Missoula, Mont. – During a recent visit to the Rehabilitation Institute of Montana at Community Medical Center in Missoula, Mont., U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., took little time to point out his goals for the healthcare provided to America’s wounded war veterans. “We need to ensure that the men and women who fight for this country and are wounded in battle receive the very best care when they return home,” Tester said during the tour. “I think partnerships between the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs and facilities like this one are key to ensuring that happens.”

Tester sits on the U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and is the co-sponsor of the Rural Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2007, which seeks to improve access to healthcare for veterans in rural states such as Montana. Among other things, the act would help fund transportation for injured vets to get to and from treatment. It would also encourage the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs to improve partnerships with facilities like the Rehabilitation Institute of Montana (RIM).

“Studies are very clear. When injured veterans are diagnosed correctly and receive rehabilitation services close to home, they benefit,” says Jeanne Elliott, RIM’s director. “Montana veterans who receive treatment here can be with their families and reconnect with their communities. We can provide them the kind of ongoing rehabilitative care they won’t get at federal institutions.”

On hand for Tester’s visit were two Iraq War veterans. Retired Capt. Danny Psoinos was injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq, spending 15 months at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington D.C. Psoinos tells a story of a mixed experience at Walter Reed. Physicians gave him great care and saved his arm and leg, but he was released into a quagmire of poor rehabilitation options and continuous battles for coverage of his healthcare needs. “Once I was an outpatient, it was a nightmare. I wouldn’t have wished it on anyone,” says Psoinos.

Jared Baker suffered a head injury when the U.S. Army helicopter he was riding in was shot down over Fallujah. He, too, received care at Walter Reed. But after moving to Montana to work with his brother, he was referred to Bridges, RIM’s brain-injury treatment program. The program has been providing Baker with speech and occupational therapy in preparation for returning to work and life. And his progress has been excellent.

Teresa Drakos, coordinator of Bridges, explained to Tester the important role RIM’s program plays in helping brain injury patients, such as Jared, return to productive lives. “When brain injury patients receive proper treatment they can improve, sometimes dramatically. In our program, 98 percent of our patients improve in living function. The work we do helps them cope with lifelong disabilities. And the sooner that treatment begins, the better the outcome.”

RIM’s advanced facilities and qualified staff are key to its success. The facility oversees transitional living apartments, as well as a therapy pool and areas dedicated to various kinds of physical and occupational therapies. The staff itself is also among the most experienced and qualified in the region. Fourteen of the 16 certified brain injury specialists in the state of Montana work at RIM.

“We are uniquely qualified to accept patients at any point in their continuum of care and complete that continuum, be it at the beginning of their recovery or in their final stages of rehabilitation,” says Elliott.

After completing the tour and hearing what RIM has to offer injured veterans and other Montanans, Tester agreed that the facility is an example he can point to when talking about private/public healthcare partnerships back in Washington, D.C.

“I believe that one of the costs of war is living up to our promises to veterans,” Tester says. “That includes giving them the best possible care for as long as it’s required. Facilities like this one here in Missoula will play a crucial role in us living up to that promise.”

The Rehabilitation Institute of Montana at Community Medical Center is a CARF-accredited facility serving Montana and the Northwestern United States. RIM is located on the campus of Community Medical Center in Missoula, Montana.