Princess Health and Mary Hass of Louisville gets national brain-injury advocacy award. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Mary Hass of Louisville gets national brain-injury advocacy award. Princessiccia

awards traumatic brain injuries

Gusty 14:30 Add Comment

Mary Hass (image
from BIAK Facebook page)

Mary Hass, the volunteer advocacy director at the Brain Injury Association of Kentucky, was one of four medical professionals recognized for their accomplishments in the field of brain injury during the North American Brain Injury Society's 13th annual conference.

Hass, of Louisville, is the first ever recipient of the NABIS Michael Davis Advocacy Award, named in recognition of a board member who passed away last year.

The award was given in honor of her "commitment and dedication to the field of brain injury and her advocacy work to establish programs and service for persons with brain injury in Kentucky, many of which serve as models for similar efforts around the country," says the release.

The conference, recently held in Florida, was attended by almost 400 multidisciplinary brain injury professionals from around North America who gathered to learn and share the latest developments from the field of brain injury. The principal mission of the organization is moving brain-injury science into practice.

Princess Health and Princess Health andHow to keep kids safe from traumatic brain injuries this summer.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andHow to keep kids safe from traumatic brain injuries this summer.Princessiccia

children physical activity traumatic brain injuries

Gusty 18:20 Add Comment

About 1.7 million people in the U.S. suffer a traumatic brain injury each year, and nearly half a million children under 15 visit an emergency room for TBI. A brain injury is traumatic if it disrupts the normal function of the brain.

Dr. Michael Egnor, vice-chairman of neurology at New York's Stony Brook University Hospital and director of pediatric neurosurgery at Stony Brook Children's Hospital, provides ideas for how parents can help protect their children from brain injuries this summer.

Families are going on more bike rides, but not everyone knows that bicycle accidents are most likely to happen within five blocks of home. "Make sure your child wears a helmet every time he or she rides a bicycle, scooter or skateboard," Egnor said. "We're seeing the most head injuries right now in skateboarding, especially in young teens, who might think it's just not cool to wear a helmet."

Each year more than 200,000 children suffer from injuries on playgrounds in the U.S., according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The main cause is falls. Egnor suggested looking for shredded mulch, pea gravel, crushed stone and other loose surfaces and being extra careful on asphalt and concrete.

Parents with older children and teens should be aware of possible diving accidents. "In about 50 percent of cases of catastrophic injuries, alcohol or drugs is involved," Egnor said. "Ensure that responsible adults supervise pool parties and other events where swimming and diving are involved."

Egnor also warned of concussions during summer sports. He said, "The few serious injuries we treat from organized sports are usually accidents that probably could not have been prevented," he said, while many of the concussions he treats are mild because many sports require helmets.

Dealing with serious injuries quickly is key, Egnor said. "The full extent of the injuries may not appear immediately." (Read more)

Princess Health and Princess Health andLexington auto mechanic becomes neurosurgeon; now researching traumatic brain injury diagnosis and treatment.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andLexington auto mechanic becomes neurosurgeon; now researching traumatic brain injury diagnosis and treatment.Princessiccia

research traumatic brain injuries University of Kentucky

Gusty 14:23 Add Comment

In the early 1980s, Geoff Manley was a mechanic, and some of his clients were University of Kentucky faculty. That is how he met microbiology professor Shelly Steiner and started on the road to a new career: neurosurgery and a multi-million-dollar research project.

"Some kids are polite�you know, 'Yes, yes, sir'�but disengaged. Geoff was clearly intelligent and focused," Steiner told Laura Dawahare of UKNow. "You can talk to someone for just a few minutes and know right away how bright they are. Geoff was like that."

Because no one in Manley's family had gone to college, Steiner's suggestion that he finish his GED and attend UK, was a "transformative moment," Manley said. He graduated in 1988 then earned his MD-PhD at Cornell University. Now he is the vice chair of neurosurery at the University of California-San Francisco.

"Manley's earlier work with Steiner and a colleague in the lab influenced his decision to pursue a career in the neurosciences; his particular interest is in traumatic brain injury, or TBI," Dawahare writes.

Though the public often hears about athletes' concussions, TBI results even more often from auto accidents or slips-and-falls. Every year at least 1.7 million people in the U.S. get medical attention for TBI. "I did a lot of bench work earlier in my career, but I was torn between my interest in the basic sciences and my desire to do something directly relevant for TBI patients," Manley said. "So I began to explore a new translational research approach to TBI."

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) gave him $18.8 million over five years to do worldwide research about concussion and traumatic brain injury. TBI is complex, which makes diagnosis and therapy development difficult. Dr. Manley and his colleagues want to change the current TBI measures. "Here we are in the 21st Century, and we classify TBI in one of three ways: mild, moderate or severe," Manley said. "Cancer, by comparison, can be characterized in a very precise way, and treatments are customized to each patient's needs." Therefore, Dr. Manley wants to establish a set of classifications for TBI that are as detailed as the ones used for cancer.

