A member of the Western States Brain Injury Alliance Brain Injury ALLIANCE of Oregon (BIAOR)
PO Box 549, Molalla OR 97038
Phone: 503.740.3155 or Outside the local area:
1.800.544.5243
Fax: 503.961.8730 /
e-Mail:
info@biaoregon.org
The only
Oregon Statewide Nonprofit dedicated to the mission of
creating a better future through brain injury prevention,
research, education, and advocacy.
OVRS represents one of Oregon's greatest untapped labor pools: skilled, motivated, responsible men and women - willing workers - who happen to have disabilities.
Motivated, Reliable, Dependable. Over 6000 Oregon businesses have found the answer to their employment needs.
:: Important Notice
We know that brain injury
often leads to cognitive challenges that can dramatically
alter one¡¯s life. Impaired attention, memory, and
organizational skills affect the ability to perform basic
tasks of daily living as well as complex job-related tasks.
Social engagement is affected as well. All of these changes
can lead to lost independence, jobs, and relationships.
Cognitive rehabilitation is critical to helping survivors of
brain injury learn new skills and compensations to manage
cognitive deficits in order to increase independence and
maximize quality of life. Speech-language pathologists, for
example, provide a range of cognitive rehabilitation
services, including evaluation and training in the use of
external memory aids, organizational routines, and
attention-concentration management strategies.
Unfortunately, private
insurers do not routinely fund cognitive rehabilitation,
leaving survivors without the financial means to pursue
these services. In the past year, the Brain Injury
Association of Oregon has supported the formation of a
statewide coalition of professionals and agencies serving
individuals with brain injury who have been denied coverage
for cognitive rehabilitation services by private insurers,
particularly Blue Cross-Blue Shield (BCBS) of Oregon, one of
the largest insurers in the state. Denials are frequently
based on the claim that there is insufficient research
evidence to support that cognitive rehabilitation works;
however, this claim is unfounded as there is abundant
research showing that it does work.
The good news is that
there are ways to address this unjust trend in policy. For
example, in the state of Montana last year, a survivor who
had been denied coverage under Blue Cross Blue Shield,
appealed the decision through the external claims review
process and won! Encouraged by this precedent, the BIAOR has
supported the formation of a statewide coalition of
professionals and agencies to learn more about this issue
and to provide a resource for survivors who have been denied
coverage.
If you or someone you
know has been denied coverage for cognitive rehabilitation
services, contact the
BIAOR at:
PO Box 549
Molalla OR 97038
503.740.3155 800-544-5243
Pre-Conference Workshop and Training Thursday, March
1, 2012 8:00 - 5:00 pm
Technology Workshop $100
An entire day with experts devoted to demonstrating the
benefits of technology to maximize independence. Technology
sessions also incorporated throughout conference.
Entrepreneurs,
leading tech industry executives, academics, and
persons with disabilities will gather to explore ways
technology can help those with disabilities. The workshop
examines all aspects of technology and disability and
features a faculty of internationally recognized speakers at
the pre-conference workshops. This will open the 10th Annual Pacific Northwest
Conference featuring more than 50 general session workshops
and more than 50 exhibitors displaying the latest in
assistive technology ranging from software and social media
applications to robotics.
CBIS Training $600 for CBIS Certification
including class, book and exam - $175 for Class and
Book Only
The purpose of this workshop is to provide a broad overview of brain injury, how it affects the individual, and the relationships between brain injury and the behavioral challenges that may follow. While neurological, physical and cognitive changes that occur following an injury clearly affect behavior, social and environmental factors often have equal or greater influence. This is especially true in day, residential, community based and other program formats. The manner in which a person is treated can contribute to problem behaviors. How do you handle these changes? The workshop will explore these factors and discuss how they apply in home, community and professional service settings. There will be a special emphasis on promoting positive supports to help all individuals succeed. This is not only relevant for people who experience disability following brain injury, but also for caretakers, providers and other members of a person's circle of support. The training will offer the opportunity to study for and take the national examination to become a Certified Brain Injury Specialist (CBIS).
