State of Texas County of Austin in the Commissioners Court
Resolution Advocating Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Other Medical Treatments and Therapy for TBI and PTSD – HBOT Grassroots Movement in County of Austin TX
National Grassroots Movement for HBOT Begins in Texas
WHEREAS, the ‘signature wounds’ of Iraq and Afghanistan are Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and are significant health issues for Texas Veterans returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), and Operation New Dawn (OND)), and
WHEREAS, the effects of these conditions are usually long lasting and often life threatening (frequently suicide), and currently there are no definitive medical treatments for TBI and the treatments being provided today are only palliative drugs and/or counseling, and
WHEREAS, several, well documented, more curative therapies are available, including Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), that offer additional, alternative, curative ways to restore affected Veterans lives and minds, and
WHEREAS, numerous studies have demonstrated that the untreated, lingering effects of these injuries adversely impact the returned Veterans’ lives, resulting frequently in destroyed families, drug and alcohol use, unemployment, mental illness, incarceration, and homelessness, and
WHEREAS, these results show up in society and communities as increased unemployment rates, public health care treatment costs, mental illness costs, alcohol and drug treatment costs, family breakups, and disrupted lives, and
WHEREAS, neither the VA, Military Medicine, nor Medicare will reimburse Medical Practitioners for their efforts to help these Veterans.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Commissioners Court of Austin County, Texas, does hereby urge the Texas State Government to provide appropriate funding and focus to provide results orientated, evidence based, proven treatment, including Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, for returning Texas Veterans that suffer the residual, after-effects of TBI and PTSD.
PASSED IN OPEN COURT, this 6th day of June 2014, Population 28,618
Austin County, Texas
