Home Depot co-founder opens wallet to vets' plight, Shepherd Center

[admin]

Home Depot co-founder opens wallet to vets' plight, Shepherd Center,

Posted by: "Colonel Dan" colonel-dan@sbcglobal.net coloneldan1

Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:47 am (PDT)

Home Depot co-founder opens wallet to vets' plight
Bernie Marcus foots the bill for injured soldiers who need specialized
medical care offered by Shepherd Center.
http://www.ajc. com/metro/ content/business /stories/ 2008/03/10/ shepherd_ 0311.h
tml#

By <mailto:svisser@ajc. com> STEVE VISSER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitutio n
Published on: 03/11/08

In a move meant to help injured soldiers and send Washington a message,
Atlanta businessman Bernie Marcus stepped up Monday to help veterans get
top-flight medical care. But he warned there was a limit to his generosity.

Marcus got involved in January after he heard of a soldier who was treated
at the Shepherd Center and was improving, but faced the loss of funding.

"It angered me," said Marcus, a co-founder of Home Depot and now a
billionaire philanthropist. " It is disgraceful and it is not something that
we should have to tolerate in this country."

Marcus offered to underwrite the costs - care, transportation and housing -
of any wounded soldier, sailor or Marine whom the Shepherd Center, a
renowned Atlanta clinic for brain and spinal injuries, approved for
treatment.

At a press conference Monday at the Shepherd Center, Marcus said he wanted
to set an example for his fellow philanthropists. He aims to bring financial
help and possibly shame the Pentagon and Congress into covering all medical
treatment costs for its vets.

"We can't take care of everybody in the military, that is obvious, but
perhaps we can set a standard for around the country," he said. "I expect
that the government is going to take care of them eventually. It is their
obligation."

There has been a budding movement of families across the country demanding
specialized care for combat veterans with severe traumatic brain injuries
because they view the military system as overtaxed and not on par with the
nation's best rehabilitative hospitals.

Last year, for instance, Army Pvt. Vincent Mannion became the first New
England soldier to win approval for private hospital care for a traumatic
brain injury after an intense campaign by his family, according to The
Boston Globe.

There is no set budget for the so-called SHARE Initiative. Marcus said he'll
start paying bills, and hopes other donors and medical centers will join in.

"We'll try to take care of as many people as we can," Marcus said.

An estimated 10 to 20 percent of troops leaving Iraq have signs of
concussion, or mild traumatic brain injury, Shepherd Center officials said,
citing Army statistics.

The military health-care system has been overwhelmed by the number of head
injuries coming especially from the war in Iraq where insurgents use
roadside bombs to attack troops, according to Shepherd CEO Gary Ulicny.
Thousands of troops suffer mild or moderate head injuries from these
concussions and the damage often goes undiagnosed, Ulicny said.

"The mild ones can be more deceiving than the serious ones - the guy looks
fine and is walking around talking," he said. "He becomes overly emotional,
becomes very impulsive and becomes frustrated easily and this makes it hard
for him to hold a job."

The families of some head-injury victims have demanded the more specialized
private care, such as that offered by Shepherd Center, said Shepherd's
medical director Dr. Donald Leslie. Ulicny said that the military wasn't
prepared for the onslaught of head injuries and doesn't have the expertise
of Shepherd in treatment or diagnosis of brain and spinal injuries.

"They don't have the neuropsychologists to keep up with them," Ulicny said.
"We are trying to help those folks who are seeking help or who haven't been
able to get it in the military system. ..."

Soldiers with less-severe and less-obvious injuries may also have trouble
getting a full range of care, Shepherd Center officials said. The new
initiative will cover additional services, including brain scans and
psychological evaluations, rehabilitation, bathroom equipment and even
canes.

"We're going to get these folks," Ulicny said.

Brig. Gen. Donald Bradshaw, commander of the Southeast Regional Medical
Command, estimated the number of combat-related serious head injuries - such
as shrapnel wounds -at 600. But he said it was impossible to guess the
number of moderate and mild injuries that may result in psychological
problems for vets.

"We scan all [the wounded] for brain injuries and they are taken care of,"
Bradshaw said. "It's not that the military can duplicate Shepherd. ... We
don't have its expertise."

Leslie, Shepherd's medical director, said the center hoped to catch brain
injuries that were missed by military doctors or resulted in psychological
behaviors that were misdiagnosed later.

Also joining the initiative is Humana Military Healthcare Services, a
contractor that manages the government's TRICARE health insurance program
for military service members and their dependents in nine Southeastern
states and part of Texas.

Orie Mulen, chief operating officer for Humana, said wounded vets can lose
access to treatment because they don't navigate the military's health care
bureaucracy and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' bureaucracy
properly.

"It is a very complex system," he said.