Institute of Rural Health to Sponsor Spring Web Series on Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury research, education and prevention will be explored in a free, five-part Web series, sponsored by Idaho State University’s Institute of Rural Health and Rocky Mountain Learning, a nonprofit online meeting and training provider.

Sessions run Feb. 26 through April 9, 1p.m. to 2:30 p.m., MST. Family members, private providers, state agency personnel, and the general public who work with or have an interest in traumatic brain injuries can register at www.rockymountainlearning.com/tbi2010.

Here’s the schedule:

Feb. 26- The Value of Peer Support and Online Connections: TBI Survivors Network .
 
The Internet offers many opportunities for survivors and caregivers of traumatic brain injury or TBI.  Learn how this site and other peer support networks have enhanced the lives of survivors.

Presenters are Craig Sicilia, behaviorist, TBI survivor, and advocate; and Penny Condoll, social worker, TBI advocate, and survivor.

March 3- Compassion Fatigue  
          
Care givers are at high risk for compassion fatigue. Attendees will learn to identify compassion fatigue and differentiate it from burnout. They’ll also learn to identify the risk factors of compassion fatigue and how to avoid them.

The presenter is U.S. Navy Lt. Comdr. Pamela Herbig, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist and director of the Adult Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program at Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.

March 12- Resources for Military Personnel and Their Families

The presenter is Barbara Cohoon, R.N., Ph.D., the deputy director of government relations for the National Military Family Association

March 31- Why do we See Personality Changes after TBI?

This session will discuss the biological, psychological, and social factors that influence changes in coping style and personality after traumatic brain injury.

The presenter is Greg O’Shanick, M.D., the national director of the Brain Injury Association of America, Inc., and president and medical director at the Center for Neurorehabilitation Services, PC., in Richmond, Va.

April  9- Grief and Loss among Families after a Brain Injury

The session will discuss the common emotions and reactions of the family after a family member has sustained a brain injury or blast injury, and how family members cope and adjust to changes in their lives and families over time.

The presenter is Marilyn Lash, M.S.W., a social worker and founding partner of Lash and Associates Publishing/Training in Wake Forest, N.C.

The series is supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau.
For more information, contact Russell Spearman in the Institute of Rural Health, (208) 373-1773 or at spearuss@isu.edu.