and Jeff Bingaman to insure wounded veterans get the best rehabilitative treatment available.
The letter cited a recent Rand Corporation study that showed 19% of all service members returning from Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom experienced a traumatic brain injury during deployment: 320,000 troops!
The group also pointed out that the best cognitive rehabilitation care is available at private facilities not currently covered by military health insurance.
"Cognitive rehabilitation is a proven regime of medical and therapeutic services designed to improve brain functioning. Service members who sustain brain injuries frequently have difficulties in attention, concentration, memory, problem-solving, and decision making that impede their ability to function in everyday activities."
The letter concludes with, "we urge the Department of Defense to provide official TRICARE coverage of cognitive rehabilitation therapies, so that all returning service personnel can benefit from the best brain injury care this country has to offer."
Source: Senators Support Cognitive Rehab for Military
Online Little Rock webmaster Larry Jameson and his wife, Beth, are authors of Brain Injury Survivor's Guide: Welcome to Our World and also maintain two brain injury support websites: Brain Injury Guide and Brain-Injury-Online.
Larry and Beth also provide cognitive therapy quizzes for brain injury victims to download, print and use at home.
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