Durbin to Offer Bill to Aid Troops Returning From War with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

DURBIN TO OFFER BILL TO AID TROOPS RETURNING FROM WAR WITH POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

A 2nd Durbin Bill Increases Financial, Health Care and Education Benefits for Surviving Spouses/Children of Fallen Soldiers

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) will introduce a bill in the coming weeks requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs to immediately strengthen its Post Traumatic Stress Disorder services for veterans and their families. Durbin announced the new legislation at the American Legion today.

"The wounds caused by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder aren't as obvious as missing limbs and other scars of battle. But they are just as real, and they can be just as devastating and disabling - and potentially deadly - as other war wounds," Durbin said.

According to a study published in July 2004 in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, up to one in five veterans are returning home from the Middle East with PTSD or related conditions such as major depression or anxiety.

Durbin is concerned the VA health system is not prepared to provide service members who are dealing with PTSD the health care and other support services they - and their families - need.

According to a report released last September by the Government Accountability Office, the VA doesn't know how many patients it is currently treating for PTSD; the estimates range from 87,000 to 244,000. More troubling, officials at six of the seven VA facilities visited by the GAO reported that they may not be able to meet the increased demand for PTSD services caused by the war in Iraq.

PTSD experts talk about "the golden hour" - the first weeks and months after PTSD symptoms start. Effective treatment during this time can dramatically reduce the severity of PTSD. Left untreated, however, PTSD can lead to serious problems including substance abuse, unemployment, homelessness, family and workplace violence, and suicide.

Durbin's bill will require every VA medical center to establish a "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder clinical team" - medical professionals trained to deal with PTSD. It also directs the VA to include a family therapist at every vet center, and a coordinator for PTSD services in every VA region.

In Illinois, while four of our five VA medical centers (Danville, Jesse Brown, Hines and North Chicago) have PTSD Clinical Teams, the Marion VA Medical Center does not have one. Three (Peoria, Oak Park and East St. Louis) of Illinois' seven Vet Centers lack full-time certified family therapists.

Durbin's bill incorporates the lead recommendations of the VA's own Special Committee on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a distinguished panel that includes many of the leading PTSD experts in our nation. The committee has made 37 recommendations since 2000. The Government Accountability Office reviewed the VA's progress on 24 of those recommendations and, in February, reported that the VA has met none of them fully.

"Those recommendations have sat on the desks of the VA long enough. They need to be put into practice now," Durbin said.

"PTSD can happen to the bravest warriors. It can - and does - happen to the toughest warriors. PTSD is also not new. In the Civil War, it was called ‘soldier's heart.' In World War II, they called it ‘shellshock.' Today, we know what PTSD is, and how to treat it. And we must do so," Durbin said.

"Some of the deepest wounds suffered in war are not visible. And some of those who suffer the deepest losses never step onto a battlefield; they are the spouses and children who are left behind. As the war in Iraq enters its third year, we must care for all of the families who have born the most terrible cost of this war," Durbin said.

In addition to his PTSD initiative, Durbin has offered legislation, with Republican Mike DeWine of Ohio, to raise the one-time death benefit for spouses of U.S. service members killed on active duty. The bill will also increase the monthly benefits for surviving spouses and children, as well as health care and educational benefits for the children of fallen soldiers.

http://durbin.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=235049&&