KITV Article: Resource Center to Help Brain Injury Victims in Hawaii

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Ian Mattoch

Center To Help Brain Injury Victims In Hawaii
Jill Kuramoto, KITV4 News Reporter
POSTED: 1:50 pm HST February 17, 2012

HONOLULU — Hawaii has between 2,000 and 3,000 brain injuries a year. Because there is no one facility addressing these serious injuries in the islands, many brain injury patients have to go to the mainland for treatment and rehabilitation.  But that will change.  $165,000 in grant money from the state Department of Health is being used to create the Brain Injury Resource Center in Hawaii.  It is a “clubhouse” of sorts, modeled after a center in Marin, California that will provide programs and therapy for those on their tenuous road to recovery. The center will help people like Greg Lee. He was 36 years old when he hit his head while riding his skateboard down Liliha Street.  ”I was running down the hill; the road was a little bit rough,” said Lee. “And I lost control of my skateboard.”   Lee spent two months in a coma. After five long years of rehabilitation, Lee is now ready to go back to school and, hopefully, soon go back to work.

President of the Brain Injury Association of Hawaii, Ian Mattoch, calls Lee’s recovery remarkable. But, Mattoch says many more people need help for what is called the “invisible disability.”  ”Brain injury draws the least support and the least attention because it’s an invisible injury,” said Mattoch.
The center will provide a daily resource for brain injury patients to go to and by involved in programs. Although the medicine and rehabilitation has greatly improved locally, the Brain Injury Association of Hawaii says there is a long way to go to provide enough resources for local patients.  A location for the center is still in the works, but the plan is to have the center up and running by the end of the year.The latest research and updates on brain injuries will be discussed at the Brain Injury Conference being held March 8 and 9th at the Ala Moana Hotel.

Read more: http://www.kitv.com/news/30487001/detail.html#ixzz1mh7cPLBc

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Defense Centers of Excellence Presents: Treating Sleep Problems in PTSD and TBI

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Ian Mattoch

The Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) presents: February Webinar – Treating Sleep Problems in PTSD and TBI
Date: Feb. 23, 2012, 1-2:30 p.m. (EST)

Purpose: The DCoE February webinar will focus on evidence-based and empirically-supported treatments for sleep problems (e.g., trouble getting to sleep, trouble staying asleep, nightmares and excessive daytime sleepiness) that are common in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or traumatic brain injury (TBI). Both behavioral and pharmacological treatments will be presented, with a special emphasis on prazosin. Prazosin is a medication that has been found to be effective in reducing combat-related nightmares.

Presenters:  

  • Anthony Panettiere, MD
    National Intrepid Center of Excellence
  • Murray Raskind, MD
    VA Puget Sound Health Care System

Continuing education units (CEUs) and continuing medical education (CMEs) credits from Saint Louis University will be available for this webinar. Pre-registration is required to receive CEUs/CMEs.  

 

Now available through Adobe Connect and Defense Connect Online

 

In an effort to support all guests whose network security settings may limit access to various internet sites, we are simultaneously hosting this webinar via two technical platforms. The primary site is via Adobe Connect and Defense Connect Online is the optional site. You need only to sign on to either one of the sites to fully participate in the webinar.

 

To register, please visit: http://es.adobeconnect.com/dcoewebinar/event/registration.html. Please note, if you would like to obtain CEUs/CMEs, you must register. Some network security settings (e.g., Department of Veterans Affairs) limit access to the registration page. If this occurs, please access the registration page from a different network.

View the webinar

The webinar will be simultaneously hosted on two technical platforms. The primary site is via Adobe Connect and Defense Connect Online is the optional site. You need only to sign on to either one of the sites to fully participate in the webinar. Visit http://www.dcoe.health.mil/Training/MonthlyWebinars.aspx for instructions on how to access the webinar room and dial-in information for the audio portion of the webinar. Audio will not be provided via Adobe Connect or DCO.

 

If you have any questions, please email DCoE.MonthlyWebinar@tma.osd.mil

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NASHIA: Announces participation in 2012 Brain Injury Awareness Day

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Ian Mattoch

The National Association of Head Injury Associations (NASHIA) will be participating in the activities sponsored by the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force to promote 2012 Brain Injury Awareness Day on Wednesday, March 21st in Washington, D.C. The day will begin with an Awareness Fair, featuring national/federal agencies and organizations’ exhibits and materials, including NASHIA’s exhibit. The Fair will be followed by a briefing featuring national experts and families focusing on TBI across the age groups, followed by a reception in honor of the Task Force.

   

NASHIA is proud that as the result of support from our members, we have been a sponsor of the reception the past few years, as well as participated in all of the day’s events — our members have moderated and participated in the briefing/ reception; and members have assisted with the NASHIA exhibit table.  This is always a very nice event and provides a wonderful opportunity to network and to thank the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force for all of the work they do on our behalf. 

