Rep. Boozman, AOA Officials Tour Military Eye Care Facilities at Walter Reed Army Medi...( AOA Seeks to Aid America's Wounded...),Health

AOA Seeks to Aid America's Wounded Warriors Facing Combat-Related Eye

Trauma and Vision Damage Associated with Traumatic Brain Injury

WASHINGTON, May 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Eye wounds and combat-related vision loss have been among the most common types of injury for America's soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. On May 19, 2008 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. John Boozman, O.D. (R-AR), incoming American Optometric Association (AOA) President Peter H. Kehoe, O.D, and other nationally prominent doctors of optometry met with Department of Defense (DoD) health officials to discuss the current state of military eye and vision care for America's wounded warriors facing combat-related eye trauma and vision damage associated with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Since 2002, nearly 1,350 courageous American military personnel have suffered combat eye trauma and were evacuated from overseas military operations. An increase in road-side bomb and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks on American troops has resulted in TBI quickly becoming known as the "signature injury" among soldiers returning from the front-lines of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Rep. Boozman, the AOA is committed to a long-term leadership role in helping to ensure that American military service personnel wounded in U.S. conflicts receive the highest quality and most advanced eye and vision care.

Highly attuned to this growing problem, Rep. Boozman, a senior member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, sponsored the Military Eye Trauma Treatment Act, a part of legislation approved by Congress and signed into law on January 28, 2008 (Public Law 110-181). The law establishes a national Center of Excellence dedicated to providing military and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) eye doctors and eye health teams with the best information on
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