2011 Conference Online for CEU Credits Limited
Time
Dinner with Joey Harrington Friday, March 2,
2012 immediately following conference workshops
Register Now
One time purchase travel and discount card $49 for veterans and family $199 for 2 cards for non
veterans Lifetime Membership in Vacation Values Club ($249 Value)
Free Membership in Government Vacation Rewards ($299 Value)
Free Vacation Rewards Points ($600 Value)
Free Membership in Online Coupons.com
($349 Value) 10% of every card sold goes to one of many military charitable organizations and BIAOR
He has crossed
Southwest 14th Street on the Oregon State University
campus in Corvallis, but where to go from here?
Cross Southwest
Jefferson Way and head south, or veer to the
northeast up 14th?
He makes the latter
choice.
“Ben, where are you
going?” says his mother, Renee Irvin. “You’ll want
to cross here,” she says, gesturing to the south,
toward the courtyard by the McNary Dining Center,
where prospective freshman are participating in
orientation on this mid-July day.
Mother and son have
practiced these “wayfinding” exercises on the OSU
campus several times this summer, so you would think
an 18-year-old would have it down by now.
For Ben Cooper,
though, a 2011 South Eugene High School graduate who
plans to major in mechanical engineering at OSU,
directions and intersections are a challenge these
days.
His life, after all,
came to a major intersection on Dec. 11, when, just
17, he sustained a severe right-brain hemorrhage
that led to an almost fatal stroke.
A large study in older veterans raises fresh concern about
mild brain injuries that hundreds of thousands of troops
have suffered from explosions in recent wars. Even
concussions seem to raise the risk of developing Alzheimer’s
disease or other dementia later in life, researchers found.
Closed-head, traumatic brain injuries are a legacy of the
Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Body armor is helping troops
survive bomb blasts, but the long-term effects of their head
injuries are unknown.
Other research found a possibly high rate of mild
cognitive impairment, or “pre-Alzheimer’s,” in some retired
pro-football players, who take many hits to the head in
their careers.
Posted : Saturday Jul 2, 2011 9:54:21 EDT
SAN DIEGO —
An advanced, high-tech scanner is providing a team of Navy, Veterans Affairs Department and university researchers with detailed pictures of brain activity that will better identify traumatic brain injury, the signature but often-invisible war wound.
Moreover, said a lead researcher, an initial study involving 55 military members and veterans with mild or moderate TBI shows that the advanced imaging scanner — using a technique called magnetoencephalography, or MEG — also can reveal and identify post-traumatic stress disorder.
Smart phones are all the rage in military circles:
The Army is currently experimenting with
soldier-friendly iPhones and Android devices, and in
the not-too-distant future, troops may tap “combat
apps” to do everything from watching a drone video
to taking pictures at a checkpoint. Now the Pentagon
wants smart phone applications for a different
fight: the battle against traumatic brain injury.
The Department of Defense announced Tuesday it had
released a new mobile phone app for helping identify
mild traumatic brain injury, medical-speak for a
concussion. It can be downloaded, for free, on an
Android phone.
A sophisticated imaging technique has revealed signs
of brain injury in soldiers injured in explosions.
The injuries, which don't show up with standard
imaging techniques, may help explain why some
soldiers suffer long-term problems after such
injuries. Brain injuries caused by blasts from
improvised explosive devices, rocket-propellant
grenades, or land mines in Iraq and Afghanistan are
a major concern for the U.S. military.
The construction industry has the highest number of
traumatic brain injuries out of all other sectors of
the U.S. workforce, according to a new study. And
University of California, San Diego researchers say
the highest rates of serious head injuries happen in
the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries.
The leading causes of the injuries in the workplace
are motor vehicle accidents, falls, assaults and
other violent acts and contact with objects or
equipment.
When Congress debated this year’s budget in April,
one expense overshadowed almost all others: the cost
of waging war. More than 6,000 Americans have been
killed in the current two wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Thousands more have come home with
serious injuries. Providing services to veterans is
already the U.S. government’s fifth largest expense,
after items like defense and social security. With
an increasing number of wounded vets, there’s a
growing concern that there is no long-term plan in
place to pay for their care.
Frank Munk earned his veterans' medical benefits
more than four decades ago in Quang Tri Province, a
hard-fought, bloody piece of ground in Vietnam. Yet,
he doesn't always choose to use them. The
64-year-old truck mechanic from western Kansas
instead spends $2,500 out of his own pocket on a
private doctor for such things as hearing tests.
It's that or drive nearly 300 miles to a Veterans
Administration hospital in either Wichita or Denver.
