Date: 3/19/2009
By RACHEL D’ORO
Associated Press Writer
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AP) — Behind Dan DeRosa’s smiling face lurks a dull headache that never goes away. He suffers from memory lapses and hears a shrill ringing in his ears akin to the lingering squeal of a heavy metal concert.
These are some of the unseen scars left by a roadside bomb in Iraq. But at the Air Force’s only traumatic brain injury clinic, the 26-year-old soldier is learning new skills to deal with the aftermath of the blast.
“I wouldn’t say my memory really is getting any better, but my ability to adapt to the fact that my memory’s really not getting any better has gotten a lot better,” said DeRosa, a sergeant assigned to Fort Richardson in Anchorage.
He is among 1,500 patients screened since the TBI Clinic opened at neighboring Elmendorf Air Force Base and one of 75 currently monitored on a regular basis.
The clinic was established in early 2007 at the Elmendorf hospital. Base medics and officials anticipated that some of the 3,500 paratroopers with the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team deployed to Iraq from Fort Richardson would return with the war’s signature wound.
Soon after the clinic opened, Army traumatic brain injury specialists were temporarily assigned to help the Air Force with returning soldiers.
The facility has since evolved with more services and staff experts including a case manager and a speech-language pathologist. It’s now among a growing number of treatment outlets within the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs for military members with brain injuries and the post traumatic stress disorder that frequently accompany them.
The DOD’s health affairs office is assessing the Elmendorf clinic and many others. The DOD estimates that up to 20 percent of the roughly 1.8 million U.S. troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan have returned with brain injuries.
The vast majority of them suffer concussions such as those seen at the Air Force clinic, which also treats military members and relatives with brain injuries resulting from car crashes, hiking accidents and slipping on ice.
Without the Elmendorf service, the only options for Alaska-based troops would be facilities outside the remote state or long-distance programs by civilian providers, said Maj. Peter Osterbauer, a neurologist who heads the TBI clinic.
“It’s not just the one brigade that was going to come back,” Osterbauer said. “There’s going to be more in the future.”
Little more than a year after the 4th Brigade returned from Iraq, in fact, 3,500 of its paratroopers shipped out last month for an Afghanistan assignment.
Clinic officials say screening has improved to more accurately diagnose cases like DeRosa’s. But as with so many others hurt in Iraq and Afghanistan, his injury wasn’t immediately apparent after the initial shock of the June 2007 explosion.
DeRosa was driving a Humvee with three passengers outside Baghdad when the bomb went off beneath the engine, flinging the vehicle 50 yards into a ditch. No one was killed, he said, but one soldier suffered ruptured eardrums, another’s knee was damaged and the gunner flew through the turret “like a champagne cork.” DeRosa stumbled out of the Humvee with a broken arm and shrapnel wounds along the edge of his body armor.
DeRosa didn’t have time to dwell on his more long-term symptoms. He dismissed them as wartime stress. It wasn’t until after returning six months later that his problems became apparent, particularly after a long visit with his family in his hometown of Berkley, Mass.
“I started noticing things,” he said. “My hearing was not as good, I still had a headache, I wasn’t sleeping well, I wasn’t sure where I put my car keys.”
Back in Alaska, a post-deployment screening showed DeRosa needed to be checked out further by a battery of tests. Ultimately diagnosed with TBI, he became a patient at the Elmendorf clinic last spring.
DeRosa’s progress is monitored by Osterbauer. He meets three times a week with Maj. Ava Craig, an Air Force speech pathologist who said DeRosa has shown improvements in such areas as language, reader comprehension and concentration.
None of the medications prescribed for his headaches has worked, which makes DeRosa eligible for Botox injections, highly effective in treating headaches.
Botox has worked wonders for Staff Sgt. Gabriel Fierros, whose face and left eye were struck by shrapnel when his helicopter was shot down by small-arms fire outside Baghdad in April 2007.
The 28-year-old soldier from Marengo, Ill., spent seven months at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, recovering from a hard blow he compares to “a baseball bat to the face.” He also hears a high-pitched ringing in his ears, has memory problems and struggles with irritability, nightmares and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress.
He receives Botox every three months. In the latest round, Osterbauer delivered 18 injections to the front of Fierros’ head and another 10 to 15 in the back. Fierros took it stoically.
“When I first came here, I always had a headache. I was always worn out, tired. I couldn’t focus, couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t remember my cell phone number, couldn’t remember how to get home,” he said. “Seeing the different specialists has helped a lot.”
Officials at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, 260 miles to the north, like the concept so much, they are planning to open up a similar TBI clinic near the post hospital within six months.
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On the Net:
http://www.elmendorf.af.mil
http://www.usarak.army.mil/main
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Better brain trauma testing urged for those at war
Date: 3/12/2009 6:14 PM
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of doctors and scientists said Thursday the U.S. needs to devise a uniform test for traumatic brain injury to be performed on all troops who are exposed to a blast or other violent event in wartime.
Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is often referred to as the signature wound of the Iraq war. Roadside bombs, vehicle accidents and other events have left hundreds of thousands of troops with such an injury.
Most are mild, and military medical officials have said an overwhelming majority heal without treatment. But Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton, the head of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, has said 45,000 to 90,000 troops have suffered more severe and lasting symptoms.
The recommendations to Congress on Thursday came from a conference last fall in Paterson, N.J., sponsored by a congressional task force on brain injuries. Reps. Bill Pascrell Jr. of New Jersey and Todd Platts of Pennsylvania are chairmen of the task force.
The group suggested that the assessment tool be used in wartime to determine if a soldier should return to duty. It also recommended improvements to traumatic brain injury research, better access to care and more resources for families of troops with TBI.