 

In addition, the TBI Act is up for reauthorization, so the day provides an opportunity to talk to congressional staffers about the needs of individuals with TBI and their families for those who are able to visit with their own representatives and senators.  (We encourage you to invite your representatives and senators to attend so that they will send their staff to learn more about TBI.)

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Brain Injury Conference 2012, Honolulu, HI

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Ian Mattoch

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.sproutvideo.com/videos/4c98d2b41a1debc1c4

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Brain Injury Association of Hawaii: ’12 Conference: Connect: Concussion, Coma, and Community

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Ian Mattoch

Thursday, March 8 and Friday, March 9, 2012
Ala Moana Hotel, Honolulu, HI

The purpose of this two-day conference is to provide state-of-the art information about brain injury treatment and therapies, which will foster maximal rehabilitation and an improved quality of life.   This conference is designed for professionals in the field of brain injury, researchers, brain injury survivors and family members with an understanding of the “CONNECTions” that it takes for a successful treatment, recovery and integration back into the community.   The planning committee chose the theme: “CONNECT: Concussion, Coma and Community” bringing us all together in the area of  Brain Injury.

For more information:  http://www.cvent.com/events/2012-brain-injury-conference/event-summary-eb7dc620c470475698e3c30b6d25416c.aspx?i=084ae02d-b420-4905-a404-1c16067b1862To register:   
https://www.cvent.com/events/2012-brain-injury-conference/registration-eb7dc620c470475698e3c30b6d25416c.aspx?i=084ae02d-b420-4905-a404-1c16067b1862

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TBI Alert: Impact of PTSD and Injury Severity on Recovery in Children with TBI

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Ian Mattoch

Alert: Impact of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Injury Severity on Recovery in Children with Traumatic Brain Injury      The article “Impact of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Injury Severity on Recovery in Children with Traumatic Brain Injury,” published in the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, examines the negative effect on recovery of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children. Its results show that children with TBI and PTSD did not experience as much psychosocial recovery as those without PTSD. In addition, the study found that the level of psychosocial function was no better than that experienced by children with a severe TBI. Severe TBI was associated with a poorer physical recovery in the first 6 months, after which recovery was equivalent across all severity levels.

To view the article in full, please click here: http://www.safetylit.org/citations/index.php?fuseaction=citations.viewdetails&citationIds%5B%5D=citjournalarticle_341201_24%20

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NPR: Many hits, rather than a big one, pose greatest concussion risk

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Ian Mattoch
by Nancy Shute
February 3, 2012

Members of the Jefferson High School football team took 200 to more than 1,800 hits to the head in a season.

Purdue University
Members of the Jefferson High School football team took 200 to more than 1,800 hits to the head in a season.  High school football players have changes in their brain function long before they have recognizable signs of a concussion, according to a new study.  The more hits a player got, the more brain function changed. The findings support the growing belief that a concussion comes as the result of a succession of insults, not just one bad hit.

“I think what you’re seeing here is the sum total of what happens throughout the season,” says Eric Nauman, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University and lead author of the study.

This researchers followed players on the Jefferson High School football team in Lafayette, Ind., over two seasons. The athletes wore special helmets with sensors that measured the number and severity of head impacts. The researchers also put the players in an MRI scanner to measure their brain activity while the students took a test of thinking and memory.  Then they compared the brain scans with the hits. Those hits weren’t rare. Each player logged from 200 to more than 1,800 hits to the head in a single season. Over two seasons, six players had concussions, but 17 others showed brain changes even though they didn’t have concussions. There were 21 players in the first season, and 24 in the second, 16 of whom were repeat participants in the study.  Over time, the changes in brain function that showed up in the MRIs correlated to the number and distribution of hits. Mental performance didn’t change, but brain activity did.”The magnitude of changes in the brain were a function of how many hits you took, and where you took them,” Nauman told Shots.

Those brain changes may be workarounds, with the brain using other areas to replace those affected by the hits, according to Thomas Talavage, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University and a co-author of the study. The results haven’t been been published yet, but the work has been accepted by the Journal of Biomechanics.

This study raises a lot of questions that it can’t answer. It doesn’t tell us if these brain changes will improve over time, or if they’re the beginnings of permanent brain damage.

The researchers have expanded their work to include two more football teams, and a girls’ soccer team. They’re also looking for a boys’ soccer team, to see if they can test the widely held belief that girls are more vulnerable to concussion.

And they are following the players who took the most hits to see if the brain changes seen are permanent.

Since millions of teenagers play football, soccer, hockey and other sports where hits to the head are common, a clear sense of when those hits start to cause damage would be the start of better ways to prevent and diagnose what has become a major issue in children’s health.

