(PRWEB) – (PRWEB) May 5, 2006 — Twenty-three leaders in the field of coma and coma-like states, many internationally known, were hosted at Mohonk Mountain House by Northeast Center for Special Care last week to answer the question: “What do we know about coma and what do we need to know?” They came together to help shape the future policy and management for altered states of consciousness at a working meeting called “Impairments of Consciousness: Creating a Consensus,” sponsored by National Brain Injury Research, Treatment and Training Foundation (NBIRTT) and Northeast Center for Special Care.

Medline, GSR Consulting, and Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union are supporters of Northeast Center for Special Care and provided other amenities for the Impairments of Consciousness participants. (PRWEB) – (PRWEB) May 5, 2006 — Twenty-three leaders in the field of coma and coma-like states, many internationally known, were hosted at Mohonk Mountain House by Northeast Center for Special Care last week to answer the question: “What do we know about coma and what do we need to know?” They came together to help shape the future policy and management for altered states of consciousness at a working meeting called “Impairments of Consciousness: Creating a Consensus,” sponsored by National Brain Injury Research, Treatment and Training Foundation (NBIRTT) and Northeast Center for Special Care. Medline, GSR Consulting, and Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union are supporters of Northeast Center for Special Care and provided other amenities for the Impairments of Consciousness participants.

The list of working group participants is as diverse as it is impressive and includes: Dr. Steven Ashwal from the Department of Pediatrics at Loma Linda University, Ann M. Belcher, RN, CEO of Northeast Center for Special Care, Jean Berube, Esq., a contract lobbyist for the National Brain Injury Research, Treatment and Training Foundation, Gerry Brooks, MA, CCC, CBIT, Brain Injury Program Director of Northeast Center for Special Care, Dr. Joseph Fins, Chief of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Center, Dr. Alfred Frontera of Kingston Neurological Associates, Dr. Joseph Giacino, Associate Director of Neuropsychology at the JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute – Center for Head Injuries and the New Jersey Neuroscience Institute at JFK Medical Center, Dr. Ikram Haque of Memorial Hospital, Dr. Joy Hirsch of Columbia University Neurological Institute, Dr. Richard Hodder, Medical Director of Northeast Center for Special Care, Michael Kaplen, Esq., President of the Brain Injury Association of New York State, Dr. Douglas Katz, Medical Director of Brain Injury Programs at Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital, DR. Victor Zelek, Neuropsychologist, Northeast Center for Special Care, Dr. Jean Langlois, Epidemiologist from the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Steven Laureys, Neurologue, Chef de Clinique Associe, Universite de Liege, Belgium, Dr. Jose Leon-Carrion of the University of Seville, Spain, Dr. Warren Lux of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, US

Department of Defense, Dr. Geoffrey Miller, Yale University School of Medicine, Anthony Salerno, President, Healthcare Associates, Dr. Nicholas Schiff, Director of the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuromodulation of Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Dr. John Whyte, Director of the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, Dr. Nathan Zasler, Chairman of the International Brain Injury Association, Dr. George Zitnay of the

World Health Organization Director General’s Panel of Experts in Neurotrauma, and Dr. Kevin Zitnay, Neurosurgeon, John P. Murtha Neuroscience and Pain Institute.

During the three-day working meeting at Mohonk Mountain House, group members exchanged ideas and experience on a broad range of issues on impairments of consciousness including epidemiology, ethics, assessment, treatment, research, policy, and funding for impairments of consciousness. An outline for a scholarly article to be co-written by meeting participants and published in the Journal of Neurotrauma was created at the meeting. The participants are also preparing reports to the US Congress and to the Institute of Medicine. The important work begun at this landmark event will continue to be led by Dr. George A. Zitnay, a member of the World Health Organization Director General’s Panel of Experts in Neurotrauma, and will continue to be supported by it’s primary sponsor, Northeast Center for Special Care.

