Brain conference hopes to make waves

Organizers want Ventura County's first brain injury conference in Oxnard next month to alert the public to the possibility and consequences of a brain injury and the need for more services.

In recognition of March as Brain Injury Awareness Month, the Ventura County Brain Injury Conference will take place March 21 at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.

The Brain Injury Center of Ventura County, St. John's Regional Medical Center, St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital and the Camarillo Health Care District are sponsoring what they hope will become an annual county event.

The conference's purpose is to inform the public of the possibility of sustaining a brain injury, its ramifications and the accommodations that can make life richer and fuller for survivors and their family members, said Joan Moore, executive director of the Brain Injury Center, which was founded by 10 brain injury survivors and their families in 1998.

The Ventura-based center is a nonprofit support and advocacy organization exclusively for brain injury survivors and their families.

"Know life goes on—it (can be) positive," Moore said.

Each year, 1.4 million people sustain a brain injury in the United States, according to the Brain Injury Association of America. A person could suffer a brain injury ranging from mild to severe as the result of a fall, motor vehicle accident or blow to the head. A concussion suffered in sports is the most common type of brain injury, the association states on its website. A number of Iraqi war veterans are returning home with brain injuries.

Brain damage can also result from a near drowning, stroke or other medical condition.

Based on an estimate from the Center for Disease Control that 2 percent of the population lives with a brain injury, Ventura County is home to some 16,000 survivors of a brain injury, Moore said.

"Multiply that by their family members and it's a really significant number," she said.

But last year the center helped fewer than 200 people across the county to access services, which indicates that an overwhelming number of brain injury survivors are underserved or unaware of the center, Moore said.

Another problem for people living with a brain injury is that "we have a huge county and a lack of services," said Celeste Racicot, a certified rehabilitation counselor and one of the presenters at the conference.

As it is, there are only a couple of support groups for survivors and their family members in Ventura County. One group meets in Ventura and another, on hiatus until the fall, meets in Thousand Oaks.

The center recently partnered with the Camarillo Health Care District to form a third support group in Camarillo beginning in April.

Experts who work with brain injury survivors say friends and resources, such as medical insurance, that may inundate the injured person in the days, months and first few years after the injury tend to evaporate over time. Years later, the survivor may have lost their job, spouse and friends. Information about services available to them is crucial.

Even a small brain impairment could restrict a person's ability to work, maintain relationships and function independently, said neuropsychologist Robert Tomaszewski, who will speak at the conference about resources and the type of structure and support that will help brain injury survivors and their loved ones in the long term.

A neuropsychologist is a clinical psychologist who specializes in treating people with neurological problems.

"It's a group that any one of us can join at any time," said Tomaszewski, a member of the Brain Injury Center's recently formed professional advisory board.

The conference also aims to educate the public about the abilities of a person with a brain injury.

Family, friends and observers may conclude the survivor is lazy or doesn't listen to instructions, said Racicot, who facilitates the Ventura support group and will assist the Camarillo group.

But that's not necessarily the case; the part of their brain that processes information is impaired, she said.

The afternoon session is designed with survivors, their friends, family and caregivers in mind. Racicot will teach them practical tools that will help them adjust to life after the brain injury.

Conference organizers have invited disability and personal injury attorneys, law enforcement and other professionals to the morning session to learn how to identify and improve communication with a person who has sustained a brain injury.

"It's really a silent disability," Racicot said.

For more information on the brain injury conference or the Brain Injury Center of Ventura County, 1802 Eastman Ave., No. 112, Ventura, call (805) 650-5993, ext. 204.