Yesterday, Shots reported on a study that found that widely used computerized tests used to establish a baseline of cognitive function for student athletes aren’t accurate enough to diagnose concussions, or to determine if a player is safe to return to the action.

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Federal TBI Program News Alert: Brain bank examines athletes’ hard hits

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Ian Mattoch

Brain bank examines athletes’ hard hits
By Nadia Kounang, CNN 

Article summary:  The degenerative disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is found in football players and other athletes in contact sports who get repeated hits to their head. High school football player Nathan Stiles, who died at age 17 of CTE, was the youngest reported case of this condition.

 

Since its inception in 2008, the Brain Bank has documented more than 50 cases of CTE. For Nathan Stiles’ parents and researchers at the Brain Bank, Nathan’s story is a call to action to ensure that students and families take precautions to recover from concussions.  

To view the article in full, click here: http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/27/health/big-hits-broken-dreams-brain-bank/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

 

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Gupta on where ‘Big Hits, Broken Dreams’ begin

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Ian Mattoch

Watch “Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports: Big Hits, Broken Dreams” Sunday, January 29 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET.

Post by:
One day late in the summer of 2010, I was sitting in my backyard with my oldest daughter. We had just finished cutting the lawn when my neighbor and his oldest son stopped by.

His son, a football player at one of the powerhouse local high schools, had grown nearly an inch over the summer and weighed more than 200 pounds. He was already in practice for the upcoming season. He asked if I had time to speak to a friend of his who also played football and had suffered a concussion the previous season.

They were asking me in my capacity as a neurosurgeon, but also in desperation, as this young man was still having tremendous difficulty nearly a year after his injury.

Most of the patients I see in the hospital visit me at the time of their injury, and I hardly ever get to see the longer term impact of a severe concussion on an otherwise healthy young person. What he shared with me was stunning, and also formed the basis of the year long project, “Big Hits, Broken Dreams.”

This young, physically robust, handsome man couldn’t remember the details of the hit in a mid-season practice that led to his concussion, but he was able to describe in awful detail how much his life had changed since. Once a nearly 4.0 student, his grades had dropped to “mainly Cs,” he told me. His memory was affected, and even during our discussion I could tell that his ability to retrieve words spontaneously had been impacted.

“The headaches are the worst,” he said, and no one had been able to help him.

Doctors had recommended everything from hyperbaric therapy to cervical spine surgery, as well as a laundry list of medications. In short, there were no good answers or solutions.

“Tincture of time,” was the common refrain he heard, and with post concussive syndrome or PCS – most times that is all medicine can legitimately offer. Near the end of our conversation, the dad in me came out as I asked him: “Do you have any regrets about playing football?”

He didn’t hesitate. “Not at all,” he quickly answered.

If baseball is our national pastime, then football is our national passion. And, I love football as much as anyone. Over the last year, however, I have learned there are ways to play football more safely, and still have football be… football. There are ways to play football more safely, and still win.

Whether it is the mandatory presence of athletic trainers who can diagnose concussions and are empowered to sit a player out, or it is fewer practices with full gear and repeated drills involving hits to the head – there are so many simple things that can be done to preserve the game, and the men who play it.

The young man in my backyard was just a teenager, but based on national statistics had been averaging 650 hits to his head every season he had been playing football.

Fortunately, none of them led to the most catastrophic outcome of death, usually due to second impact syndrome – a second concussion before the brain had healed from the first. Unfortunately, however, he was neurologically impacted, and there was no end of his misery in sight.

I offered as much advice as I could, but also promised to tell the story of players like him, and the latest science to try to reduce these tragic situations. If you are a player, a parent or a participant in the fanfare of football, I hope you get a chance to see “Big Hits, Broken Dreams.”

   
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Washington Weekly: January 20, 2012 Update

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Ian Mattoch

This update was prepared by Susan L. Vaughn, Director of Public Policy, National Association of State Head Injury Administrators (NASHIA)

Administration News
AHRQ Seeks Comments on Research Review of Rehabilitation for TBI:  The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) is seeking comments on a draft research review of the document, “Multidisciplinary Postacute Rehabilitation for Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury in Adults”. Comments are due by February 9.  After reviewing research on effectiveness of multidisciplinary rehabilitation for adults with brain injury, the reviewers concluded that the body of evidence is limited regarding effectiveness or comparative effectiveness of multidisciplinary postacute rehabilitation. It is recommended that further research should address methodological flaws common in these studies and further address effectiveness research questions.  The mission of the AHRQ is to improve the quality, safety, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of health care for all Americans.

 

To review the TBI rehabilitation research documents and to make comments go to:
http://www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/search-for-guides-reviews-and-reports/?pageaction=displayProduct&productID=930.

