Yup, I’m at it again. I’ve climbed back up on my soap box to expound upon the dire need for our province to rethink how it allocates money to various programs that are meant to benefit our citizens.
It was through a Brunswick News article that I learned about Ms. Michelle Bartlett, who sustained a traumatic brain injury consequent to a cardiac arrest days after valve surgery; one valve was replaced and another repaired. Her story of recovery will be addressed at the national brain injury conference to be held in Saint John in April — the first time for such a gathering in this province. Kudos to Ms. Bartlett for sharing her story and coming forward to speak about her experience. She’s one of many examples of beating the odds, surviving the unsurvivable and being gracious and dare I say brave enough to talk about it. Not lost on her is the need for her voice to be heard, as she speaks for those who may longer be able to - perhaps due to an event such as she experienced. The government, those with the power to do great things for those who cannot, needs to not only take notice, they need to act. To DO!
“An estimated 160,000 Canadians sustain brain injuries,” according to conference organiser, Brain Injury Canada. Recovery can range from restoration of minimal functions where the individual is able to accomodate the most primitive of behaviours, to advancing, through extensive therapy, to accomodate a range of skills required for minimal to moderate unattended daily living. Daily living with brain injury is not easy. Ask me! I know!
Many among us do not fully appreciate the impact of a trauamatic injury, no matter how it happens, though there’s been a lot of press about sports-related concussions and the long-term effects of TBI. Many lives forever altered. More and more athletes who have sustained several concussions over the course of their careers are making the decision to leave their brains to medical science — being able to map what happened and what went so horribly wrong may contribute to determining courses of treatment for those whose lives and livelihoods have been turned upside down and inside out. The value of such brain studies shouldn’t be minimised or devalued with the misguided view that they’re not important. They are. In mapping the brain of a deceased sports figure whose life was essentially destroyed by TBI, the scientific community has opportunity to examine relationships to other disorders of the brain. Look at the commonalities between cerebral palsy with which I live, and Parkinson’s disease. There are many.
The government must direct resources to helping those whose brains are damaged to the point where their quality of life has been significantly diminished. I assert that the expenditure of funds to teach children about healthy food choices is painfully misguided. It’s doomed to fail by virtue of the reality that the adults in their lives may not fully possess a commitment to make a difference where it needs to happen - in the home.
Those who have sustained a traumatic brain injury are in far more need of assistance — more access to therapy, whether in a clinical setting or at home; more access to respite for caregivers, and more access to funds to support cost of equipment and other aides required to enhance independent living. Whether a since birth injury like mine, a sports-related injury to the brain, a medical treatment related unanticipated event, or any adult-onset diseases and conditions, like Alzheimer’s, the need of the forever and always brain injured should take precedence over funding allocations to schemes to motivate people to stop bad habits.
With appropriate mechanisms in place, many persons with TBI may find gainful, sustainable employment and make their own way with minimal tax payer support. That, my friends, would be a great step forward!
We have infants, preschoolers, kindergarteners, grade schoolers, high school and university students, working poor, single parents, working single parents, all in need of some kind of government assistance. Pooling people and resources may be a way to ‘get the job done’ and as potential to save money; funds that could be diverted into other/new social programs. With regard to the brain injured or anyone who’s daily living is jeopardized by changes in how their brain is performing, I believe that exploration should be made into the viablity of developing daycare programs that include children with brain insult interacting in some way with older people and even seniors with brain deficiencies. People need people no matter their age and we must not arbitrarily dismiss the value of nurturing relationships that we have decided can’t possibly work. Parents of children with mobility or other such challenge to inclusion, often stress over the fact that their child doesn’t have friends, misses out on activities, etc. Think about it. Young meets old day care programs. Hey, I wanna go there! We’ll make bread bowls!
Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca
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