“That being said, there are some wonderful medical providers, therapy providers who thoroughly understand brain injury. I work with colleagues up at Oregon Health Sciences University, my colleagues down at the Center on Brain Injury Research and Training at the University of Oregon are all experts on brain injury and identification. That being said, I hear stories, anecdotally, of people who go in to seek help for a brain injury and are essentially ignored or it’s not documented. This can start as early as the first responders and can go all throughout care for various other conditions.
….
for instance, when first responders arrive at the scene of a car collision, they might assess whether or not there was a loss of consciousness by asking the person involved in the collision, did you lose consciousness? That’s akin to asking that person, “tell me what you don’t remember?” We are recommending that they employ the two part question that has been adopted by the Department of Defense. What’s the last thing you remember before the injury? What’s the next thing you remember after the injury? And then, in that inquiry, they will find missing time. They can better assess whether or not there was in fact a loss of consciousness. I also want to be clear, loss of consciousness is not required for someone to sustain a brain injury.”
Source: Navigating resources difficult for brain injury patients in Oregon – OPB
Lots more at the link. Go read it.
Also a good comment that taking concussions in sports seriously is a movement that began in the last 20 years. But note that school sports are not the only place TBI happens – yet much media coverage has focused on that subset.
Over a 40-year period, I had six brain injuries – none due to school sports. Not once did anyone mention TBI to me. Not until later was I retroactively diagnosed with one moderate TBI (with skull fracture and likely internal bleeding), and 5 other concussions / mild TBI. Thus, I went through most of my life with untreated brain injuries.