 

AHRQ is also seeking comments on a reporton “Quality Outcomes Measurement for Persons with Disabilities”.  Comments are due by Feb. 6. Go to: http://www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/research-available-for-comment/comment-draft-reports/?pageaction=displayDraftCommentForm&topicid=336&productID=927.

 

HHS Releases Funding to Help Low-income Households with Energy Costs:  This week, HHS announced that it is releasing more than $863 million to grantees to help low-income households with their heating and other home energy costs under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). HHS is releasing the remaining funds, made available by the Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2012 (Public Law 112-74), to States, Territories, Tribes and the District of Columbia.

 

LIHEAP assists low-income households, including families with children and seniors, with their home energy needs such as heating in the winter, cooling in the summer, and insulating their homes to make them more energy-efficient and to reduce their energy costs. The $863 million in regular block grant funds is in addition to the $2.6 billion released since October 2011. Including funds released this week, grantees will receive a total of $3.4 billion in LIHEAP block funds for Fiscal Year 2012. For a complete list of additional funds available to grantees today please visit: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/news/press/2012/FY2012LIHEAP_GrossAlloc.html.

DoD Opens Vision Center of Excellence:  Next month will mark a major milestone in advancing care for wounded warriors suffering debilitating eye injuries with a ribbon-cutting at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The Department of Defense/Department of Veterans Affairs Vision Center of Excellence will officially open its new headquarters at the Walter Reed facility, providing an expanded physical presence for a growing collaboration between the two agencies.

The goal is to promote research and initiatives to prevent eye injuries and better diagnose and treat those suffering from them. One of the first goals of the Vision Center of Excellence, stood up under the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act, is to establish a registry to determine the prevalence of eye injuries and track wounded warriors’ care and rehabilitation through both the DoD and VA systems. The new headquarters will provide an official home to the center, but will continue to draw on existing capabilities throughout DoD and VA, including VA’s network of 13 blind rehabilitation centers.

SAMHSA Defines Working Definition of Recovery:  Last month, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released a new working definition of recovery from mental disorders and substance use disorders. The definition is the product of a year-long effort by SAMHSA and a wide range of partners in the behavioral health care community and other fields to develop a working definition of recovery that captures the essential, common experiences of those recovering from mental disorders and substance use disorders, along with major guiding principles that support the recovery definition. The new working definition of Recovery from Mental Disorders and Substance Use Disorders is as follows: “A process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.” 

 

This came about after a lengthy process, initiated in 2010, involving behavioral health leaders, mental health consumers and individuals in addiction recovery. They also developed principles of recovery to reflect common elements of the recovery experience for those with mental disorders and/or substance use disorders. For further detailed information about the new working recovery definition or the guiding principles of recovery please visit: http://www.samhsa.gov/recovery/.

 

 

 

Upcoming Meetings

 

2012 National Health Promotion Summit

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) and the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR) are hosting the “2012 National Health Promotion Summit: Prevention. Promotion. Progress.”, April 10-11, 2012, in Washington, DC.  For more information and to register go to:

http://www.aptrweb.org/2012summit/?source=govdelivery.

 

The Ticket Program Hosts Webinar for Support Services for People with Disabilities
On January 25, 2012 at 3:00 pm EST, the Ticket to Work (Ticket) program will be hosting a free webinar that is aimed to help Social Security disability beneficiaries who want to make more money. Through the webinar, participants will learn about Social Security programs and rules that may apply to them so that they can get back to work. Click to sign up for the event: http://www.chooseworkttw.net/wise/jsp/wise.jsp.

 Other

 

Disability, Health Groups Support Individual Mandate in Supreme Court Amicus Brief

Fourteen of the nation’s leading national disability and health organizations filed a Supreme Court amicus brief Wednesday, saying that the Affordable Care Act’s minimum coverage provision or individual mandate “falls squarely within Congress’ authority to regulate interstate commerce” and therefore is Constitutional.  

 

In the brief, National Senior Citizens Law Center’s Rochelle Bobroff, acting as Counsel of Record, writes that wherever States enacted insurance reforms requiring insurers to cover individuals with pre-existing conditions and related reforms without also enacting a minimum coverage provision, there were “disastrous results.” Those States experienced steep, often unaffordable premium spikes and insurers exiting the market for individual insurance coverage altogether.

 

NSCLC was joined by the following organizations on the brief: American Association of People with Disabilities, The Arc of The United States, Breast Cancer Action, Families USA, Friends of Cancer Research, March of Dimes Foundation, National Breast Cancer Coalition, National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, National Health Law Program, National Organization for Rare Diseases, National Women’s Health Network, The Ovarian Cancer National Alliance, and Voices for America’s Children.  The National Senior Citizens Law Center is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to protect the rights of low-income older adults. For more information, visit www.NSCLC.org. 

 

 

 

 

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