The group seeks to include vital information in both the article for the Journal of Neurotrauma and Reports to the US Congress and the Institute of Medicine on critical questions such as: “How many Americans are living in a vegetative or minimally conscious state;” “How many of these, not yet in a permanently vegetative state, recover consciousness;” and “How many people emerge or can emerge from a minimally conscious state?” Answering these questions will provide a strong base to inform policy-making decisions.

Consistent, meaningful assessment and standard treatment protocols are also significant. Initial assessments of impairments of consciousness after traumatic brain injury may show early indicators of better outcome. Looking for substantive changes, for better or worse, thereafter, through regular, comprehensive, re-assessments will help guide families in care. Needed longitudinal outcome research can follow from such an initiative. Now, a year after

Terri Schiavo’s controversial care decision, seeking answers to these questions is more judicious than ever. Opening this discussion within the walls of the US Congress and the Institute of Medicine will help move the compassion-based recovery and care of the hundreds of thousands of individuals living in a minimally conscious or vegetative state, worldwide, toward best possible outcomes.

Chairperson of the Ulster County Legislature, David Donaldson, Legislator Peter Lieppman, Legislator Peter Kraft, and Legislator Hector Rodriguez continue to show their support for the work done at Northeast Center for Special Care and came to the Impairments of Consciousness conference to meet with participants at an evening wine presentation and dinner sponsored by Northeast Center for Special Care.

Co-Chair of the United States Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, Congressman Bill Pascrell Jr. encouraged the work of this group by his message that “The Congressional Brain Injury Task Force eagerly awaits the results of your work.”

Founded in 1999, Northeast Center for Special Care is a unique inpatient facility designed to serve medically complex and multiply impaired individuals with brain injury, spinal cord injury, neurobehavioral disorders, ventilator and respiratory care needs and other complex medical needs. Advanced professional skills and innovative therapies are coupled with an unwavering belief in the potential of every individual to progress. It is this belief that drives our commitment to help those recovering at Northeast Center achieve the highest degree of rehabilitation possible and to re-enter the community.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20060505/bs_prweb/prweb381155_2

Eight years after a car accident changed everything, a mother and her son tell what it has been like to live with his traumatic brain injury.

ST. PETERSBURG – It is estimated that 1.4-million people a year suffer traumatic brain injuries. For some of these patients and their families, life returns to normal. Ours did not.

More than eight years ago, on Thanksgiving night, our then 27-year-old son, Mike, went with friends to a popular bar in downtown St. Petersburg. He didn’t worry about drinking, since he wasn’t driving, but the Jeep he and two friends were riding in flipped over. The other two passengers suffered minor injuries, but Mike was tossed out and landed on his head.

The neurosurgeon told us Mike suffered a brain stem injury. He told us to imagine Mike’s brain as a watermelon with dime-sized nicks in it.

Nine months of institutional care followed two weeks in a coma. Mike’s relatives and friends visited him in hospitals, nursing homes and Bayfront Medical Center’s Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit. I, his mother, became his primary caregiver.

On Aug. 7, 1998, we brought Mike home to stay. His dad, Lon, had built plywood ramps to the front and back doors, to accommodate Mike’s wheelchairs. Lon also installed grab bars in the bathroom for the special tub and toilet.

When Mike’s large shower chair didn’t fit into the bathroom, Lon rigged three poles around an outdoor shower and hung curtains there, so we could wheel Mike in his chair under that shower. That lasted until the first cool spell, when we began seating Mike on a special bench in the indoor shower.

Having a physiatrist – a physician who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation – is a must when dealing with a brain injury, and Mike’s physiatrist immediately signed him up for Bayfront’s Comprehensive Outpatient Brain Injury program. For two months, the staff tried to work with Mike on basic living skills: grooming, preparing a meal, shopping and physical therapy. He would have none of it.

Our previously laid-back, easygoing son became combative, pronouncing anything they tried to do “stupid, stupid, stupid.”

That ended therapy. The staff suggested I take Mike home and “do everyday things with him.” Overnight I became speech, occupational, physical and social living therapist, with no background in any of those disciplines.

