Belvoir hospital opens doors of new Traumatic Brain Injury treatment center

The first satellite center of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence at Fort Belvoir opens its doors for new patients beginning Monday.

The Fort Belvoir National Intrepid Center of Excellence will extend the services of the main NICoE facility at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., to area servicemembers and be the new home of Traumatic Brain Injury care at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital.

Funded and conceived by the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, the Fort Belvoir NICoE satellite is the first of about seven to 10 satellite centers scheduled for construction over the next several years at some of the largest military deployment bases around the country. At 25,000 square feet, the NICoE satellite will serve about 600 servicemembers each year.

Our goal is to revolutionize the care model for Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress through an innovative, inter-disciplinary care model for both the warrior and Family to maximize functional ability and allow a productive return to military service or community, said Heechin Chae, Traumatic Brain Injury Department chief at Belvoir hospital.

The facility will use an interdisciplinary approach to TBI rehabilitation, featuring a comprehensive team offering intensive diagnosis and treatment, according to Chae.

Because of its unique clinical care model, providers are able to focus on both servicemembers and their Families while providing cutting edge evaluation and treatment plans, advanced research programs fully integrated into the clinical programs, education programs, long-term follow-up and continuity management in one central location he said.

In addition to providing state-of-the-art clinical care, the NICoE satellite conducts the critical mission of research and education in support of the main NICoE facility at Walter Reed. Healthcare providers at the satellite center will share information learned with the Walter Reed NICoE, which will aid in its ongoing research program to improve detection, diagnosis and treatment of TBI, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and related afflictions.

We also wish to continue this evolution of care through advanced research programs fully integrated with our clinical programs, Chae said. We will do this in a cost-effective manner allowing this program to be replicated universally.

Staffed to advance the understanding of complex human conditions coexisting in the same person, the facility and the healthcare providers will deliver the best and most advanced care possible to the nations heroes, while elevating the level of healthcare across the military health system, according to TBI clinic officials.

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Belvoir hospital opens doors of new Traumatic Brain Injury treatment center