Texas Border Business
Will remove restrictions on Department of Defense trauma services training
WASHINGTON— Today, Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) secured an amendment to H.R. 5515, the fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, allowing the Department of Defense (DoD) to partner with community hospitals to train trauma surgeons and response teams in communities that have few trauma services locally available.
Through passage of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, Congressman Cuellar made important changes to the way the U.S. military trains their combat surgeons. Until now, the DoD has been limited to collaborating with only large metropolitan Level I Trauma Centers to train surgeons and emergency response teams. This limitation prevents the DoD from partnering with smaller emergency rooms in rural or remote communities.
Congressman Cuellar stated, “By removing these key restrictions, the military branches can now partner with smaller community-based hospitals in border communities, to embed trauma surgical teams and life-saving trauma services within these healthcare facilities.” Congressman Cuellar’s amendment provides a critical service to these communities while also providing a realistic training environment for military medics. “I see no better win-win for our civilian healthcare systems and military medicine then what we’ve done with this NDAA,” Cuellar added.
It is necessary to work with all trauma centers in order to address the full spectrum of training for critical surgical skills. These new partnerships will offer military medical teams sufficient real-world, pre-deployment trauma training while at the same time provide a robust trauma service to underserved cities. Additionally, civilian physicians will benefit from working alongside service members who have spent years treating and responding to some of the worst trauma cases imaginable. This collaboration elevates the abilities of all involved and helps physicians better serve Texas communities.
