This week’s resource is the Website America’s Heroes at Work.

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) created this site in order to address the “employment challenges of returning service members living with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and/or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).”

America’s Heroes gives employers tools that can help our military men and women affected by TBI and PTSD better succeed in the civilian workplace. To accomplish this they are collaborating with the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) and the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP).

For more information, visit their site here.

Due to the U.S.’s continued military presence in Iraq, we have seen a lot of attention paid to the increasing numbers of soldiers returning with head injuries from bomb blasts. These injuries are often hard to detect and too many times go unreported.

Luckily, both for the soldiers and for civilians who have sustained brain injuries, there has been a correlating increase in research into preventing and curing traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

The latest study that has caught our attention is focused on the use of crystals to detect and report a TBI. Shu Yang, one of the researchers who developed the device, says that the amount of damage sustained from an impact such as a soldier would get from an explosion, can be registered by crystals.

The crystal structure changes depending on the level of shock it experiences, changing its color. Scientists are working on developing a method that will allow doctors to translate a particular color into a level of neurological damage.

According to a NewScientist article, the blast waves from large roadside bombs “stretch and shear the brain, damaging the long nerve cells connecting the different regions of the brain”. The damage can only be detected with a specialized MRI scan, until now. With these crystal stickers, the hope is that the degree of damage will be apparent with a quick visual check, allowing the necessary level of care to be ascertained immediately.

When attached to a uniform or helmet in the form of a think sticker strip, these crystals can potentially be incredibly useful on the battlefield, helping to bring more of our soldiers home after receiving proper and beneficial TBI care.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are helping U.S. soldiers with early detection and timely treatment of traumatic brain injuries.

A prototype software has been designed to “integrate in real time data provided by medics on the battlefield with information from the patient’s electronic medical record, filter them through a template and present a visualization over a network to a physician in a remote location who could then diagnose TBI and direct treatment.”

This means that a soldier who is injured in some remote location like Iraq can have the needed brain injury information ready and waiting to put into play once the patient arrives.

This system uses data such as the injured soldier’s heart rate, respiration rate and blood pressure that is added to the patient’s medical history to determine the degree of the injury and the next needed step.

As traumatic brain injuries need to be treated as soon as possible, this software’s ability to “visually transfer the physician to the battle” will greatly increase a soldier’s chance of survival and recovery after sustaining a TBI.

The Army has issued new guidelines for traumatic brain injury care with the intention of catching and treating early symptoms. According to Kelly Kennedy, staff writer for ArmyTimes, this will also help catch soldiers who memorize the TBI tests in order to remain on the field by passing the concussion indicators test.

We have been learning a great deal more about TBI’s in the military as the Iraq war is sending home soldiers with all levels of brain injury. Concussions impair vital abilities such as concentration, memory, timing and marksmanship. These new guidelines require all soldiers who have been “involved in a blast, fall, vehicle crash or direct impact incident who lose consciousness or become dizzy afterward” to be seen by a doctor as soon as it’s possible.

This won’t prevent some soldiers from delaying their checkups, but at least it will still catch a significant portion of those with head injuries. While these guidelines increase the safety of soldiers returning to the field and those around them, they will also help to prevent some of the long-term effects that can become permanent with lack of care. Brain injuries can escalate from headaches and irritability to significant memory problems and even balance difficulties.

When prevention isn’t possible, immediate aftercare becomes crucial with a head injury.

Now it looks like even Russia is getting on board with the UN push for official disability rights. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Russia has much to do still, if they are to fully implement the UN’s provisions, but that their experts are helping develop the convention and the legislation.

Putin admits that Russia towns ans cities are poorly equipped to properly assist those with disabilities, whether it be with transportation or jobs. He believes that signing the Convention “will be a move forward on this track.”

Interesting that Russia is willing to move forward on this and yet the US still refuses to sign.

According to an article by Carlos Mayorga in the The Salt Lake Tribune, a new fund has been created for Utah residents who have suffered a traumatic brain injury. This financial assistance is intended to be used in the training of medical personnel and for medical expenses that programs such as Medicaid don’t cover.

According to Mayorga, more than 2,500 new brain injuries are sustained every year in Utah. With this short-term funding, those who have been unable to receive proper treatment stand a better chance. So far there have been private contributions to the fund, so the hope is that after the initial one-time government contribution of $50,000 runs out, either the government will provide more or they will continue to receive donations.

Hopefully more progressive policies will come out of Utah’s move towards supporting the often ignore TBI population.

With the use of brain-imaging technology that uses MEG technology (magnetoencephalography), physicians at an Elk Grove Village hospital are hoping to determine if combat veterans are suffering from undiagnosed traumatic brain injuries.

This “magnetic stethoscope” picks up magnetic signals that are produced by the brain when it is exposed to visual or auditory stimuli. This will help doctors determine whether vets who have PTSD also have a TBI as those signals differ when patients have one from when they have both.

According to the Chicago Tribune article, this technology will help patients receive proper treatment for the biological factors involved in PTSD and TBI.

On Courant.com, Lisa Chedekel writes that the military is starting a program where they will test and evaluate troops that are war bound before they leave. This screening is to help create a reference point for those who end up sustaining brain damage.

There has been a lot of buzz lately about the growing number of soldiers returning from war with various degrees of brain damage. With a variety of organizations advocating for better treatment of our wounded troops, this “pre-deployment screening” is an excellent sign that U.S. military leaders are beginning to take these injuries as the serious matter that they are.

For the full article, click here.

Yesterday’s post on the Brain Damage Blog provides awareness of the need for consideration to be given to the “organic component of the emotional symptoms experienced after combat”.

The author Gordon Johnson, an attorney specializing in brain injury, believes in making sure that not only should the emotional aspects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) be evaluated and addressed, but that the possibility of an organic injury (concussion, etc.) has to be weighed and not ignored.

We think this is valuable advice and should be well heeded if you or someone you know has been diagnosed with PTSD. For the rest of the post, please click here. For a full discussion on PTSD, check out this link.

Image credit NY University

Brain-related illness currently costs the US $1.3 trillion dollars a year (healthcare costs, lost income). Republicans and Democrats are joining together to support a new bill that aims to fix this massive problem. According to the article, the idea is increase Federally-funded research, as well as eliminate much of the red tape that keeps new treatments from reaching the public. Read more here.