Programs of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI’s)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)  is a federal agency that is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Its main goal is to protect public health and safety through the control and prevention of disease, injury, and disability. The CDC directs national attention on developing and applying disease control and injury prevention. It focuses its attention on infectious disease, food borne pathogens, environmental health, occupational safety and health, injury prevention and other health and safety risks.

Among the other important areas of the CDC’s involvement is traumatic brain injuries (TBI’s). These include mild traumatic brain injuries, or concussions. The CDC furnishes a plethora of information and resources for individuals to help prevent these traumas, explains the challenging diagnoses that they usually require and discussing what an individual may reasonably expect during acute and post-acute stages of care. The programs and information provided recognize the broad range of events that can cause a traumatic brain injury. The information is also helpful in augmenting the rehabilitation expertise of claims adjusters in Florida and elsewhere. This is because many of the traumatic brain injuries occur in the context of motor vehicle accidents, work-related accidents, athletics and in other contexts in which litigation or litigation-like disputes may arise.

Some of the programs of the CDC that relate, directly or indirectly, to traumatic brain injury include:

• Core VIPP Program. This is a program that recognizes injury as a leading cause of death in the United States. This program is intended to protect people against violence, preventable injuries and the resulting harm that is caused. The Injury Center of this program deals with injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, that occur in non-occupational settings. It provides funding and technical assistance to twenty state health departments through its Core Violence and Injury Protection Program (VIPP). Important to the issue of traumatic head injuries is a part of the program dealing with fall prevention.
• Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancement and Leadership through Alliances (DELTA). This program addresses domestic violence in all of its forms, including physical. Domestic violence can often result in brain trauma if the violence is physical. If it is verbal or emotional, it may result in the functional equivalent of post-traumatic stress disorder and therefore require, among other things, psychological or psychiatric care or neurorehabilitation as part of the required acute and post-acute care. Generically, this kind of violence, whether or not physical, is called intimate partner violence (IPV).
• Injury Control Research Centers (ICRCs). This program is intended to prevent injuries and disabilities. The Centers conduct research in three core phases of injury control (prevention, acute care, and rehabilitation) and serve as training and information centers for the public. Research design in these centers is interdisciplinary and incorporates the fields of medicine, engineering, epidemiology, law, and criminal justice, behavioral and social sciences, biostatistics, public health, and biomechanics. The Centers are located at many prestigious colleges and universities nationwide, including Johns Hopkins, Columbia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[1]

While these resources of the CDC provide valuable general information on traumatic brain injuries, it is important to remember that traumatic brain injuries affect individuals differently. Challenging diagnoses are often required. Some individuals experience behavioral changes requiring the development of compensatory strategies, while others suffer from cognitive deficits from the traumatic brain injury.

All individuals having a traumatic brain injury require acute care to address the immediate trauma, but that care will differ depending upon the type and cause of the trauma. Thereafter and once medically stabilized, the individual will require post-acute care. At that stage, there must occur an independent functional evaluation by a multi-disciplinary team of professionals. When an individual becomes a Client of NeuLife Rehab in Mount Dora, Florida the multi-disciplinary team may consist of the following:

• Board Certified Neurologist
• Board Certified Behavior Analyst
• Board Certified Physiatrist
• Neuropsychologist
• Psychologist
• Board Certified Psychiatrist
• Speech Language Pathologist/Cognitive Therapist
• Physical Therapist
• Occupational Therapist
• Nurses
• Certified Rehab Counselor

The results of the independent functional evaluation assists the multidisciplinary team in formulating a Client Goal Plan which, while fluid, guides the Client’s rehabilitation and specialized rehabilitation in the course of post-acute care.. The team is uniquely equipped to help him or her with post-acute rehabilitation from a traumatic brain injury and a broad range of other catastrophic injuries. The goal, always, is to assist the Client in attaining that degree of independence that his or her physical and mental abilities allow.

Proper and timely post-acute rehabilitation that may determine the difference between disability and independence is what NeuLife refers to as the “platinum post-acute period” —  the crucial window following acute care that is needed to nurture the whole person to health with specialized, clinically relevant services.

NeuLife’s philosophy is that healing, wellness and personal fulfillment are best achieved in a positive and uplifting therapeutic environment where caring staff encourages, assists and supports each client so he or she may achieve specific goals. NeuLife believes personal fulfillment is equally as important as goals to achieve function and independence.

NeuLife, in Mount Dora, Florida, is an accessible residential post-acute program providing specialized rehabilitation to individuals diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury
(TBI), Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), Amputations, Burns and other Catastrophic Injuries and Challenging Diagnoses.

2725 Robie Avenue

Mount Dora, Florida 32757

[1] http://www.cdc.gov/injury/fundedprograms/programs.html