"We expect that our approach will permit researchers to characterize and stratify patients more effectively, will allow meaningful comparisons of treatments and outcomes and will improve the next generation of clinical trials," Manley said. "Advancing our understand of TBI will ultimately lead to successful, patient-specific treatments."

Manley said that Steiner's encouragement helped him not only finish his GED and college but also get where he is today. Steiner said, "Geoff would have made it anyway�he had the intellectual octane and the motivation. He may think others helped him, but it really was his trip." (Read more)

Princess Health and Fort Campbell works to address post-traumatic stress disorder, common ailment of Afghanistan-Iraq veterans.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Fort Campbell works to address post-traumatic stress disorder, common ailment of Afghanistan-Iraq veterans.Princessiccia

Army drug treatment mental health mental illness post-traumatic stress disorder traumatic brain injuries

Gusty 12:02 Add Comment

Research shows almost 14 percent of veterans returning home from Iraq and Afganistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and as an estimated 2 million veterans are coming home, Fort Campbell has quickly acted by reaching out to the medical community in Kentucky to help address the challenges of PTSD.

Top behavioral health and brain injury research experts came to Ft. Campbell on Tuesday to teach civilian behavioral health professionals about the military's current PTSD and brain injury research and treatments, reports Kristin Hall of The Associated Press.

PTSD can be one of war's ugly side effect, and it is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event in which ther's potential for grave physical harm, such as "violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, and military combat," says the National Institute of Mental Health. Not properly treating PTSD symptoms can lead to alcohol or drug use, spouse or child abuse, depression or suicide

The clinics at Ft. Campbell will focus on PTSD and brain trauma treatment and will each have 13 mental health professionals to offer more personalized, focused care, which is expected to reduce "cases of psychiatric problems, spouse or child abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, suicides and drug use," like the pilot program at Fort Carson in Colorado, reports Adam Ghassemi of News Channel 5.

Some Kentucky veterans, like Mike Jeffrey who spoke about his physical and mental battles after his two tours in Iraq at a Veteran's Recognition Program, are addressing other problems associated with PTSD, which are that many veterans won't talk about it, and they both families and veterans lack awareness about treatment options. Jeffrey talked about the struggles he had when returning home and his "baby steps" toward normalcy.

�I woke up and had kicked down my apartment doors overnight without knowing it,� he said. �It was hell just living with myself,� reported Tracy Harris of The News Democrat. Jeffrey started counseling for his PTSD and is now using a service dog trained specifically for veterans, Seal Team.

�Seal Team is his security blanket,� said Jeffrey's wife, Shelly, who contacted four service dog organizations before finding K-9 trainer Mike Halley, a Vietnam veteran living in Florida, reports Harris. In addition to suggesting use of a service dog, Jeffrey said veterans shouldn't bury their own experience with PTSD, which many are reluctant to talk about.

�We all grew up in the suck-it-up-and-drive Army,� he said. �But you can only suck it up for so long,� said Jeffrey.

Efforts like the ones made by Ft. Campbell and Mike Jeffrey represent progress in treatment of mental health issues. And while these efforts alone won't address the problem, work within local communities can make a world of difference for struggling veterans.

Retired Maj. Gen. Mark Graham said "there is no quick way to eliminate the stigma often attached to seeking out mental health care, but the key is partnerships with the communities," writes Hall.

The story of returning veteran's is a big one that may be hard to cover, so click here for journalism tips. Click here to learn more about PTSD programs in Kentucky, or click the link below to watch news coverage about the behavioral health clinics in Ft. Campbell.

Ft. Campbell Opens Behavioral Health Clinics To Fight PTSD - NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather & Sports

Princess Health and Three of four UK's research professorships fund work in health.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Three of four UK's research professorships fund work in health.Princessiccia

alcohol abuse traumatic brain injuries University of Kentucky

Gusty 11:47 Add Comment

Three of the four University of Kentucky research professorships awarded for the 2012-13 school year will fund health-related work. Each award is worth $40,000.

Mark Filmore, right, who teaches in UK's Department of Psychology, will research the role that cognitive processes have in promoting risk-taking behavior. It will have an emphasis on recreational drug use, including alcohol abuse and dependence.

Douglas Andres, left, professor and vice chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry,  "had begun to define the molecular pathways that control adult neurogenesis, and have shown that Rit, a Ras family G-protein, plays a critical role in the survival of newborn adult neurons following traumatic brain injury," a press release reads. If that is the case, strategies that target Rit activation may be effective in helping recover or repair the injury.

In the Department of Internal Medicine, Mark Dignan, right, leads a program that focuses on cancer prevention and control in community settings using community-based participatory methods. Using the funds of his professorship, he plans to expand his training, "allowing him to conduct translational research with teams that include basic and clinical scientists as they continue their work to reduce cancer health disparities," the press release reads.

Christopher Pool, professor in the Department of Anthropology, is the fourth professorship recipient. (Read more)