2006 News Articles

March 29, 2006

Brain Injury Victims Fight Daily Battle

Bristol Herald Courier

Full Articles Listed Below

Brain Injury Victims Fight Daily Battle

March 26, 2006 Bristol Herald Courier by Ashley Roberts eroberts@bristolnews.com (276) 669-2181

ABINGDON – Carmella Barker doesn’t remember the event that changed her life forever.

On the night of Nov. 1, 2001, the Abingdon resident was driving in rural Tazewell County on her way to Grundy. The last thing she remembers is thinking she would make a U-turn.

"I was told by the police that my car flipped four to five times and that I was thrown out of the sunroof," Barker said. She ended up with facial fractures, two broken arms, a broken pelvis and extensive head injuries, even though she was wearing a seat belt.

She was 38 years old.

Today, four years later, Barker is still fighting a daily battle with memory loss, fatigue, maintaining balance, migraines and the inability to process information rapidly. She has trouble remembering what she has to accomplish during her day. Tasks that others may find simple, become hard for her to do because of impaired motor skill. “Daily life isn’t as easy now as it was  before,” said Barker.

THE COST OF RECOVERY

“Funding is impairative in order to make medical advancements in the area of traumatic brain injury (TBI),” said Kristen Gregory, a brain injury case manager in Abingdon who oversees brain injury survivors in Southwest Virginia.

“There is not a lot of help for traumatic brain injury survivors in the area,” Barker said. “TBI survivors in this area were finally given a case manager to help with our needs,” said Barker.

Barker has had difficulty with medical rehabilitation as well.

Recovery from TBI varies based on the individual and the brain injury but there is currently no cure for a traumatic brain injury. Barker is still undergoing rehabilitation in an attempt to improve upon the functional impairments caused by her accident.

FUNDING DIFFICULTIES

“We have great support, but there needs to be more of a financial focus in Southwest Virginia for brain injury survivors,” Gregory said. “Rather than designating money everywhere, studies have been done to show that our need is greater.” According to the Traumatic Brain Injury Association, there are currently 20,000 people in Southwest Virginia who have TBI.

In the Virginia state budget that goes into effect in July, $210,000 has been allotted to help TBI survivors in Southwest Virginia. The money will be given to Brain Injury Services of Southwest Virginia and dispursed to individuals as needed. This money, divided up between the 20,000 people effected by TBI, comes out to be $10.50 per person for an entire year, according to Gregory.

“What could you do with $10.50 given to you for one year?” she asked.

PROPOSED LEGISLATION

Two competing bills are in the works. The first bill, according to Gregory, is a senate bill allocating additional funding of $300,000 for TBI survivors of Southwest Virginia. This will also include an $800,000 stipend for many centers for independent living, organizations also involved with helping survivors throughout the Tri-Cities. A study to determine further need throughout the state will also be funded in this proposed budget.

“The idea of having an in-depth study is great because it could result in the realization of how deep our needs truly are,” said Helen Butler, executive director of Brain Injury Services in Southwest Virginia. “Politics do come into play here.” The second bill is a house revision proposing $600,000 of additional funding per year to be allocated for TBI survivors and services throughout the Commonwealth.

Brain injury is Virginia’s unrecognized public health epidemic and funding to address the problem is low as compared to other disability-related spending.

For example, in 2003, state funding for brain injury services was $1.2 million compared to the state funding for mental retardation, which was $97.8 million. This comes out to be an average of $552 per person for people with mental retardation and only $8 per person for TBI survivors. The amount available since 2003 has increased, but not enough to see a radical change; or help accomplish the goals of Brain Injury Services of Southwest Virginia.

A COMPARISON

According to a recent comparison of annual incidence from the Brain Injury Association, there are 1.5 million TBI victims in the country – compared to the 176,300 people living with breast cancer and 43,681 living with HIV/AIDS.

“It is not that other organizations do not deserve funding as well, but I would like to see the full measure of what we need in order to serve our people,” Butler said. “It’s hard because everyone has needs. But I have to ask that brain injury survivors in Southwest Virginia be served first.” The full General Assembly reconvened on March 27.

“Things are better than they were four years ago when the General Assembly gave us our first funding,” Gregory said. “We have hope that things will improve, but we are not there yet.”

Meanwhile, support groups continue to meet monthly, “the money that the TBI survivors of SWVA is being used to continue advancement in this field and hope is being kept alive that one day, through proper funding, all the needs of each survivor will be met,” said Gregory.

FACTS ABOUT TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

• 5.3 million Americans are currently affected
• Another incident occurs every 15 seconds
• 4,000 individuals sustain a traumatic brain injury on a daily basis
• Annually, the national incidence is 5 times greater than HIV/Aids, spinal  cord injury, multiple sclerosis and breast cancer combined
• 1.5 million new cases annually in U.S.
• More than 80,000 each year are left with lifelong disabilities from the  results of a traumatic brain injury
• 50,000 die each year from a traumatic brain injury

WHAT CAUSES BRAIN INJURY

• falls (28%)
• motor vehicle-traffic crashes (20%)
• struck by/against (19%)
• assault (11%)

FUNCTIONAL IMPACTS OF BRAIN INJURY

• cognitive impairments
• executive function difficulties (ex: planning out day, organizing and  evaluating)
• initiating
• distraction and confusion
• changes in thinking
• lack of awareness of deficiencies
• difficulty handling changes in routine
• speech and language problems
• sensor and motor skill impairment

– SOURCE: www.biausa.org

Additional resources: www.va.gov, Centers for Disease Control, American Cancer Society, CDC National Injury for Injury Prevention, Virginia Brain Injury Central Registry, the Brain Injury Recovery Network and Control and Brain Injury Association Inc.