by KATHARINE JARMUL

Recent analysis of government data has found that more than 60 percent of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer injuries from improvised explosive devices and often develop symptoms of traumatic brain injury.

The new data was compiled by certified rehabilitation counselor Jessica Harbaugh, who works with veterans in New York City. Her findings have yet to be released, but

Harbaugh said that it shows how important it is to provide long-term committed care to veterans suffering from brain injuries.

“It’s a lifelong disability and there are personality changes, cognitive changes and vocational changes,” Harbaugh said.

A presidential commission investigating the Walter Reed Medical center last month urged Congress to update benefits and rehabilitation care to disabled veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

President Bush’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors recommended six significant legislative steps to fundamentally change the care of wounded veterans and their families. The recommendations include a greater focus on mental health care, home support for severely disabled veterans, lifetime insurance and compensation for veterans and families, and increased personal attention from knowledgeable case workers and trained health care professionals. They have yet to be implemented.

“This is a new kind of warfare,” former Sen. Bob Dole, commission co-chair, said during the commission’s hearing last month. “We have to bring the benefits up-to-date.”

Harbaugh said most veterans were not receiving the inpatient care that they would benefit from the most. These veterans were often receiving speech therapy several times a week and working with notebooks or computers in their spare time, she said. Some civilians who have traumautic head injuries experience one to three years in a concentrated rehabilitation setting, according to Harbaugh.

“To me, personally, [speech therapy] seems kind of like a band-aid. I don’t know how much of it is evidence-based treatment,” Harbaugh said.

Donna Shalala, commission co-chair and former Secretary of Health and Human Services, described how many veterans get lost in bureaucratic red tape between the Department of Defense and Veterans’ Affairs services. According to Shalala, most veterans find claims too confusing to file.

To illustrate alternatives, she outlined a common procedure, where a single case manager is assigned to each injured officer to aid navigation of the disability and benefits systems. One of the commission’s recommendations calls for a single case manager to handle all business related to an injured soldier and the soldier’s family.

Harbaugh also emphasized the importance of having family members involved in rehabilitation, something the commission recommended.

“The families often notice the person is different. It’s important to work with them. Especially with the mild [traumatic brain injury] cases, family members are key in noting differences,” Harbaugh said.

Criticism of the veterans’ care system emerged after a Washington Post investigation of Walter Reed Medical Center in February 2007. The reports documented the ill-equipped buildings and extended bureaucratic delays faced by returning soldiers. As a result, the head of the medical center Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman was fired, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey was forced to resign, and Army surgeon general Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley retired under pressure. There are several independent governmental investigations into the facility and veterans’ care.

After a congressional hearing in March on the deplorable health care conditions for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush formed the Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors to research potential solutions to the current state of veteran health care.

Dole and Shalala were chosen to chair the President’s Commission in March. Both mentioned that the White House will be recommending further steps to care for returning veterans, particularly legislation involving lifetime care and benefits for disabled veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We, the Congress, will have to act quickly,” Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., said during last month’s hearing. “We can’t repeat the homeless and suicide rates from Vietnam.” Filner is chairman of the committee.

Since the hearing on Sept. 19, there have been no moves to create new legislation to implement the recommendations.

Dole pushed the committee to think about the repercussions of continued delays. He shared the story of Sgt. Matt Lammers, a triple amputee, whose can-do attitude mirrored that of many veterans he visited during the investigation. Dole warned against ignoring the implications of Lammers’ injuries.

“Is he going to be able to make enough money to take care of his family?” Dole asks. “If you’ve lost three limbs, your quality of life has gone from a 10 to a three.”

At a White House Press Conference, President Bush announced support for the commission’s recommendations and directed Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson to study and implement the recommendations