VA Budget Adds Mental-Health Services for Returning Combat Vets

VA Budget Adds Mental-Health Services for Returning Combat Vets

Written by Press Release
Thursday, 09 April 2009 22:17

WASHINGTON--(ENEWSPF)--April 9, 2009 – The proposed Department of Veterans Affairs funding request will provide more post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury services to combat veterans, as well as other mental-health care and services for wounded warriors, President Barack Obama said today.
“The nightmares of war don't always end when our loved ones return home,” Obama said. “Untold thousands of servicemen and -women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or other serious psychological injury.”

The president called the growing incidence of suicide among active-duty servicemembers and returning combat veterans “disturbing.”

“Sometimes the deadliest wounds are the ones you cannot see, and we cannot afford to let the unseen wounds go untreated,” he said. “And that's why this budget dramatically increases funding for mental-health screening and treatment at all levels.”

The proposed budget represents the largest single-year increase in VA funding in three decades. “All told, we will increase funding by $25 billion over the next five years,” the president said.

Obama recognized that thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have suffered from traumatic brain injury, and said the budget will provide improved services for these cognitive injuries.

“Many with TBI have never been evaluated by a physician,” he said. “And because such injuries can often have long-term impacts that only show up down the road, this funding will help ensure they received the ongoing care they need.”
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VA Budget Adds Mental-Health Services for Returning Combat Vets