WACO, Texas (AP) - The Waco Veterans Affairs Hospital today
unveiled a 3.5 million dollar mobile MRI unit.
The equipment is part of the hospital's cutting-edge
post-traumatic stress disorder research program.
The machine will be used at nearby Fort Hood and at VA hospitals
in Waco and Temple.
In one study, the brains of soldiers will be scanned immediately
before and after their deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Congressman Chet Edwards of Waco says it means thousands of
veterans are going to get the health care they desperately need.
Edwards chairs the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs
Appropriations Subcommittee.
The Waco VA is one of three nationwide that has Center of
Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans.
The program partners with Texas A&M's psychiatry department.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)