Board Members

Dear Congressman Jerry Moran,

Thanks you once again for meeting with State Representative Dan Thimesch and my self in Abilene.   It would have been nice is we had more time to go over what the Kansas Persian Gulf War Health Advisory board has done to help the veterans, not only in our state, but in the nation. One of the leading reasons for the success of out study is how the advisory board is formed.  It is the only one of its kind, comprised of veterans, doctors, research scientists and state lawmakers. 

As you know, we conducted a study if Kansas Gulf War veterans, and we found that a large number of them, (34%), have health problems due to the war.  We found that the symptoms vary as to the units the individuals were with, as well as to and where they served in the gulf. 

In addition, during the survey, we had some veterans tell us that they initially had problems, but now feel better. We would like to look into this, in hopes of finding possible help for those veterans who are still suffering. 

 The other area that we feel that needs research is various exposures our veterans had during the war. We feel that this would help us to better understand why over 40% of our Army veterans are sick compared to only about 19% of our Air Force veterans.
 

Some of what we plan to do with the money is:

Ø      Do blood sample of both sick and healthy veterans. We will look to see what all the sick veterans have in common and look to see what is different with the non-sick veterans.

Ø      We will do a phone survey of the veterans to see how their health has changed.  Those that report changes in health, we will look for why their health improved, (life style change, medication, other treatments)

Ø      We will look to see if there are some well defined illness common with the veterans, and how that may contribuilt to their problems.

Ø      We plan to inform the veteran of Kansas as to what we find

Ø      We plan to report our finds to the House and Senate committees on veterans’ affaires and give them any recommendations on courses of action.

Ø      Play the office, travel, and salaries expenses of the program.

 The Kansas study has shown the rest of the country that we care about out veterans, and that we intend to take care of them.  Kansas is now known for its' leading role in finding help for ill Gulf War veterans. With your help, we can do even more.

 As you can see, it is very important to complete the next two studies.  I am writing to you for your help in getting some federal money to help with the studies.  Last year Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison was able to get $5,000,000 for the state of Texas to do Gulf War research.  The final law for this was PL106-554.  I would like to work with you and your aids to try to get $2,000,000 for the state of Kansas, so that we may complete our work in this area.

 Therefore, once again I look forward to your help in getting the funding and I am open to any ideas you may have. I would appreciate very much the opportunity to sit down and visit with you in detail.  Thank you in advance for your consideration and assistance.
 

James A. Bunker
Chairman,
Kansas Persian Gulf War Veterans Health Initiative