BRAIN INJURY: THE `SILENT EPIDEMIC'; MEDICAL TEAM HELPS PATIENTS RECOVER

Justin Wyatt doesn't remember the accident on Nash Road. The 14-year-old Scott City boy doesn't remember being thrown from the pickup truck he was riding in on Sept. 1.

What he does remember is waking up in intensive care in St. Francis Medical Center six days after the Labor Day accident.

"When I woke up at the hospital, I had no idea where I was or why I was there," recalled Wyatt.

Wyatt's mother, Karla, said her son was "basically unconscious" for six days. "He had difficulty breathing." Doctors put a tube down his throat to help him breathe.

When he first arrived at the hospital, he had to have surgery to remove a blood clot in his head. Justin Wyatt's skull was fractured in the accident.

The first few days were traumatic ones for the family. "We didn't know what kind of damage was done to his brain," Karla Wyatt said. "It was scary. It was very scary."

After he regained consciousness, Justin Wyatt still wasn't himself. At first, he had difficulty keeping his balance and walking straight. His short-term memory was poor. He was disoriented.

He was in the hospital for 10 days. During that time, he began receiving rehabilitation therapy. That continued at St. Francis' outpatient center after he was released from the hospital.

He has received physical, speech and occupational therapy as he has worked to get his life back on track.

He underwent his final outpatient therapy session Thursday, six weeks after the accident.

Justin Wyatt is looking forward to returning to Scott City High School on Monday. He has been trying to keep up with class work at home with the assistance of a tutor. But Monday will be the first time he has been in a classroom since the accident.

Wyatt has raced stock cars at the race track at Benton. He plans to resume racing next year. He also wants to play quarterback for the Scott City Rams. But racing remains his first love. "Racing is more exciting," he said.

Karla Wyatt doesn't care about all that. She is just happy he is alive. "To me, it's a miracle he is back to his normal self."

Dr. Stephen Jordan, neuro-psychologist at St. Francis, said recovery can take six to 12 months or even longer for some brain-injury patients. "Some folks are never able to live completely independently," he said.

Jordan is part of a seven-member team at the hospital that helps patients, who suffered severe brain injuries, get back on their feet. The Brain Injury Rehabilitation Team includes occupational, physical and speech therapists.

Jordan said it helps patients and their families to deal with the same therapists from day to day and week to week. "We think it facilitates getting patients on their feet a little faster,' he said.

"Most families coming into a hospital are strangers in a strange land," said Jordan. Good communication with family members is vital, he said. "They want to know what is likely to happen."

The Brian Injury Rehabilitation Team works to develop a rehab plan for a patient even while that person is in intensive care.

Even after the initial trauma has been dealt with, doctors must be concerned about swelling to the brain that can occur 24 to 48 hours after the incident.

"We check to see if someone is swallowing OK," said Jordan.

When a patient is in a coma, the staff often plays music and provides other stimulation to give the person "a reason to wake up," Jordan said.

"People don't wake up immediately out of a coma," he said. It takes patients time to get their bearings.

Team members meet several times a week to discuss the progress of each patient. Family input is encouraged.. "We really value their feedback,' said Aimee Powless, rehabilitation case manager.

In the year ending in June 1996, St. Francis cared for over 1,000 patients who had suffered various types of brain injuries.

Over the last four years, the hospital has treated nearly 150 patients who suffered severe traumatic brain injuries and were in comas for more than a day, Jordan said.

Traumatic brain injury has been called the "silent epidemic," Jordan said. Nationwide, it is the leading cause of death and disability up to the age of 44, he said.

Missouri hospitals report over 5,000 traumatic brain injuries to the Department of Health each year, he said.

Motor-vehicle accidents are blamed for half of all traumatic brain injuries; falls account for 21 percent; assaults and violence, 12 percent; and sports and recreation, 10 percent.

Traumatic Brain Injury Facts

It is estimated there are more than 2 million traumatic brain injuries every year, with 50,000 severe enough to require hospitalization.

Every 15 seconds someone suffers a brain injury in the United States. Every five minutes, one of these people wil die and another will become permanently disabled.

Each year, 75,000 to 100,000 Americans will die as a result of a brain injury. Most deaths occur at the time of the injury or within the first two hours of hospitalization.

Males between the ages of 15 and 24 have the highest rate of injury.

Source: The Brain Injury Association of Missouri