Alicia M. Brown, ASB, LPN
Submitted photo
By Alicia M. Brown, ASB, LPN | Marketing Director, Everlasting Community Services
Part 1 of a four-part Brain Injury Awareness Month series highlighting types of brain injury, injury prevention, resources and quality of life after injury. Part 2: March 10
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. Approximately 5.3 million Americans are living with permanent disability as a result of a brain injury.
This unforeseen event is something that impacts many Arizonans. The type of injury and the resulting long-term effects vary greatly.
It’s been said, “If you’ve met one person with a brain injury, you’ve met one person with a brain injury.” It sounds obvious, of course, but after my first encounter working with survivors in 1990, the truth of that statement couldn’t have been clearer.
Types of injury
Injury to the brain can occur for many reasons.
A traumatic brain injury, widely known as TBI, occurs when there is damage to the brain as a structure. It can be the result of a motor vehicle accident, an assault, a work-site accident, a sports-related injury. This can be a closed-head injury that often results from a blow to the head causing damage, swelling, tearing of tissue and injury to vessels. The effects can be just as devastating as a penetrating injury.
In recent years, people have become more familiar with concussion injuries, caused by external force, and injuries that occur when the brain shifts rapidly inside of the skull. Rapid acceleration or deceleration causes shearing of vessels and nerve fibers when the brain shifts so quickly. This can be a result of an auto accident, a fall or a shaken baby or toddler.
Helmets cannot prevent these types of injuries, so it is important to watch for signs of injury and seek immediate medical attention.
An ischemic injury is a result of lack of blood flow to the brain. This can occur during a stroke, blood clot, brain hemorrhage or other bleed.
Hypoxic injuries are the result of lack of oxygen to the brain. These anoxic injuries can occur in drownings, stroke, assaults or events such as cardiac and respiratory arrest or seizures.
Exposure to extreme temperatures, medication toxicities and overdoses, illnesses and even infection can cause injury to the brain.
With all of these varying types of injuries, it isn’t surprising that the life-long effects that can occur differ greatly among injury survivors.
After an injury
Brain injury survivors and their loved ones often face many challenges after an injury. Recovery can be a long road, filled with complex challenges.
Injuries can result in loss of, or difficulties with, many functions, impacting someone’s abilities to perform simple tasks and routine activities of daily living — like getting dressed or brushing your teeth.
Survivors also may have issues with speech, swallowing, paralysis, confusion, vision, hearing, memory loss, balance and behaviors that are impulsive, inappropriate or even aggressive.
After the injury, there is typically a hospital stay. Sometimes it is lengthy and requires neuro surgeries and possibly orthopedic surgeries to address other injuries that also occurred at the time the brain sustained damage.
Once stable, patients are often discharged to a rehabilitation facility where teams of physical therapists, occupational therapists, neuropsychologists, speech therapists and physiatrists (doctors specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation) help patients to regain some function or use new strategies to compensate for their injuries.
Depending on the injury and the potential for rehabilitation, some survivors are able to return to fairly normal lives after participating in rehabilitation and making adjustments to their daily routine. Maybe they need to use strategies that help them compensate for short-term memory issues, or perhaps they will need to use adaptive or durable medical equipment to help them with eating, or a walker to help them get around.
Some require long-term care and rely on family, skilled nursing facilities or in-home caregivers. For many, long-term residential support is needed. Their injury may have left them with compromised decision-making skills, impulse control concerns or memory issues that make medication management difficult for them. Others may find that they have more physical limitations, requiring assistance getting in and out of bed, help bathing, getting dressed or eating.
Working with discharge planners at the hospital or the therapy team before leaving rehab will help patients and families to identify area resources they can draw on for assistance. Having support in place is crucial in the recovery process.
Every journey through brain injury is different. Don’t hesitate to seek the support you need to reach an optimal outcome.
Editor’s note: Alicia M. Brown, ASB, LPN is marketing director at Everlasting Community Services in Phoenix. Please send your comments to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
