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HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1
By Reedy
HJR0001
000110
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A RESOLUTION to urge the United States Congress to enact
legislation and request that the Veterans
Administration work to expand and improve
efforts to treat traumatic brain injuries and post-
traumatic stress disorder.
WHEREAS, national veteran suicide crises data indicates that as many as twenty-two
veterans commit suicide every day; and
WHEREAS, traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder can be causes of
suicide; and
WHEREAS, data collected from 2000 to 2019 from Department of Defense numbers for
Active, Guard, and Reserve members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines indicate that
for all severities of traumatic brain injuries, a total of 413,858 service members suffer from
traumatic brain injuries; and
WHEREAS, the number of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder varies by service
era but ranges from approximately eleven percent to approximately thirty percent; and
WHEREAS, among the many societal costs of traumatic brain injury among the veteran
population in Tennessee are the fiscal impacts, with lost sales tax revenue related to veterans
suffering from traumatic brain injuries recently estimated at $37,549,847 annually; and
WHEREAS, traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder both involve
physical injury to brain tissue; and
WHEREAS, a tragically high number of veterans with traumatic brain injury and chronic
pain have become victims of the opioid use disorder epidemic; and
WHEREAS, current standards of care approved for veterans for traumatic brain injuries
and post-traumatic stress disorder focus on medication and counseling; and
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WHEREAS, additional treatments, vocational counseling, and rehabilitation therapies
exist that have been clinically proven to mitigate symptoms and improve recovery when used
alone or integrated with counseling. Additional therapies to treat traumatic brain injuries and
post-traumatic stress disorder include physical therapy, occupational therapy, cognitive therapy,
speech therapy, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy; and
WHEREAS, hyperbaric oxygen therapy couples hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatment,
which promotes oxygen for healing and restoring injured brain tissue, together with counseling;
and
WHEREAS, access to a variety of treatments improves a veteran's opportunities for
healing and recovery; and
WHEREAS, the Veterans' National Traumatic Injury Treatment Act (2023 H.R. 3649)
would require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a pilot program to furnish hyperbaric
oxygen therapy to veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress
disorder; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED
FOURTEENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE SENATE
CONCURRING, that we strongly urge the United States Congress to swiftly enact legislation to
provide for veterans' access to treatments for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress
disorder that include hyperbaric oxygen therapy, such as the Veterans' National Traumatic
Injury Treatment Act, and any other legislation improving or authorizing access to other
important therapies and counseling, and legislation fostering research and development of
additional therapies.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted to
the Speaker and the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the President and the
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Secretary of the United States Senate, and each member of the Tennessee Congressional
delegation.