Colorado lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday aimed at improving care for active-duty service members with traumatic brain injury.
U.S. Reps. Jason Crow, D-Aurora, and Jeff Crank, R-Colorado Springs, worked together on the bill that would create a working group to study strategies for treating traumatic brain injuries through digital health technologies and recommend an investment plan. The group will draw on expertise in clinical care, biomedical informatics, engineering and implementation science, according to the proposal called the Support Modern Approaches in Recovery Technology for Traumatic Brain Injury, or SMART for TBIs.
The bill could be included in the annual National Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass piece of defense legislation.
“As a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, caring for our service members is personal to me,” Crow said in a statement, adding that the work will identify new ways to treat the injuries.
Traumatic brain injuries can be caused from explosions from combat and in a controlled setting during training. Some of symptoms include mood changes, memory changes, physical performance changes, trouble sleeping, dizziness and headaches. It is also associated with a higher risk of suicide.
Among veterans from the Global War on Terror, it’s also been a fairly common injury with 414,000 traumatic brain injuries diagnosed among service members from 2000 to 2019, according to the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center.
Crank said in the statement he believed that, through artificial intelligence and digital health technologies, treatment could see benefits.
“We owe it to our servicemen and women, along with our veterans, to advance traumatic brain injury treatments,” Crank said.
A dedicated clinic on Fort Carson called the Intrepid Spirit Center offers care for active-duty service members with TBIs through a range of offerings including yoga, art, music and physical therapy. Some of the interactive tools in the clinic help test patients practice their balance, ability to drive and reaction times.
Patients with traumatic brain injury can see some of the best outcomes if they seek care within the first three months, The Gazette reported previously.