It asked Congress to spend $350 million on its recommendations to be overseen by the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.
“We’re approaching this from every different angle possible,” Pascrell said. “We have a sense of urgency.”
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of doctors and scientists said Thursday the U.S. needs to devise a uniform test for traumatic brain injury to be performed on all troops who are exposed to a blast or other violent event in wartime.
Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is often referred to as the signature wound of the Iraq war. Roadside bombs, vehicle accidents and other events have left hundreds of thousands of troops with such an injury.
Most are mild, and military medical officials have said an overwhelming majority heal without treatment. But Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton, the head of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, has said 45,000 to 90,000 troops have suffered more severe and lasting symptoms.
The recommendations to Congress on Thursday came from a conference last fall in Paterson, N.J., sponsored by a congressional task force on brain injuries. Reps. Bill Pascrell Jr. of New Jersey and Todd Platts of Pennsylvania are chairmen of the task force.
The group suggested that the assessment tool be used in wartime to determine if a soldier should return to duty. It also recommended improvements to traumatic brain injury research, better access to care and more resources for families of troops with TBI.
It asked Congress to spend $350 million on its recommendations to be overseen by the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.
“We’re approaching this from every different angle possible,” Pascrell said. “We have a sense of urgency.”
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
3rd Service Member Electrocuted in Shower in Iraq
Date: 2/3/2009
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — A third U.S. service member has been determined to have been electrocuted in a shower in Iraq, and Navy criminal investigators are investigating, The Associated Press has learned.
Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class David A. Cedergren, 25, of South St. Paul, Minn., died Sept. 11, 2004, while showering. His family was told he died of natural causes.
Late last year, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology changed the manner of Cedergren’s death to “accidental,” caused by electrocution and inflammation of the heart. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has reopened an investigation into his death, Ed Buice, a NCIS spokesman, said Monday.
Cedergren’s death is among 18 electrocution deaths — 16 U.S. service members and two military contractors — under review as part of a Department of Defense Inspector General inquiry. Improperly installed or maintained electrical devices have been blamed in some of the deaths, while accidental contact with power lines caused others.
The inquiry primarily involves electrical work done at a facility where a Green Beret, Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, of Pittsburgh, was electrocuted while showering in January 2008.
Cedergren — a medic — was found in an outdoor shower stall in Camp Iskandariyah, Iraq, not breathing and without a pulse.
His brother, Barry Cedergren, said his family initially suspected he’d been shocked because, according to reports shown to the family, witnesses told investigators that some service members had reported being shocked in the shower.
He said military investigators took a second look at the case after a request from former Sen. Norm Coleman, R.-Minn.
“We’re looking further into what our options are,” said Barry Cedergren, of Ramsey, Minn.
Maseth’s death was initially considered accidental, but is now classified by Army investigators as “negligent homicide” caused by Houston-based contractor KBR Inc. and two of its supervisors. An Army investigator said the contractor failed to ensure that “qualified electricians and plumbers” did the work. The case is under legal review.
Last year, Maseth’s family sued KBR in Allegheny County, Pa., alleging wrongful death. The case was moved to federal court in western Pennsylvania, where it is pending.
NCIS spokesman Buice said he could not comment on evidentiary issues such as who was maintaining the shower where David Cedergren died.
Another service member electrocuted in Iraq while showering in a U.S.-maintained facility was identified in a congressional report as Army Cpl. Marcos Nolasco, 34, of Chino, Calif. Investigators concluded he was electrocuted when an ungrounded water heater shorted, the report said.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — A third U.S. service member has been determined to have been electrocuted in a shower in Iraq, and Navy criminal investigators are investigating, The Associated Press has learned.
Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class David A. Cedergren, 25, of South St. Paul, Minn., died Sept. 11, 2004, while showering. His family was told he died of natural causes.
Late last year, the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology changed the manner of Cedergren’s death to “accidental,” caused by electrocution and inflammation of the heart. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has reopened an investigation into his death, Ed Buice, a NCIS spokesman, said Monday.
Cedergren’s death is among 18 electrocution deaths — 16 U.S. service members and two military contractors — under review as part of a Department of Defense Inspector General inquiry. Improperly installed or maintained electrical devices have been blamed in some of the deaths, while accidental contact with power lines caused others.
The inquiry primarily involves electrical work done at a facility where a Green Beret, Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, of Pittsburgh, was electrocuted while showering in January 2008.
Cedergren — a medic — was found in an outdoor shower stall in Camp Iskandariyah, Iraq, not breathing and without a pulse.
His brother, Barry Cedergren, said his family initially suspected he’d been shocked because, according to reports shown to the family, witnesses told investigators that some service members had reported being shocked in the shower.
He said military investigators took a second look at the case after a request from former Sen. Norm Coleman, R.-Minn.
“We’re looking further into what our options are,” said Barry Cedergren, of Ramsey, Minn.
Maseth’s death was initially considered accidental, but is now classified by Army investigators as “negligent homicide” caused by Houston-based contractor KBR Inc. and two of its supervisors. An Army investigator said the contractor failed to ensure that “qualified electricians and plumbers” did the work. The case is under legal review.
Last year, Maseth’s family sued KBR in Allegheny County, Pa., alleging wrongful death. The case was moved to federal court in western Pennsylvania, where it is pending.
NCIS spokesman Buice said he could not comment on evidentiary issues such as who was maintaining the shower where David Cedergren died.
Another service member electrocuted in Iraq while showering in a U.S.-maintained facility was identified in a congressional report as Army Cpl. Marcos Nolasco, 34, of Chino, Calif. Investigators concluded he was electrocuted when an ungrounded water heater shorted, the report said.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.