Illinois Guardsmen to be Screened for Traumatic Brain Injury

The Macomb Journal, Illinois

GALESBURG - Illinois National Guard members are the first in the nation required to be screened for traumatic brain injury when they return from duty in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich made the announcement last week, noting that all Illinois veterans can take part in the screening for traumatic brain injury. The effort, which may be in place by the end of August, includes a 24-hour toll-free hotline for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Tammy Duckworth, director of the state Department of Veterans Affairs, said the TBI screening will be part of a Guard member's demobilization process and will detect the problem in people who may not otherwise be screened."

"You may not realize you have the brain injury," she said in a telephone interview.

The service member may think he or she is fine, she said, but others may notice a quick temper or a loss of memory that wasn't there before.

"You are not yourself," she said.

The brain injuries are not always visible, Duckworth said. Everyone in a vehicle hit by a roadside bomb, for example, may walk away without a scratch.

"They just go back to duty," she said.

But, she said, they could have suffered a brain injury from the concussion of the explosion and not know it.

Duckworth lost both legs in Iraq when the helicopter she was flying was hit by a rocket fired from the ground in November 2004. She remains a member of the Illinois National Guard.

The IDVA is working with experts at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago to implement the screening tool. A series of questions over 20 minutes or so will alert the expert to any problems. From there, the soldier or airman would be sent for a brain scan to detect an injury.

"It's really the trademark injury of this war," Duckworth said, but no one can agree on how many brain injuries are suffered. Estimates range from 10 percent to 60 percent of the troops leaving the war zone.

"It's just amazing to me that nobody knows the true figures for brain injuries," she said in a telephone interview.

She said one concern is that brain injuries can be misdiagnosed as PTSD. In addition, the drugs given a PTSD patient may cause additional harm to the injured part of the brain.

"It's important to make sure people are screened for both," she said.

The effort gets the support of Maj. Gen. Randal E. Thomas, adjutant general of the Illinois Army and Air National Guard. He said more than 8,000 soldiers and about 1,000 airmen from the Illinois Guard have served in Iraq, Afghanistan and places supporting the fight.

"We have to give priority to the welfare of these great citizen soldiers," he said. "I'm thrilled that we are taking the lead on this."

Thomas, a Vietnam veteran who, in his current position, signed the orders to send his son to Iraq as a National Guard member, said there is no way to know for sure how many people return from the combat zone with brain injuries.

"We just really need a good screening tool," he said.

Soldiers returning from their overseas duty go through a series of stops at the demobilization to get information on education benefits and the like, he said. That's when this screening can take place.

"I think the soldier will be glad to take one more screening to see that he's OK," he said.