For centuries, American warriors rattled by a shell
or bomb charged back into battle - risking permanent
brain damage from another concussion. No more,
thanks to a Woodland Hills neuroscientist at UCLA,
whose research on traumatic brain injury has saved
the minds of legions of athletes and military
service members. For his dedication, David Hovda
this month will receive the Strength of the Nation
Award, the Army's highest civilian honor.
A new study may help explain why some military
personnel exposed to blasts have symptoms of brain
injury even though their CT and M.R.I. scans look
normal. Using a highly sensitive type of magnetic
resonance imaging, researchers studied 63 servicemen
wounded by explosions in Iraq or Afghanistan and
found evidence of brain injuries in some that were
too subtle to be detected by standard scans.
Young adults who've suffered head injuries are more
likely to get into a fight or take part in other
kinds of violence, according to new study findings.
The link between head injury and violence was
particularly strong if the previous head injury had
occurred within the past year, the authors note in
the journal Pediatrics.
Veterans suffering the invisible wounds of war
cannot show proof of their injuries like someone
with broken bones or missing limbs. New research in
San Diego is finding ways to measure the physical
evidence of a signature injury of the current wars:
traumatic brain injury. Mingxiong Huang, a
researcher at UCSD’s radiology lab, opens the heavy
door of the room where the magnetoencephalograpic,
or MEG, brain scanner is kept. It is like opening
the door of a space capsule.
This month, the Department of Veterans Affairs
informed the parents of William Hamilton, an Iraq
war veteran, that it was not responsible for his
death. Mr. Hamilton had been admitted nine times to
a V.A. psychiatric ward in Palo Alto. He saw demon
women and talked to a man he had killed in Iraq. His
parents allege that the V.A. illegally turned away
Mr. Hamilton — three days before he stepped in front
of train on May 16, 2010, at the age of 26.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to
include two amendments to the 2012 National Defense
Authorization bill authored by Rep. Bill Pascrell
(NJ-8). The amendments are designed to help service
members who have sustained traumatic brain injuries.
Throughout this decade at war, Dover Air Force Base
has been home to a solemn, somber journey, one
seared by emotions that are always new, always raw —
the return of our fallen warriors. From the
dignified transfer that occurs at Dover to the
reverent beauty of Arlington National Cemetery,
where many of these young men and women are laid to
rest, their loved ones are often with them every
step of the way.
Shannon Parker got knocked in the head at soccer
practice at Fairfax High School. She sat out for
weeks until passing a comprehensive clinical
evaluation that included a computer test showing she
was back to normal brain function, same as if she
played for the Washington Redskins. Athletes at the
25 public high schools in Fairfax County, an
affluent suburb of Washington, take baseline tests
like the ones used by NFL players. The ImPACT tests
are one tool doctors and athletic trainers can use
to tell when it is safe to return to the field.
U.S. REP.
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS’ STAFF WORKS TO GET TREATMENT
FOR ALL WITH TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY
Create A PinPay Account
or login to PinPay Account Select "Pay a PinPay Merchant" Select "BIAOregon" from Drop-down List
:: Trainings
CBIS Training - must be pre-registered - see
CBIS Training
page for information
:: Trainings
Monthly Brain Injury 101 Workshops
call 800-544-5243 for more information
:: EVENTS
3nd Annual Rafting Camping Trip
To Be Announced
:: Surveys
"Participate in research that analyzes
the therapy you have received because of your brain injury.
This is a totally anonymous online survey that was compiled
by someone who experienced a severe traumatic brain injury 5
years ago, and is now researching ways to improve the
healthcare field. In order to be heard, she needs hear your
voice first. Follow this link to the short survey to
contribute to research by and for people with brain injury."
"If a disease were killing our children in the proportions that
[brain] injuries are, people would be outraged and demand that
this killer be stopped."
Brain Injury Links,
Products and Information
are for your convenience. The material on this website is
provided for education and information purposes only. The Brain
Injury Alliance of Oregon does not support, endorse or
recommend any method, treatment, facility, product or firm
mentioned on the website. The Brain Injury Association of
Oregon does not control third party websites and are not
responsible for their contents. The Brain Injury Association of
Oregon does not endorse, recommend, or approve any third party
website hyperlinked from this Website and shall have no
liability to any entity for the content or use of the content
available through such hyperlink. Always seek medical, legal or
other professional advice as appropriate.
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