[Blindtlk] Blinded by war: Injuries send troops into darkness

Sun Nov 25 03:35:12 CST 2007

This article is a good followup to the one that was sent about our woefully inadequate services for our blind veterans.

Blinded by war: Injuries send troops into darkness

USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2007-11-13-eyeinjuries_N.htm

 Army Lt. Ivan Castro, who was blinded by shrapnel in Iraq, gets a haircut from barber. More than 1,100 troops have suffered serious eye injuries during

the war.

  By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY

   Army Lt. Ivan Castro, who was blinded by shrapnel in Iraq, gets a haircut from barber. More than 1,100 troops have suffered serious eye injuries during

the war.

table end

 Ivan Castro in September 2006 in Youssifiyah, Iraq, minutes before a mortar round exploded near him and left him blind.

  BRAIN INJURIES ALSO DANGER TO VISION

 Glenn Minney lost most of his sight from a combat explosion. But it wasn't just the injuries to his eyes that cost him his vision it also was damage to

his brain.

 Minney, then a Navy corpsman, was wounded when a mortar landed near him in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005. The blast threw him 30 feet. His back struck a metal

railing, whipping his head backward. He lost his right eye. Vision in his left eye is impaired from physical injury and brain damage, he says.

 An emerging threat from the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is damage to the brain that affects vision, Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs medical

researchers say. This type of injury could mean that there are thousands of veterans with undiagnosed vision problems, says Tom Zampieri, of the Blinded

Veterans Association.

 Doctors didn't find Minney's neurological damage until after he left the military and was screened for brain injuries by the VA. "The public doesn't know

the true extent of these (brain) injuries," says Minney, 40, married and the father of two. He's now a patient advocate for the VA in Frankfort, Ohio.

 Concerns about eye injuries have prompted federal legislation that would create a $5 million Pentagon-based center for research and treatment of injured

eyes. It also would create a registry to track eye wounds.

 Minney suffered severe vision loss. Researchers are finding that less-severe vision problems also can occur among troops who suffer minor brain concussions

from combat, particularly exposure to a blast. "There are a lot of patients who have suffered mild to moderate brain injuries. Upon initial examination

their eyes looked healthy, but they were still reporting problems with their vision," says R. Cameron VanRoekel, an Army optometrist at Walter Reed Army

Medical Center in Washington.

 Gregory Goodrich, a research psychologist at VA facilities in Palo Alto, Calif., had similar findings in a study of 101 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans

with mild traumatic brain injuries. Many are still in the service.

 Goodrich found that 40% to 45% of the patients suffered vision loss even though their eyes were physically healthy. The biggest problem was an inability

for both eyes to operate precisely together. This can lead to eye strain and blurred vision.

 Left undiagnosed, it can also hamper vocational or educational training and aggravate depression and post-traumatic-stress disorder, Goodrich says. Veterans

may need an eye care specialist and corrective eyewear, he says.

 But Goodrich fears that routine eye examinations may not uncover the problems. "In many cases, we're seeing active-duty troops, and they want to get back

and join their units," he says. "So they don't want to hear that there's something they need to go get treated for."

 By Gregg Zoroya

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sherri 

sbrun at cfl.rr.com

 HURRY CHECK OUT NFBF FABULOUS ALASKAN CRUISE AT

http://www.nfbflorida.org/cruise.htm

TO DONATE YOUR USED CELL PHONE AND CHANGE WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BLIND IN CENTRAL FLORIDA go to:

Whether we succeed or fail in what we do is not the essential thing. 

What is important is the heart with which we live our lives.
-------------- next part --------------
This article is a good followup to the one that was sent about our woefully inadequate services for our blind veterans.

Blinded by war: Injuries send troops into darkness

USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2007-11-13-eyeinjuries_N.htm http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2007-11-13-eyeinjuries_N.htm

 Army Lt. Ivan Castro, who was blinded by shrapnel in Iraq, gets a haircut from barber. More than 1,100 troops have suffered serious eye injuries during

the war.

  By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY

   Army Lt. Ivan Castro, who was blinded by shrapnel in Iraq, gets a haircut from barber. More than 1,100 troops have suffered serious eye injuries during

the war.

table end

 Ivan Castro in September 2006 in Youssifiyah, Iraq, minutes before a mortar round exploded near him and left him blind.

  BRAIN INJURIES ALSO DANGER TO VISION

 Glenn Minney lost most of his sight from a combat explosion. But it wasn't just the injuries to his eyes that cost him his vision it also was damage to

his brain.

 Minney, then a Navy corpsman, was wounded when a mortar landed near him in Haditha, Iraq, in 2005. The blast threw him 30 feet. His back struck a metal

railing, whipping his head backward. He lost his right eye. Vision in his left eye is impaired from physical injury and brain damage, he says.

 An emerging threat from the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is damage to the brain that affects vision, Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs medical

researchers say. This type of injury could mean that there are thousands of veterans with undiagnosed vision problems, says Tom Zampieri, of the Blinded

Veterans Association.

 Doctors didn't find Minney's neurological damage until after he left the military and was screened for brain injuries by the VA. "The public doesn't know

the true extent of these (brain) injuries," says Minney, 40, married and the father of two. He's now a patient advocate for the VA in Frankfort, Ohio.

 Concerns about eye injuries have prompted federal legislation that would create a $5 million Pentagon-based center for research and treatment of injured

eyes. It also would create a registry to track eye wounds.

 Minney suffered severe vision loss. Researchers are finding that less-severe vision problems also can occur among troops who suffer minor brain concussions

from combat, particularly exposure to a blast. "There are a lot of patients who have suffered mild to moderate brain injuries. Upon initial examination

their eyes looked healthy, but they were still reporting problems with their vision," says R. Cameron VanRoekel, an Army optometrist at Walter Reed Army

Medical Center in Washington.

 Gregory Goodrich, a research psychologist at VA facilities in Palo Alto, Calif., had similar findings in a study of 101 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans

with mild traumatic brain injuries. Many are still in the service.

 Goodrich found that 40% to 45% of the patients suffered vision loss even though their eyes were physically healthy. The biggest problem was an inability

for both eyes to operate precisely together. This can lead to eye strain and blurred vision.

 Left undiagnosed, it can also hamper vocational or educational training and aggravate depression and post-traumatic-stress disorder, Goodrich says. Veterans

may need an eye care specialist and corrective eyewear, he says.

 But Goodrich fears that routine eye examinations may not uncover the problems. "In many cases, we're seeing active-duty troops, and they want to get back

and join their units," he says. "So they don't want to hear that there's something they need to go get treated for."

 By Gregg Zoroya

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sherri
mailto:sbrun at cfl.rr.com sbrun at cfl.rr.com
 HURRY CHECK OUT NFBF FABULOUS ALASKAN CRUISE AT
http://www.nfbflorida.org/cruise.htm http://www.nfbflorida.org/cruise.htm
TO DONATE YOUR USED CELL PHONE AND CHANGE WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BLIND IN CENTRAL FLORIDA go to:

http://www.wirelessfundraiser.com/WFR_Quickship.aspx?customerid=2010&LocationID=1223
http://www.wirelessfundraiser.com/images/vd-button.gif

Whether we succeed or fail in what we do is not the essential thing.
What is important is the heart with which we live our lives.
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