Summer time and boy is it hot outside.  Right now my son is playing baseball for an American Legion Baseball team for our home town.  These kids are between the ages of 16-19yrs old..  The other night ,during a close game, our pitcher threw a pitch that went high and hit the batter, from the other team,  on the left side of his helmet close to his ear.  That kid went down onto his knees holding his head in pain.  Everyone came running out of their dug outs to attend to him.  Luckily there was a local police man  there watching the game .  He also attend to this player.  After , what seemed like eternity, he stood up and walked to his teams dug out.  He applied ice to the left side of his face, which I could see from the stands, was red and swollen.   The game was over quickly and this young man left to get “checked out.”  The next day we received the  report of his injury…he had fractured his jaw.  Now my question is, of course, the obvious….was he checked for a TBI as well???   Who knows….Yes he had a helmet on…and so do the hundreds of young men and womenwho serve in our armed forces .  Those helmet may help cushion the force of the impact but they do not stop the sudden jarring of the brain.  Being in this line of work I find myself overly sensitive to any type of injury to ones head…I use to not think much of such injury’s because I had a false sense of security if the person was wearing a helmet.  I use to say ” well good thing he had a helmet on” as if that protected him 100% for injury.

It has been a long time since I logged on…sorry…The month of March was national brain injury awareness month.  The events of our open house kept me busy.  Between then and now our company has hired 14 PCA’s (personal care aides) 2 service coordinators and took on 5 more clients.  Next month I will  attend the NYS Brain Injury Association conference in Albany NY.  This will be my first time.  I will be taking a class on Wednesday to become a Brain Injury Specialist.  On Thursday I will be attending several workshops about many subjects involving brain injuries.   I am looking forward to this opportunity to really get involved with the brain injury association and make contacts with other providers all over the states. 

On my last entry”Contact” the young man that was so difficult to get a hold of has finally gotten into the “groove” of attending our SDP(structured day program).  So far he only comes to events that involve food but at least he is getting out of the house and meeting other folks his own age.  Now if we can only convince mom and dad to step back and let this young man develop a new world for himself we will be doing great…I mean he will be doing great. 

http://www.bianys.org/AnnouncementRetrieve.aspx?ID=38416

Well….Sam and his family arrived at our business yesterday.  They  were thrilled to meet the staff ,and to be honest ,we could not get ride of them when once business hours ended.  He and his ILST(Independent living skills trainer) set a date and time to start work and today we expect to see Sam at our SDP .  I knew once we were able to get the ball rolling with him he would become more active with our program.  The rest of the participants were very happy to meet him and started a dialog right away about country music.   I am not sure why people are reluctant to start with their approved services.  Maybe it is because they lack the understanding that this is a “good thing: and we are there to help them or perhaps they are scared to find out just what it is they do need to succeed on their own …this information could be to embarrassing to accept because these folks were once very independent individuals and required little to no help to move through life..

I have not entered any new articles in about one month due to the overwhelming flood of new business.  Since I last wrote in my blog we have accepted 7 new participant’s.  One gentlemen that has been excepted on the waiver I  am  extremely concerned about due to his lack of participation  with us right from the get go.  The first time I met  with him and his parents their Christmastree was standing in their  living room.  Due to the enormous mounds of paper work required with this waiver it took all of this time, 4 months, to complete the process of getting  him onto the waiver.  After all of that work one would think a person would be excited and or anxious to get started.  I have placed calls to hishome as well as his cell phone countless times in the last week with no return calls from him or his parents.   I remember speaking to his parents about our program and how thrilled they were to have their son be part of it.  I understand I am working with an individual with a TBI but his partens do not have one!.  Frustrating!!!   Today I plan to drive out to his home and hopefully make a connection in person.  Once a service plan has been approved the clock starts ticking and the providers of services such as me must start working with the participant.  If we fail to do so it is viewed as neglect on our part.  Although I can justify our lack of service due to the inability to make contact with this young man the state wants to move forward since they did approve the funds for such service already.  I will keep you updated.

We celebrated TBI awareness Month at our office on 3-25-10 Click onto the link below to see our news coverage..

http://binghamton.ynn.com/content/top_stories/499824/traumatic-brain-injury-awareness-month

 http://rofasix.blogspot.com/2010/03/traumatic-brain-injuries-in-military.html

At this time we do not have any veterans enrolled in our program.  I am sure the main reason for this is the lack of awareness  that our program exists in our area.   In two weeks we are hosting an open house this month in conjunction with TBI awareness month.  We have invited a representative  for the Syracuse VA Hospital to share information  about our program and it’s purpose with them as well as have them offer information to us.  Please log onto this link to read more about TBI and the military.

