Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Philadelphia Inquirer
September 14, 2007 By Jay Price, McClatchy Newspapers
RALEIGH, N.C.-- Troops who lose limbs in Iraq are fitted with sophisticated replacements such as computer-controlled legs. Now, some of the thousands who have returned with brain injuries are getting a prosthetic for the mind - a "personal digital assistant" that serves as their short-term memory.
"If I couldn't use it, I basically wouldn't be able to function," said Master Sgt. Tony Wisyanski, an 82d Airborne Division paratrooper based at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Wisyanski suffered a brain injury and other wounds Oct. 1 in Iraq when his humvee was struck by two rocket-propelled grenades. While he was being treated at a brain-injury center in Virginia, a speech pathologist ordered a PDA for him.
In what amounts to official endorsements of the idea, the military and Veterans Affairs health-care systems have begun providing the handheld computers to troops and veterans with brain injuries to remind them of appointments, medication, and family and job obligations.
Losing short-term memory is a common effect of traumatic brain injury, which roadside bombs in Iraq have made the signature injury of the war. Even if troops escape physical wounds, they may suffer brain damage from the force of the blasts.
Estimates of the number who have suffered at least mild brain injuries there and in Afghanistan range as high as 150,000. A study by the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, a consortium of active-duty and veterans' health-care facilities, found that 64 percent of injured troops examined had suffered brain injuries.
The VA paid for 46 personal digital assistants last year and 135 so far this year, a spokeswoman in Washington said. The number is almost certain to increase, since the VA only in recent months began screening Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in its system for brain injuries.
Personal digital assistants were first known as scheduling aids, thanks to their digital organizers. Now they can come with a host of other features, including cell phones, text messaging, audio recording, Internet access and satellite navigation.
A good one can cost several hundred dollars, depending on features. Wisyanski said that because he was one of the first to get one at the treatment center, the doctors were a little concerned that the purchase might be viewed as frivolous.
It isn't, said Bruce Capehart, a staff psychiatrist at the Durham VA Medical Center.
"This isn't a matter of just convenience," Capehart said. "These patients need it for their medicine, they need it for their health-care appointment, and to live their lives from day to day."
Wisyanski's PDA broke two weeks ago, and he hasn't been able to get it fixed yet. In the meantime, he has been learning what it would be like to try to live without it again. It can't be done, he said. Asked whether he had missed any appointments since it broke, he said no. Then he thought a moment and corrected himself: "Oh, I did yesterday."
He had forgotten that he had forgotten.
September 14, 2007 By Jay Price, McClatchy Newspapers
RALEIGH, N.C.-- Troops who lose limbs in Iraq are fitted with sophisticated replacements such as computer-controlled legs. Now, some of the thousands who have returned with brain injuries are getting a prosthetic for the mind - a "personal digital assistant" that serves as their short-term memory.
"If I couldn't use it, I basically wouldn't be able to function," said Master Sgt. Tony Wisyanski, an 82d Airborne Division paratrooper based at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Wisyanski suffered a brain injury and other wounds Oct. 1 in Iraq when his humvee was struck by two rocket-propelled grenades. While he was being treated at a brain-injury center in Virginia, a speech pathologist ordered a PDA for him.
In what amounts to official endorsements of the idea, the military and Veterans Affairs health-care systems have begun providing the handheld computers to troops and veterans with brain injuries to remind them of appointments, medication, and family and job obligations.
Losing short-term memory is a common effect of traumatic brain injury, which roadside bombs in Iraq have made the signature injury of the war. Even if troops escape physical wounds, they may suffer brain damage from the force of the blasts.
Estimates of the number who have suffered at least mild brain injuries there and in Afghanistan range as high as 150,000. A study by the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, a consortium of active-duty and veterans' health-care facilities, found that 64 percent of injured troops examined had suffered brain injuries.
The VA paid for 46 personal digital assistants last year and 135 so far this year, a spokeswoman in Washington said. The number is almost certain to increase, since the VA only in recent months began screening Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in its system for brain injuries.
Personal digital assistants were first known as scheduling aids, thanks to their digital organizers. Now they can come with a host of other features, including cell phones, text messaging, audio recording, Internet access and satellite navigation.
A good one can cost several hundred dollars, depending on features. Wisyanski said that because he was one of the first to get one at the treatment center, the doctors were a little concerned that the purchase might be viewed as frivolous.
It isn't, said Bruce Capehart, a staff psychiatrist at the Durham VA Medical Center.
"This isn't a matter of just convenience," Capehart said. "These patients need it for their medicine, they need it for their health-care appointment, and to live their lives from day to day."
Wisyanski's PDA broke two weeks ago, and he hasn't been able to get it fixed yet. In the meantime, he has been learning what it would be like to try to live without it again. It can't be done, he said. Asked whether he had missed any appointments since it broke, he said no. Then he thought a moment and corrected himself: "Oh, I did yesterday."
He had forgotten that he had forgotten.