President's letter

07-May-2010

Brain Injury Association of Michigan Friends,

What an exhilarating and yet very humbling experience for both Rick Briggs, BIAMI’s Veterans Program Manager and me yesterday in Washington, D.C. at the United States Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs!  We had a very successful day!  I believe we achieved what we were asked to do – to provide testimony on how successful the VA has been in contracting with public and private providers to provide TBI care to America’s veterans.  This was a very difficult task because we needed to be honest and tell them that at least in Michigan, they haven’t done this very well.  At the same time, we didn’t want to destroy the great relationships that Rick has built with the major veterans’ organizations because we need to work with them and we need them to be successful – thus, the difficulty we faced as we prepared both the written and verbal testimony.  (We have posted my full written testimony on the BIAMI website.  Nearly everyone on our staff and other advisors helped in preparing it – the verbal testimony took nearly a day’s worth of time – and we went through seven versions as we struggled to limit the verbal testimony to the 5 minutes that we were told we would have).

To be frank, I don’t believe we made any significant in-roads with the VA, or the Committee in understanding just how significant Michigan’s provider network is, the continuum of care they are able to provide, or their long history of providing some of the best brain injury cognitive rehabilitation care in the United States.  
 
However, we were very successful in meeting with Colonel Michael Jaffee, Director of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center; Senator Akaka, Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee; and other witnesses who we will be able to call upon in the future.  Also, very importantly, we met with the legislative aides of three senators who want to speak with us in greater detail in the next couple of weeks, and possibly have us return to Washington for future hearings, pertaining to changing Medicare Rules that would then cause Tricare coverage to be expanded to cover cognitive rehabilitation and long-term care.  

This latter point was one of our goals in attending, to develop relationships and credibility with key decision makers about the Brain Injury Association of Michigan and add to the existing credibility of Brain Injury Association of America as resources they should consult with as future legislative and policy issues arise around the issues of brain injury.

This was a very unique experience and an honor for us to be in Washington, D.C. representing our Association, our members and especially our veterans.  Yesterday morning as we walked by the U.S. Capitol on our way to the Russell Senate Building where the hearing was held, and realize we were there fighting for you was very humbling and a true honor for both Rick and me!

Michael F. Dabbs
President

---