Brain Injury Awareness Month 2010

A concussion is a brain injury. Get the facts.

In recognition of March as Brain Injury Awareness Month and the Brain Injury Association’s ongoing commitment to sports and concussions, BIAA and its nationwide network of 44 Chartered State Affiliates is launching a year-long, nationwide education and advocacy campaign: “A concussion is a brain injury. Get the facts.”  The campaign will launch in March with radio and print public service announcements, awareness proclamations and special events. A state advocacy effort to introduce legislation to train coaches and protect youth athletes will continue throughout the year along with ongoing nationwide education.

A concussion is a brain injury period. BIAA believes coaches of every school athletic team and every extracurricular athletic activity should be trained to recognize the signs and symptoms of brain injury, including concussions and second impact syndrome. BIAA also believes young athletes who appear t have sustained a concussion should have written authorization by a health care professional before returning to play. 

A concussion is caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head, or from a blow to the body that causes the head to move rapidly back and forth. Most concussions occur without a loss of consciousness and according to the CDC, a lack of proper diagnosis and management of concussion may result in a serious long-term consequences, or risk of coma or death. Signs and symptoms may be noticeable immediately, or it may take days or weeks before they are present.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 3.8 million sports- and recreation-related concussions occur in the United State each year. Of that estimate U.S. emergency departments treat approximately 135,000 sports- and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), including concussions, among children ages 5 to 18.

To support year-long education and awareness efforts, click on the downloadable materials below to distribute throughout your community today! BIAA encourages the use and distribution of these materials throughout 2010. 

To learn more about these initiatives or to learn more about awareness and advocacy events taking place in your state during the month of March and throughout the year, or to learn how you can get involved, contact your Chartered State Affiliate today! For more information on media materials contact the Brain Injury Association of America at 703.761.0750, ext. 622

In my job  I am  presented with many difficult obstacles to navigate around  in order for us to help our participants to over come their many  difficult personal, financial and social obstacle’s…many of them…but one of the obstacles they should never need to overcome  is  an incompetent provider.  It should be a given that every provider has the full intention to provide services to their client to the very best of their abilities.

Last week a mother, desperately looking for help for her son, came to my office about ten minutes before we were closing.  She informed me of the frustration she faced daily with the services( or lack of) her Service Coordinatorhad put in place for her and her son.  This service coordinator did not work for us.   I listen intently as she told her very sad story about how her son acquired his TBI and how her entire life is now in a tail spin and she has no idea where to go or what to do.  As I listened to her without showing any expression on my face I could feel my stomach turning.  This women  had been very poorly served and she has now come to the end of her  rope and is having a nervous break down in front of me.  All due to the fact the SC has not put into place every possible service that the TBI waiver has to offer and that she and her son are entitled to.  I could not ask the question” Why” because it did not matter what the reason for this neglect was.  Not to get into  all of the details of the next steps our company made but I am happy to report that one week and two days from the day my impromptu meeting took place between this mom and  myself this participant will be recieving  the services that they are entitled to and desperate for. Mom can now try to regain some sort of normalcy in her life and her son can start his long journey to independence.

http://www.cafebody.com/2010/02/what-is-traumatic-brain-injury-tbi-what-causes-traumatic-brain-injury/

One of the most difficult situations we as an agency, that provides supervision and safety oversight for our participants, face is between the participants rights to make their own decisions with the right to fail and our responsibility to over see and direct them so they may stay safe and remain in the community.  I have an individual who has had a past drug abuse history and strugglesto stay clean and sober every day.  Due to his TBI and the motor vehicle   accident that caused it he is in constant pain.  His personal care physicians have refused to give him any type of narcotic pain medication because he has sold these pills for illegal drugs such as marijuana.  Because of his TBI he dose not poses the ability to stop talking about his marijuana uses and he dose not posses the ability to stop  using in enough time prior to his doctor appoints so that his urine test will not reveal his use.  The rules of this program is the participants can not engage in any type of illegal activity and remain in this program.  Hence our dilemma.  We are haveing a team meeting with this gentleman next week to help get him to start making good decisions and  be able to stay on this program.  More to follow next week.