Kay Bailey Hutchison: “as the Senate prepares for final passage of H.R. 5631, the fiscal year 2007 Defense appropriations bill, I would like to…”

“as the Senate prepares for final passage of H.R. 5631, the fiscal year 2007 Defense appropriations bill, I would like to thank my colleagues for accepting an amendment that I cosponsored which addresses the growing concern of a number of veterans returning from combat operations overseas that may have traumatic brain injury, TBI. According to reports, preliminary research by the center shows that about 10 percent of all service personnel, and up to 20 percent of frontline personnel, suffer concussions during combat tours. Like any medical condition, early diagnosis is the key to successful intervention and treatment. Unfortunately, many are not being properly screened for this serious and debilitating condition. TBI clinically presents many of the same signs and symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. These two serious but very different medical conditions require separate and distinct treatment programs. Because it is so important that our veteran care facilities have the proper training to distinguish between these two illnesses, I included language in the fiscal year 2007 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill requesting the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a separate education program to better diagnose TBI. With final passage of this bill, we have another opportunity to further strengthen our efforts to better understand and treat TBI.…”