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Brain Injury Awareness Month: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

March 5th, 2010 by xformed

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Via backchannel, a request to highlight the “signature” wound of the current war: Traumatic Brain Injury.

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month for the Brain Injury Association of America.  Pass the Word, please, as you can and know this is a very probable issue with our injured Vets.

For those who have long supported the Soldier’s Angels Voice Activated Laptops for Our Injured Troops (VALOur-IT), this is one of the things the program has been addressing, along with the coputer contact with the world, by providing GPS Units for those wounded service members who are getting out and about. The reason: TBI has an associated symptom of loss of short term memory, and the GPS Units help remind the driver where they were headed.  (Note:  You don’t have to wait until this November to donate to VALOur-IT…SA will be happy to accept donations all year long…even today to help this great cause)

Below is the article Chelsea asked if I could post to help get attention to the cause:

Traumatic Brain Injuries in the Military

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is becoming a common wound of modern warfare. It has even been coined the “signature wound” of the War on Terror. While TBI is becoming more prevalent in wartime activity, many service men and women continue to go undiagnosed. Institutions, like the US Department of Veterans Affairs, are working to make quick and accurate diagnoses in order to prescribe appropriate and effective treatment.

TBI is caused by forced trauma to the head, either by being shaken or hit. The severity of a TBI varies from case to case, but symptoms range from mild concussions to a debilitating state. The majority of TBI’s acquired by military personnel are classified as mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI). Initial symptoms of MTBI consist of loss of consciousness, disorientation, loss of memory, headache, and temporary loss of hearing and vision. They are often partnered with anxiety, irritability, difficulties processing information, limited concentration amongst other problems experienced down the road. While MTBI is most common amongst the men and women of the armed forces, more severe cases of TBI are happening much more frequently and often require the victim to attended specialty rehabilitative nursing centers, like CareMeridian.

The most common cause of a TBI in the military is due to blasts. There are three degrees of blast injuries where a TBI is common; Primary (due to blast itself), Secondary (due to objects being propelled by a blast) and Tertiary (due to a collision with a third party object). According to the Veterans Health Initiative, active male members of the military from the ages 18-24 are hospitalized with a TBI at a rate of 231 per 100,000 and females 150 per 100,000. Based on military force projections this would mean that 4,141 military personnel are hospitalized on average each year with a TBI, and these numbers often rise during wartimes.

The best prevention for veterans to avert the long-term effects of a brain injury is to recognize the symptoms of a TBI. Once the symptoms are identified an individual should take basic precautionary measures in order to begin the healing and recovery process until a more specific diagnosis can be made.

Service men and women give so much to protect this country and they deserve to come home to a happy and healthy life. Creating awareness about TBI will help ensure their long term health. By helping our veterans, their friends and their families recognize the early warning signs of a TBI, treatment can be sought as early as possible.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 5th, 2010 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Air Force, Army, Biology, Blogging, Charities, Coast Guard, Education, Jointness, Marines, Military, Military History, Navy, Public Service, Science, Supporting the Troops, Valour-IT. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 responses about “Brain Injury Awareness Month: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)”

  1. Angel said:
    March 15th, 2010 at 2:23 pm

    excellent piece!..thanks for your words at WHT..keep up the fight!:)

  2. Craig J. Phillips MRC, BA said:
    March 16th, 2010 at 3:01 pm

    Thank you for the information and the service you are providing to the men and women of the armed services. I too would like to be of service to the men and women of the armed services.

    Let me introduce myself. My name is Craig J. Phillips. I am a traumatic brain injury survivor and a masters level rehabilitation counselor.In August of 1967 –at the age of 10 — I sustained an open skull fracture with right frontal lobe damage, a severe brain contusion with brain stem involvement and a fractured left femur. I remained in a coma for 3 weeks.

    Although I was not expected to survive the night of the car accident in 1967, or succeed beyond high school academically I went on to obtain both my undergraduate and graduate degrees. For more information please read My Journey thus Far http://wp.me/p3atD-e.

    On February 6, 2007 I created Second Chance to Live http://secondchanceto… to share the principles and strategies that have encouraged, motivated, empowered and given me hope to succeed beyond all reasonable expectations — when giving up would have been much easier.

    The message presented through Second Chance to Live and in my presentations is solution oriented and from a holistic perspective to encourage, motivate, empower, and provide hope.You may read what several individuals have said about how Second Chance to Live has impacted the lives of individuals on my Testimonial / Endorsement Page http://wp.me/P3atD-nD….

    For the convenience of my readers I have added a feature to Second Chance to Live to enable individuals to translate Second Chance to Live into their own language Translation Page http://wp.me/p3atD-FM.

    To date I have written 572 articles for Second Chance to Live, which can be found with in my Site Map http://wp.me/P3atD-1H… Second Chance to Live have been published through out the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia. For a list of these publication visit my Publications Page http://wp.me/P3atD-oK.

    I am available for Speaking Engagements. Please see my Speaker Page http://wp.me/P3atD-3A…

    Please consider using Second Chance to Live http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com as a helpful resource. Thank you.

    I look forward to being of service to both you and to the individuals and families that you strive to serve.

    Please also feel free to share my information with other groups, organizations and associations.

    Thank you for your time and have a simply phenomenal day!

    Craig

    Craig J. Phillips MRC, BA
    Second Chance to Live
    http://secondchancetolive.wordpress.com/

    Our circumstances are not meant to keep us down, but they are meant to

  3. Layla said:
    March 18th, 2010 at 3:36 pm

    I had no idea this was TBI month. Thank you for posting this. It is such an important issue and we should all be informed about this.
    It is wonderful that you are getting this out to people like me that might not otherwise hear about this.

    I posted on Autism Awareness month, which is April. I posted early so people could do something and having a son with Autism is incentive enough to get the word out!

    I have enjoyed your blog. It is honest, refeshing, and informative. I have added you on my blogroll and will visit again.

  4. Cindy Speaker said:
    October 7th, 2010 at 3:59 pm

    Great article. I have close friends and family that are veterans and I am lucky that they were not too tragically harmed. Thanks for the article!

  5. Willy Keiger said:
    February 11th, 2013 at 7:38 am

    If a brain injury leads to memory loss, fatigue, pain, personality changes, cognitive problems or any other kind of long-term issue, the future expense could be astronomical. When you ask for a consultation, they will be able to assess the situation quickly and thoroughly to determine if you have a case and how you should proceed. If the injury resulted from malpractice, you could be entitled to compensation. Don’t wait for the situation to work itself out if harm has occurred because of someone else. Call a brain injury lawyer quickly to find out your rights.*

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