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BLINDED VETERANS ASSOCIATION FIGHTS TO ADDRESS
INCREASE IN COMBAT EYE INJURIES -- The BVA is
stepping
up its lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill to
influence legislation
that would establish a military eye-injury
registry.
For more on the Blinded Veterans Association,
use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.
php?q=blinded+veterans+association&op=ph
Story here...
http://thehill.com/the-
executive/group-fights-to-address-
increase-in-combat-eye-inju
ries-2007-07-27.html
Story below:
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Group fights to address increase in combat eye
injuries
By Roxana Tiron
As the military health system addresses an increase in head injuries
sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of the wounded could be at risk
of a severe complication: vision loss or complete blindness.
The Blinded Veterans Association (BVA), a congressionally chartered
organization, is sounding the alarm about wounded soldiers whose visual
problems go undetected and untreated, leading not only to premature
degenerative eye conditions, but also to lifelong disability with
psychological implications.
One of the BVA’s primary concerns is that there is no accurate
information on how many direct eye-trauma cases result from the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan. Nor is there a central tracking system to ensure
those affected are free of serious complications after leaving the
hospital and being discharged from the military, or even redeployed.
The BVA is stepping up its lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill to influence
legislation that would establish a military eye-injury registry and set
up a joint traumatic brain-injury optometry screening program between
the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans.
BVA’s director of government relations, Thomas Zampieri, said he is
looking at the now-stalled Senate defense authorization bill and the
appropriations markup process in the upper chamber.
Instances of two types of eye injuries have become more prevalent,
especially given the commonness of roadside bombs in Iraq: direct blast
injury to the eye and traumatic brain injury, in which the eyes do not
necessarily suffer cuts or contusions but severe brain concussion
affects nerve pathways related to sight.
Between 2001 and 2007, data recorded by the military shows 936 members
of the military have been reported to have battle-related eye injuries,
ranging from open wounds to contusions and burns.
More than 16 percent of all casualties evacuated from Iraq sustained eye
injuries, according to data compiled between 2003 and 2005. The Walter
Reed hospital in the last five years has surgically treated about 700
soldiers with blindness or moderate-to-severe visual injuries. The
Bethesda National Naval Medical Center lists more than 450 eye injuries
that have required surgery.
Such numbers reflect injuries requiring immediate optical surgery and
care, but mild-to-severe head injuries can fail to get appropriate
attention until it is too late to correct them. Visual disorders
associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI) include diplopia (double
vision), convergence disorder (an eye-muscle disorder affecting near
vision), photophobia (light sensitivity), ocular-motor dysfunction (also
an eye-muscle disorder) and an inability to interpret print.
Losing depth perception can be one of the most devastating long-term
effects of eye injuries, according to Zampieri.
Rep. John Boozman (R-Ark.), a trained optometrist with a focus on eye
injuries who has visited Water Reed, told The Hill that the war in Iraq
presents an “unusual” phenomenon in eye-related injuries.
The injured may experience low reading speeds, inability to concentrate
and an inability to process visual information.
“As we try to get [some soldiers] back into deployment, it is
frustrating if they do not know what is wrong,” he said. “They do not
understand it and the people they work with do not understand it.”
Boozman stressed that much research is needed to understand what is
happening and learn how to treat the conditions.
He said he is talking to the Department of Defense and the Department of
Veterans Affairs to establish a pilot program to identify the
harder-to-detect problems.
Many patients could exhibit sound ocular health following a TBI, but it
is important to perform neuro-optometric exams.
The legislation BVA is targeting seeks $5 million over five years to
establish a joint traumatic brain injury optometry-screening program
between the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans.
Funding for a centralized eye-injury repository would cost about $3
million over five years, to cover updated computer systems and
researchers’ salaries and support staff.
Because of the high-tech body armor issued to soldiers in Iraq and
Afghanistan, doctors now confront profoundly injured troops who once
would have died of thoracic and abdominal wounds before non-fatal
injuries to eyes and extremities received medical attention.
About 20 blinded military personnel who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq
will attend BVA’s 62nd national convention next month in Albuquerque,
N.M. ABC correspondent Bob Woodruff, who sustained a severe head injury
from a roadside bomb blast in Iraq, is invited as the keynote speaker.
He lost 30 percent of the vision in his left eye as a result of the
injury.
The BVA runs a program called “Operation Peer Support,” which matched
recently blinded soldiers with veterans from previous wars so they may
share experiences, learn about the current efforts and develop a healthy
attitude about blindness.
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), with Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sherrod
Brown (D-Ohio), introduced legislation in late June that would help the
Department of Veterans Affairs meet the increasing demands of today’s
blind veteran population.
The legislation directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a
scholarship program for students studying blindness rehabilitation.
Recipients of the scholarship would be required to work at least three
years in the VA system.
Hagel, a Vietnam war veteran, will continue to work with organizations
such as the BVA on possible legislation that would aid in the care of
our service members and veterans, his spokesman said.
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Larry Scott --
