Ross Zafonte, DO: The Comprehensive Approach to the Home Base Program

The Home Base program is truly a passion for many people. It is this collaboration between the Red Sox Foundation Mass General Hospital. And it began as a very small, small program that now treats thousands of veterans nationwide with a focus on treating the invisible wounds of war, traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. It is comprehensive in its nature, taking people from all over the United States and, really, now also a group of people who are Special Forces service members. For those with traumatic brain injury or PTSD or Special Forces members who’ve had extensive exposure, a comprehensive set of assessments and treatments are really what we need to do. So we really look whether this person has hormonal disorder, sleep apnea, problems with pain. What is their actual cognitive function? Are they depressed? Do they have truly concomitant PTSD or another disorder? What has been their background from a load and other perspective? Are they having other medical issues? How much is their executive function, their ability to organize and execute, make decisions, a problem? What are the issues they may be having with headaches or migraines? And develop a plan under each one of those domain areas. So, that could be injections or medications or physical therapy or likely behavioral therapy and the advocatory role of nutrition and exercise. BrainLine is powered in part by Wounded Warrior Project to honor and empower post-9/11 injured service members, veterans, and their families.