The technology is currently being utilized at Harborview Burn Center, Shriners Children’s Burn Center, as well as several other burn centers and burn-focused research laboratories, and has been shown in numerous research studies to reduce pain levels significantly. To combat this problem, researchers at University of Washington Human Interface Technology Laboratory have developed an immersive virtual reality (VR) experience designed specifically for burn victims. Narcotic drugs are typically given to burn victims to help get them through this process, but often this is not enough to mask the intense pain. This process, known as wound care, is often described as just as painful as experiencing the burn itself. Nurses must regularly remove staples and stitches, clear away dead skin, clean the wounds, and determine if the healing process is moving along properly. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.For burn victims, the healing process can be excruciatingly painful. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. Quil Lawrence, NPR News.Ĭopyright © 2022 NPR. So far, there's little to show, and proponents of the PACT Act kept asking questions of the famous comedian, knowing that he would probably get media coverage. The president has speculated that his own son Beau Biden's fatal cancer was linked to burn pits in Iraq. LAWRENCE: Advocates had high hopes for the Biden administration. STEWART: The worst case for presumption is simply this - that somewhere along the line, the VA will pay the health costs and benefit for someone who sacrificed and fought for this country for their colon cancer, and it turns out that their colon cancer wasn't necessarily caused by a burn pit. Jon Stewart responded that taking care of veterans is part of the cost of war, and there's no better way to spend that money. LAWRENCE: Bost pointed out that the estimated $300 billion price tag for the PACT Act makes it unlikely to pass in such a gridlocked Congress. They just told me, get on a plane and do what the country's asking for you, and we'll take care of you in return. No one told me anything when I got sent to Iraq in 2005. RUBEN GALLEGO: And it does piss me off that we're hearing about how we're going to pay for this. Representative Ruben Gallego was exposed to burn pits as a Marine. LAWRENCE: Several Democrats responded that just last month, Congress packed the defense budget with an extra $25 billion the Pentagon didn't even ask for. We should be mindful of how we spend their money on their behalf. MICHAEL BOST: Speaking as a veteran myself, veterans are taxpayers, too. It's got a lot of support, except when it comes to paying for it. The PACT Act would make almost all the ailments presumptive. The VA said this week that some new cancers will be made presumptive by this summer. That means a vet who gets cancer and served near a burn pit, the VA will automatically give them health care and benefits. LAWRENCE: Vets want the VA to make these illnesses presumptive. I have to be my own lawyer, my own medical adviser, my own advocate. It took over six ER trips and thousands of dollars later that - I'll never get that money back. JEN BURCH: It took me seven years to get my disability approved for toxic exposure. LAWRENCE: That's what Jen Burch with Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said she had to do. And we're going to make you get a lawyer to prove it. But tell your constituents, don't worry - 15 years from now, we're going to convene a panel to discuss whether or not the health issues that you're having are in your head or not. STEWART: And then burn that pit 24 hours a day, seven days a week. LAWRENCE: Comedian Jon Stewart described for lawmakers what troops were exposed to. JON STEWART: Go back to your district and dig a 10-acre pit, and put everything that that town discards into that pit, and burn it with jet fuel and diesel fuel. There was one person in the hearing who isn't a veteran or a politician. QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE: The House Veterans' Affairs Committee held a virtual roundtable on the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, or the PACT, Act - a bill that would cover toxic exposures from Vietnam to today. That was the message that comedian-turned-advocate Jon Stewart brought to the Capitol, as NPR's Quil Lawrence reports. The White House, the VA and Congress have all promised action, but it is not happening fast enough for sick veterans. So far, though, the Department of Veterans Affairs still denies the vast majority of their claims for respiratory illness and rare cancers. Hundreds of thousands of American veterans were exposed to toxic fumes from burn pits on bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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