CAP Takes Mission International in Visit to Germany

The mission of the DOD’s Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program is to “ensure that people with disabilities and wounded Service members have equal access to the information environment and opportunities in the Department of Defense and throughout the Federal government.” In February, CAP staff members Michael Young and Kameelah Montgomery took this mission abroad. Young and Montgomery visited Vilseck, U.S. Army Health Center Bamberg and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, all located at military installations in Germany.

In April, 4,000 Service members deployed to Afghanistan will return home to U.S. Army Health Clinic Vilseck. Two hundred already have been identified for referral to the mild traumatic brain injury clinic at Vilseck.

“The number of Service members diagnosed with cognitive-communication impairments always increases when they return to their home facility and further screenings are conducted,” said Sharon Graff, speech/language pathologist at Vilseck.

Still more Service members are likely to return with non-cognitive injuries. For CAP, this means an increase in requests for accommodations coming from Vilseck and the other military treatment facilities in Germany.

Young and Montgomery began this process by conducting needs assessments of 14 Service members at Vilseck. They performed both individual and group assessments to determine what sort of accommodations these returning soldiers might need.

“Group assessments are typically good because the Service members can see that one size does not fit all,” Young said, “And they understand the personalization of the accommodations based on their needs.”

In addition to conducting assessments, CAP staff members also educated staff at the military treatment facilities about CAP, the Wounded Service Member initiative and assistive technology. Young and Montgomery demonstrated assistive technologies and answered questions for doctors, nurses, physical therapists and Service members at all three military treatment facilities they visited.

“Kameelah and I both had people lined up to talk to us,” Young said. “Often we couldn't get one question answered before another was asked. There was much interest and good dialogue.”

They worked with visiting health care providers and Service members from other installations, and even other countries. The CAP demonstrations and talks at Landstuhl were attended by Romanian Army Capt. Robert Munteanu, M.D., and Georgian Army Capt. Mikheil Gongliashvili, M.D., who had no prior first-hand experience with assistive technology. CAP cannot provide technologies to coalition troops, but the team quickly developed an assistive technology reference that listed technologies and vendors, as well as resources for conducting needs assessments.

The visit to Landstuhl was an opportunity to learn more about the particular needs of Service members stationed in Germany. Young and Montgomery learned that American-made FM transmitters, a common assistive technology component for the hearing impaired, are not permitted in Germany because of signal interference. CAP will now be able to find other solutions for hearing-impaired Service members stationed or headed to Germany, and learned of the need for Hearing Helpers and voice-output devices in the facility at Landstuhl.

By engaging with the staffs at these MTFs, Young and Montgomery were able to provide knowledge to local health care providers, while learning to better support the troops returning to Germany after serving in combat.

By Sharon Terrell-Lindsay, Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program 

Kathryn Yuhas, OCIO Communications, contributed to this report.