Virtual reality technology for wounded warriors' treatment to be showcased

Press releases may be edited for formatting or style | August 20, 2010

New approaches
to brain injuries

NEW YORK - Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy technology used in Air Force mental health clinics to treat wounded warriors suffering from post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries will be featured at the Intrepid Sea and Air & Space Museum during Air Force Week New York festivities Aug. 24-Aug 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

"Virtual Iraq," a Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy system, involves exposing patients to a virtual world that simulates the sources of combat stress. By gradually reintroducing the patient to the experiences that triggered the trauma, the memory becomes tolerable.

The point of the therapy is to re-live the worst of the war; to re-live the event that trapped a service member into the frightening flashbacks resulting from post traumatic stress, a condition that affects tens of thousands of Afghan and Iraq war returnees. It's an intense experience--taking troops back to a place where it was appropriate to be stressed, even to be terrified; that's what kept them alive.

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But this is a safe place. Troops with post traumatic stress realize that and that's why this treatment works.

Lt. Col. (Dr.) Antonio Eppolito, Chief of Air Force Telemedicine, and Maj. Walter Cato, Deputy Chief of Air Force Telemedicine, from the Air Force Surgeon General's Directorate of Modernization will be on hand to demonstrate the technology for attendees.

Pier 86, where the Air Force displays are massed, is completely free and open to the public.

Planned Systems International, Inc. (PSI), a leading provider of information technology (IT) solutions and services to the federal government, provides management oversight to the Air Force Medical Service Office of the Surgeon General to deliver this specialized care.

Air Force Week New York City will be held Aug. 24-29 with various displays, flyovers, band concerts and more throughout the city's five boroughs. Air Force Week brings Airmen to New York neighborhoods to tell their stories, as well as gives them an opportunity to thank the people of New York City for their support of Airmen around the world.