Brain injury treatment center slated for Lejeune

The 25,000-square-foot National Intrepid Center of Excellence is being financed by the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, which is undertaking a $100 million campaign to support the operation of centers at Camp Lejeune and Fort Belvoir, Va., and future facilities.

“Traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress are invisible wounds that so many of our men and women in uniform are suffering from as they return from service in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Arnold Fisher, honorary chairman of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, said in a statement. “They struggle with the most basic elements of life – how to tie shoelaces or remembering a spouse’s name. It is our duty as Americans to care for these men and women who have worn the cloth of our nation in battle and sacrificed a piece of themselves for our freedom."

The centers, which will be donated to the Department of Defense once they open, are modeled after a facility at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. They will provide medical care for service members without having to separate them from their units or leave their families for extended periods of treatment, officials said.

“Building the center (at Camp Lejeune) will enable us to provide localized advanced research and care for our Marines and sailors suffering from post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury and other related afflictions," Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, said in a statement.