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Coastal Authority Care Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation organized and operated exclusively for charitable purposes, specifically to provide grants to veterans with service-connected injuries, especially the “invisible wounds” of mild traumatic brain injury, post traumatic stress and chronic pain. Our Emerging Therapy Grant program will help pay for cutting-edge medical therapies, such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy and neurofeedback, that is not covered by insurance, which provides symptom relief and helps restore quality of life. Our ultimate goal is to help prevent suicide.

Additionally, we may also provide grants to veterans, their spouse or other accompanying family member to help pay for travel and lodging expenses associated with therapy.

Eligible applicants for grants are veterans with service-connected injuries who are traveling to or live in Virginia to receive HBOT or neurotherapy for TBI and/or PTSD. Click here to go do our Documents section and download the Medical Treatment Grant Application.

CACF was founded December 2015.

Post traumatic stress and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) are two of the most prevalent injuries suffered by members of the U.S. Armed Forces. The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center reported total cases of mTBI between 2000 and 2021 to be nearly 454,000 but many veterans are not diagnosed for months or years after separating from service.

 mTBI is caused by a jarring of the head possibly from a fall, explosion, repeated gunfire exposure or a blow to the head. The jarring causes damage to brain tissue, blood vessels and cells that link areas of the brain and the brain to the body. Symptoms include confusion, vertigo, sleep disturbance, memory loss, headaches, blurred vision, tinnitus, mood swings, anger, slowed thinking, depression and anxiety. 

 A complicating risk factor for mTBI is a person's lifetime accumulation of TBI events. Receiving multiple concussions has been associated with greater risk of developing progressive  neurodegenerative conditions, like chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and Parkinson's disease, as well as increased association between the two with increasing severity of TBI. (source: https://www.research.va.gov/topics/tbi.cfm). Many veterans will not receive early diagnosis or will not seek treatment and in individuals with chronic, persistent symptoms of TBI, traditional medical interventions may be less than successful. The VA released a study in 2013 that covered suicides from 1999 to 2010 which showed that roughly 22 veterans were committing suicide per day or 1 every 65 minutes. 

 In August 2012, President Obama signed an executive order to improve access to mental health services for veterans, service members and military families. It directed the DOD and HHS to conduct a comprehensive mental health study with an emphasis on PTSD, mTBI and related injuries to develop better prevention, diagnosis and treatment options. Research is ongoing and insurance does not cover newer therapies, such as neurofeedback and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which are providing healing and symptom improvement now. 

We are located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It is part of what is known as Hampton Roads and is the home of the largest Navy base in the world, Naval Station Norfolk, and 16 other surrounding bases (including East Coast-based SEAL Teams) with approximately 83,000 active duty military members. There are approximately 230,784 veterans in the Hampton Roads area so given the fact that many military members do not show progressive, worsening symptoms until sometimes months or years after the original injury, the need is very great here for these therapies. Most of the veterans we help are 80%-100% disabled. Veterans are seeking out these cutting-edge therapies to either augment their traditional medical treatment or when they find no symptom improvement from traditional treatments. CACF wants to help offset costs and help veterans gain access to emerging therapies that are providing symptom improvement and helping to restore quality of life. 

Link: Hampton Roads Hyperbaric, Norfolk, VA

Link: NEUCOA