........... as it relates to Brownwood PTSD

Waco VA gets more funding for PTSD study

Friday, May 05, 2006
By Dan Genz
Waco Tribune-Herald staff writer

Congress is preparing to spend $3.5 million next year funding a post-traumatic stress disorder study planned at the Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital and Fort Hood.
U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards said the project provides another reason to keep the embattled Waco VA Hospital operating and could help determine why the disorder devastates some soldiers and does not affect others.
“This is one more arrow in our quiver to save the Waco VA,” Edwards said. “(VA Secretary Jim Nicholson) will still make the final decision, but he doesn’t make that decision in a vacuum. I’ve been very careful not to suggest that any one step would be the key, but it’s clear we’re making a very strong case.”
Edwards’ Republican opponent, Van Taylor, said he supports the project.
“As a Marine who served in combat, we need to understand PTSD so we can cure those who suffer from it and prevent future generations from getting it,” he said.
The funding approved Thursday would pay for a second year of the PTSD study, which is set to begin later this year.
A congressional subcommittee approved the additional funding in the VA budget for 2007 after Congress approved $3 million to start the study later this year. The total $77.9 billion VA spending plan must win the full House Appropriations Committee’s support and the support of the House and Senate before final passage.
Because close to 20 percent of Iraq war combat veterans are reporting PTSD symptoms, Dr. Paul B. Hicks, with the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, said the research is timely and pivotal.
If doctors find clues in genetics, brain imaging and psychological analysis of returning soldiers, they could improve treatment and prevention measures, said Hicks, the VA region’s acting medical director for mental health and behavioral medicine.
“We don’t really know about all the biological and psychological underpinnings of PTSD, and if we can truly make some strides in understanding that, we have the potential to dramatically affect the outcome of soldiers who go through this,” he said.
Fort Hood and the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System still are awaiting the initial funding for the project but have teamed up in other ways, Hicks said.
Veterans and community advocates who have fought efforts to close or downsize the Waco VA Hospital over the past three years hailed the proposed funding.
“I really trust that this is yet one more good sign that perhaps the secretary will in short order be making a very positive announcement for Waco,” said Robert Gamboa, a veteran who has rallied support for the hospital.
Nicholson is evaluating the hospital and 16 others as part of a nationwide review and is expected to determine its fate later this year.
The VA has considered downsizing or closing expensive older facilities in overserved communities, including the Waco VA Hospital, while increasing resources in cities where growing veterans’ populations are far from the nearest VA hospitals.
Closing VA called unwise
Veteran and politicians have argued it is unwise to close a mental health hospital when thousands of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are returning with PTSD symptoms.
Lawmakers have sought to bolster the Waco hospital with new programs to make it less appealing to close. Edwards added the initial $3 million study funding last year, and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, named the hospital a “center of excellence” for mental health care.
The subcommittee’s proposal also requires that the Waco VA Hospital and two others in New York and California named centers of excellence will receive additional funding, but the panel did not declare a set amount.
“This sends a clear directive — we want the centers of excellence funded. It’s not just a title with no meaning to it,” Edwards said.

dgenz@wacotrib.com 757-5743
source: http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/05/05/05052006wacvaupdate.html