homeless woman in Toronto Although I started Where Did My Brain Go? to write about traumatic brain injuries, I rarely do, because most of the news is depressing. Living with a traumatic brain injury is a daily struggle. Just something I have to live with. It cannot be “cured”, and will never improve.

Ready for more bad news? A recently–published study by Toronto’s Centre for Research on Inner City Health, shows that traumatic brain injuries cause homelessness.

In 2004 and 2005, they interviewed 904 people at homeless shelters, and meal programs, and found that 53% had traumatic brain injuries. Worse, is that 70% of those injuries occurred, before the person became homeless.

Stephen Hwang, co–author of The effect of traumatic brain injury on the health of homeless people cautiously said:

“I think that this article doesn’t make the link definitively, but it is hypothesis generating. It raises a possibility which has not been discussed by researchers before.”

In a recent interview, co–author Angela Conatonio, said traumatic brain injuries, are the leading cause of death, among people under 45 in Canada, and added:

“Cognitive rehab [may be beneficial to those who have suffered traumatic brain injuries] for example, or they might benefit from some assisted technology, such as help with their memory”

The Worst Part

If it took Dr. Conatonio three years to figure out that homeless people, with a TBI “might benefit” from “help with their memory” — how long it will take for Canada to actually help these people?

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Photo of woman, is by Spirited Angel from her Toronto Life collection.

logo I just discovered a helpful Web site for Veterans with TBI and PTSD.

On August 22nd, the Department of Labor launched America’s Heroes at Work which focuses on the challenges, faced by these injured veterans, when they look for a job. Neil Romano, Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy, said:

“An initiative like this is terribly important, because if you’re going to have one in five veterans coming home with this, they’re just not people we can afford to forget or lose”

Romano said DOL spent $500,000 developing this impressive site.

Visit: www.americasheroesatwork.gov

On Monday, July 2, 2007, Illinois began the first mandatory screening for traumatic brain injuries in America. The screenings are limited to members of the state’s National Guard who served in Iraq or Afghanistan because the state has no authority over Federal soldiers. The program also includes a 24–hour hotline for veterans with PTSD or a traumatic brain injury.

The program was announced by Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich, and Tammy Duckworth, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.

The New York Times, in Screening for Brain Injury Is Set for Illinois Veterans, by Libby Sander, quoted Dr. Felise S. Zollman, medical director of the brain injury program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, who described the program:

“The mandatory screening would consist of a written questionnaire, an assessment by a medical professional, and a professional interpretation of the results. Service members believed to show symptoms of a brain injury would be referred for assessment and further treatment at a veterans’ center.”

In Illinois Unveils Mental Health Services for Returning Guardsmen, Veterans, by Donna Miles, reporting for American Forces Press Service, quoted Dr. Samuel Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, who explained why mandatory testing is necessary:

“We’ve got these post-deployment questionnaires that you fill out when you leave theater.

When I left Iraq, I filled out a questionnaire that said: ‘Were you near an (improvised explosive device) that went off? Are you having trouble sleeping? Are you having trouble controlling your feelings?’ And so forth, and so on.

A lot of people check ‘no’ because they want to get home.

[Questionnaires have been retooled so that] even if they check ‘yes,’ they’re going to get home and get the care when they get home, he said, adding that this will help promote more honest responses.”

The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, says that:

In prior conflicts, TBI was present in at least 14–20% of surviving combat casualties; preliminary information from the current conflict in the Middle East suggests that this number is now much higher.

It is about time that someone is taking some steps to identify this problem.

Troy VincentThe New York Times in Player Silence on Concussions May Block N.F.L. Guidelines by Alan Schwarz, reported that Troy Vincent, President of the NFL Players Association, said:

“I’m not sure if we, as athletes, know what a concussion is just listening to these doctors and researchers talk. Outside of me being knocked out, asleep, I went back in the game on all the other occasions. And 50 or 60 times, I’m in the huddle, I don’t know where I’m at, don’t know the call, and I’ve got a player holding me up. I’m not sure if athletes really know what a concussion is — get some smelling salts and back in the game.”

These words of wisdom came at a “Concussion Conference”, held by the league, on June 19th in Rosemont, Illinois.

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On May 31, 2007, The National Football League released the results of a study which linked concussions to depression.

3,683 surveys were sent to retired players and 69% (2,552) were returned. The New York Times, in Concussions Tied to Depression in Ex-N.F.L. Players by Alan Schwarz, described the study as “the most comprehensive study of football players to date.“

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The Military and Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act was introduced on May 9, 2007, by Senator Durbin Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL).

Senator Durbin described this legislation as:

“A bill to ensure that the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs provide to members of the Armed Forces and veterans with traumatic brain injury the services that best meet their individual needs, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Armed Services.”
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