After completing construction of NICoE at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD, the Fund once again worked closely with the military and healthcare communities to determine our next project. The ultimate decision was that traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress (PTS) were still at the forefront of health issues in service members returning from current conflicts. Now operated by the Department of Defense, the Fund’s NICoE project is the center of the Armed Forces’ efforts in researching, diagnosing and treating TBI, PTS and other related psychological injuries sustained by military personnel.
To further enhance TBI research, diagnosis and treatment, IFHF is now designing and building several additional centers that will serve as satellites to NICoE, to be located at some of the largest military deployment bases around the country. These NICoE Satellite Centers will extend the care currently provided at NICoE out to the home bases of many of the troops suffering the effects of TBI. Data from these centers will be transmitted back to NICoE and aid in its ongoing research program, helping to improve detection, diagnosis and treatment of TBI, PTS and related afflictions. Secondarily, IFHF will also provide financial support for research efforts at these facilities and at NICoE.
The NICoE Satellite Centers will be of smaller scale than NICoE and will focus on diagnosis and treatment. The Centers may be built as independent stand-alone structures or may be incorporated into existing structures, depending on the conditions at each base at which the Centers are built. The size and scope of each Center will also vary, depending on conditions at each base. The first Center will be built at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, and is estimated at approximately 18,000 square feet and with a construction budget of approximately $7.5 million. The fundraising and construction program for the NICoE Satellite Centers is projected to extend up to three years.
Once complete, the network of NICoE Satellite Centers will provide the most advanced care possible to returning military personnel suffering from TBI, PTS and related afflictions; enhance the means of properly identifying and diagnosing these conditions in the Centers, in other military and VA medical facilities and in the field; ensure the continued care of individual patients as they move through NICoE, military medical, VA and potentially external medical systems; and continuously research the causes and effects of these conditions to better understand them and develop the best care and treatment possible.