Wednesday, July 25, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Kit Bond today praised a critical step in improving the treatment of troops who are wounded in combat. The Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act, which Bond cosponsored, passed the Senate today by unanimous consent.

“We owe our service men and women who have fought to protect this nation and our freedoms a debt that can never be repaid. It is inexcusable and disheartening that we have failed some of these brave men and women and their families when they most needed help,” said Bond. “Today’s passage of the Wounded Warriors bill is an important step in ensuring our returning heroes don’t slip through the cracks.”

The Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act requires the Secretaries of Defense and Veterans Affairs to develop a comprehensive policy on the care, management and transition from the military to the VA and civilian life of service members with combat-related injuries. The bill will enhance healthcare, improve the housing of military patients – to prevent another Walter Reed, and makes significant changes to disability evaluations.

The legislation also offers hope and help to the many soldiers who return from combat with invisible injuries – like Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), emphasized Bond. The bill authorizes $50 million for improved diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of service members with TBI or PTSD. Also, the bill requires the development of a comprehensive plan on prevention, diagnosis, mitigation and treatment of TBI and PTSD; requires the development two centers of excellence, one each for TBI and PTSD; and the establishment of a protocol for pre-deployment assessment and documentation of cognitive function of members that can be used for comparison after deployment to assist in diagnosis of TBI.

Bond praised media reports for bringing public scrutiny to the military health care system. He pointed out that the conditions identified by the Washington Post at Walter Reed - substandard living conditions, insufficient medical personnel, excessive delays in the delivery of care and in the medical and physical disability evaluation process - were nearly identical to conditions Senators Bond and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) found when they investigated military health care problems at Ft. Stewart, Ft. Knox, and Ft. Carson beginning in 2003.

The military mental health system is largely underfunded, short-staffed and extremely difficult to navigate — all at a time when soldiers and their families need help the most. Bond stressed that today’s passage of the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act and the release of the President’s bipartisan Commission on Care for Wounded Warriors are important steps in fixing this system.

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