Mike’s siblings – Julie, Tom, Cathie and Pat – and his dad pitched in with ideas and hands-on help. Cathie, an RN, had videotaped Mike’s physical therapist giving us detailed instructions on exercises for Mike at home. She would drive from her home in Sarasota every week to work with him.
Julie, who lives in St. Petersburg, would come over daily between work and school to accompany Mike with his walker along the sidewalk or in his wheelchair. That gave me time for my therapeutic hour of lap swimming.

Tom kept Mike supplied with board games, to encourage cognitive skills. When Mike could get in the backyard pool with an “Aqua Jogger” around his waist, Lon and the siblings played water volleyball, to help Mike build stamina and coordination.

Pat continues to fly in often from Atlanta to entertain Mike, help him with his computer, challenge him to improve his cognitive skills.

Even Mike’s nieces and nephews played games, colored or worked with clay with him, to help get his neurons clicking.
In January 1999, Mike joined a Lifestyle Family Fitness gym. With my help, he climbed on machines and returned to working out. Two years later, we met Shane Trevigno there, and he volunteered an hour a week to work with Mike on improving his balance and getting him out of the wheelchair. Shane, an ex-Marine, combined drill instructor tactics with fun stuff to motivate Mike.

Marci Anderson, a friend of Shane’s, volunteered an hour of massage a week. Dr. Ric Lenholt, a chiropractor and friend of Marci’s, volunteered his expertise.

In February 2000, Mike’s physiatrist sent him for vocational rehabilitation, and Mike re-entered Bayfront’s brain injury outpatient program, where he worked with a speech pathologist to prepare to return to college. Mike had been in his third year working toward a finance degree when he was injured; by now he wanted desperately to get back.

At St. Petersburg College, Mike benefited from being allowed a note taker, a quiet room for taking his tests, a tutor and more.

Over four semesters, he took courses in college success skills, elementary and intermediate algebra and calculus. The results were the same; Mike could do some of the work, but not enough to pass the class. Short-term memory loss plagued him.

After a neuropsychological exam and aptitude testing, Mike’s counselor, Tracy Van Ess, suggested that he try Abilities of Florida. His teacher there, Jim Gardner, worked hard with Mike on computer-assisted drafting. Again memory loss tripped him up.

Now, Mike works two afternoons a week at Healthstat O2, the respiratory and home care services business co-owned by his brother Pat. Mike also has spoken a couple of times to high school classes about his rehabilitation and looks forward to doing more.

And he is being treated at Bayfront with a computer-based program aimed at improving his balance and thought processes.

In Mike’s words: Before I had my traumatic brain injury, I was a full-time student at USF, renting to own my first home, working part time for the owner and also working as a waiter at Chili’s. I played beach volleyball on weekends and had plenty of friends.

Now, I have finally realized that I’m still the same person I was before my accident, but I can’t or won’t do some things that I used to.

If I ever want to drive again, I will have to be evaluated and take driving lessons at Bayfront’s Comprehensive Outpatient Brain Injury program.

I will never have alcoholic drinks again.

After a brain injury, alcohol greatly increases the chance of having a seizure. If I go to a bar or a party with friends, I only drink water or Sprite – because I’m not supposed to have caffeine, either.

I will never play beach volleyball again, because I almost always use a cane to walk: I have poor balance, a fused wrist and a dislocated shoulder – all from my accident.

I have learned to slow down and do things the correct way. I really think things through before I start them.

After my injury, I became very angry with all of the people who were caring for me, trying to heal and protect me. Unfortunately that anger is part of the recovery process, and I thank God that I didn’t stay at that stage.

Now I’m much more positive, mostly because of all the love and support my family has given me. My parents, brothers and sisters have really supported me. I’m still living with my mom and dad.

People who work out alongside me at Lifestyle gym have given me many compliments while reaching out a helping hand. “You are my inspiration!” is one of my favorite things to hear.

I have learned that a brain continues to heal after a traumatic injury. I continue to see and experience improvements in myself, and that has encouraged me during these years of healing.