|
NEWS
RELEASE
NCD #09–577
March 4, 2009
Contact: Mark S. Quigley
202-272-2008
National Council on Disability Says
More Needs to be Done for Service Members and Veterans with Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury
WASHINGTON—The
National Council on Disability (NCD) today released a report recommending
changes in the continuum of health care provided to service members and
veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain
Injury (TBI).
According
to NCD Chairperson John R. Vaughn, “The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are
resulting in injuries that are currently disabling for many, and
potentially disabling for still more. They are also putting unprecedented
strain on families and relationships, strain that can contribute to the
severity of the service member's disability over the course of time.”
“The
Department of Defense (DoD) and the Veterans Administration (VA) have
initiated a number of improvements in the delivery of health care for
service members and veterans with PTSD and TBI. They are to be
congratulated for these efforts, but more needs to be done.”
“Medical
and scientific knowledge needed to comprehensively address PTSD and TBI
is incomplete. However, many evidence-based practices do exist.
Unfortunately, service members and veterans face a number of barriers in
accessing these practices including stigma; inadequate information;
insufficient services to support families; limited access to available
services, and a shortage of services in some areas. Many studies and
commissions have presented detailed recommendations to address these
needs. There is an urgent need to implement these recommendations,”
Vaughn concluded.
The
report, Invisible Wounds: Serving Service Members and Veterans with
PTSD and TBI (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2009/veterans.doc),
addresses those concerns and makes 10 recommendations.
1.
A
comprehensive continuum of care for mental disorders, including PTSD, and
for TBI should be readily accessible by all service members and veterans.
This requires adequate staffing and adequate funding of VA and DoD health
systems.
2.
Mechanisms
for screening service members for PTSD and TBI should be continuously
improved, including baseline testing.
3.
The
current array of mental health and substance abuse services covered by
TRICARE should be expanded and brought in line with other similar health
plans
4.
Early
intervention services such as marital relationship counseling and short
term interventions for early hazardous use of alcohol and other
substances should be strengthened and universally accessible in VA and
TRICARE.
5.
DoD
and VA should maximize the use of Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation
Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) veterans in rehabilitative roles for which
they are qualified including as outreach workers, peer counselors and as
members of the professional staff.
6.
Consumers
should be integrally involved in the development and dissemination of
training materials for professionals working with OIF/OEF veterans and
service members.
7.
Current
and potential users of VA, TRICARE and other DoD mental health and TBI services
should be periodically surveyed by a competent independent body to assess
their perceptions of: a) the barriers to receiving care, including
distance, cost, stigma, and availability of information about services
offered; and b) the quality, appropriateness to their presenting problems
and user-friendliness of the services offered.
8.
VA
should mandate that an active mental health consumer council be
established at every VA medical center, rather than have this be a local
option, as is currently the case.
9.
Congress
should mandate a Secretarial level VA Mental Health Advisory Committee
and a Secretarial level TBI Advisory Committee with strong representation
from consumers and veterans organizations, with a mandate to evaluate and
critique VA's efforts to upgrade mental health and TBI services and
report their findings to both the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and
Congress.
10. Congress and the agencies
responsible for the care of OEF/OIF veterans must redouble the sense of
urgency to develop and deploy a complete array of prevention, early
intervention and rehabilitation services for PTSD and TBI.
NCD is an independent federal
agency responsible for reviewing and evaluating policies, programs, and
practices that promote the full integration, independence, and
productivity of people with disabilities, and for advising the executive
and legislative branches on matters affecting people with disabilities.
For more information, please
contact NCD’s Director of External Affairs, Mark S. Quigley, at mquigley@ncd.gov
or by telephone at 202-272-2008.
# # #
Mark S. Quigley
Director of External Affairs
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW Suite 850
Washington, DC 20004
202-272-2008
202-272-2022 fax
www.ncd.gov
|