'Children Center' for Vietnam Veterans

This is a proposal for a Center to provide diagnosis and treatment of Vietnam Veterans' children with structural and/or functional disabilities. It would include the following:

1) Collect data (National Birth Defect Registry – http://www.birthdefects.org) on the most frequently reported conditions in children of Vietnam Veterans.

2) Identify specialists in fields most relevant to these conditions; Encourage specialists to work at this Center who have experience in environmental illness and invite them to participate in this project.

3) Construct or adapt an existing hospital/clinic to serve as the proposed Center. The location should be central to make it easier for more families to access.

4) Provide state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment and research information.

5) Provide free travel vouchers for one or both parents and the child to visit the center.

6) Provide room, food, and transportation vouchers during the stay.

7) The child or children will be evaluated by the team. A report with diagnosis and treatment recommendations will be provided to the child's primary physician.

8) Periodic reports sent from child's physician (at home) to the Center and (video) conferences held if needed. Physician's time and fees would be funded by the legislation.

9) Child will return to the Center annually or more often until his/her condition is stabilized.

10) Researchers and physicians participating in the Center will collect data for studies to be published. This will expand the Center's experience to the scientific community as a whole.

11) The goal is for the Center to be autonomous, independent, and objective.

12) Once data is collected for Children of Vietnam Veterans, this program could be expanded to aid and assist other veteran children with a recognized pattern of birth defects of structural disabilities.