Published: March 17, 2007 11:35 pm      

Doctor wants to build veterans brain center in Johnstown

Internationally recognized neuroscientist Dr. George Zitnay says he can offer hope for gravely injured war heroes by caring for them in Johnstown.

The co-founder of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center says soldiers with the most severe brain trauma face a bleak future under the current military and veterans’ hospital systems.

“They are the silent wounded warriors,” Zitnay said. “They are forgotten because they can’t speak for themselves.”

Zitnay said hundreds of military members who remain unable to function because of brain injuries could benefit from a specialized long-term care program he has proposed.

Zitnay was in Washington last week, where he asked Congress to fund a pilot center in the former Crichton Rehabilitation in-patient facility at Hiram G. Andrews Center in Upper Yoder Township.

“What I’m proposing is a state-of-the-art center with enhanced rehabilitation,” Zitnay said. “We’ll bring them in for six months to a year to see if we can rouse them.”

Those in a persistent vegetative state or in a minimally conscious state, as well as those with locked-in syndrome, are all candidates for the new program, he said.

Persistent vegetative state is described as wakefulness without awareness, while a patient in a minimally conscious state has distinguishable deliberate or cognitive behavior. Those with locked-in syndrome are fully conscious and responsive, but often can only blink or move their jaw.

“If they get placed in a typical nursing home, they don’t provide any active treatment,” Zitnay said. “Those guys can spend the next 40 years in hell.”

Active, intense rehabilitation efforts can help the wounded soldiers wake up and regain independence, he said.

His Project Hope proposal to Congress calls for a number of long-term care centers around the country to take care of those with debilitating brain injuries.

It is a similar model to the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, which Zitnay co-founded in 1992.

Headquartered in Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, the project is a collaboration of three military hospitals, four Veterans Affairs hospitals and two private rehabilitation programs. In October, Zitnay opened, and serves as director of, the newest private program, Laurel Highlands Neuro-Rehabilitation Center in Johnstown.

Laurel Highlands opened in October at 111 Roosevelt Blvd., offering outpatient rehabilitation, psychological treatment and counseling for veterans with brain injuries and mental health issues. There also is a therapy center, and participants engage in cognitive rehabilitation at a used bookstore at 138 Gazebo Park.

The first patient in its residential facility is expected this week.

Eventually, 75 percent of Laurel Highlands Neuro-Rehabilitation Center’s work will focus on those in the eight-unit residential facility, said Dr. Larry Rutledge, chief medical officer.