Boozman offers troop eye-trauma legislation
Posted on Friday, September 21, 2007
BENTON COUNTY — U. S. Rep. John Boozman’s bill aimed at improving the eye care of American troops affected by combat-related eye trauma is attracting legislative support from both Republicans and Democrats, said Ryan James, communications director for Boozman, R-Ark.
“ We expect to get quite a few more, to co-sponsor. It’s bipartisan (legislation ), ” James said Wednesday.
The bill, the “ Military Eye Trauma Treatment Act of 2007, ” H. R. 3558, would create a Center of Excellence within the Department of Defense specifically devoted to the prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, treatment and rehabilitation of military eye injuries.
It also would require a joint Defense-VA program for service members and veterans affected by visual dysfunction related to traumatic brain injury.
According to statistics, 54 percent of all service members treated at Walter Reed who have experienced traumatic brain injury have experienced vision dysfunction. At the Veterans Administration’s Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center in Palo Alto, Calif., 70 percent of those with TBI had developed vision dysfunction, Boozman said in a press release.
“ This is important legislation for the care of our wounded service members suffering from eye trauma on active duty. Serious eye wounds are among the most common injuries incurred by our troops in our current conflicts. … TBI has become the hallmark injury of our current conflicts. The treatment of TBI, and the vision issues deriving from it, is important work that the Defense Department and VA should work together and provide leadership on, ” Boozman said in the press release.
The House bill has been referred to the House Armed Services Committee, James said.
House members supporting the Boozman bill include U. S. Reps. John Hall, D-N. Y.; Heather Wilson, RN. M.; Shelley Berkley, DNev.; Marion Berry, D-Ark.; Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.; Robert Brady, D-Pa.; Bob Filler, DCalif., Bart Gordon, D-Tenn.; Robin Hayes, R-N. C.; James McGovern, D-Mass.; and Jeff Miller, R-Fla.
A similar bill is in the U. S. Senate, and differences between the bills will have to be ironed out before one final version can be considered by the president, James said.
Supporters of that Senate bill include U. S. Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass.; Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.; Barrack Obama, D-Ill.; and Pete Domenici, R-N. M.
Boozman graduated from the Southern College of Optometry in 1977 and entered private practice that same year as co-founder of Boozman-Hof Regional Eye Clinic in Rogers. He was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives in 2001.
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