Alaska doctor wheels are a hope for those suffering from traumatic brain injuries with his “Brain Bus”

After a bicycle crash Doctor. Adam Grove noticed he did not look the same. He stated that he felt depressed for only the second time in his entire life. He was fast to anger and tired every day.

It was 1998. He had not been a physician however, he had recently quit the military and started medical school. He was walking to his school when the car plowed into him.

“At that point, no one had ever diagnosed that the brain was affected,” the doctor said. “I was numb. I was suffering from broken bones and all that things, so they concentrated on the fractures. There was no mention of brain injuries. So I struggled throughout my medical education.”

The patient was not diagnosed with a brain trauma accident until 7 years after.

Alaska is the state with the most severe percentage for traumatic brain injuries across the nation. It is more than twice that of the national average. Medical professionals claim that TBI is often not diagnosed or misdiagnosed. they require more education to perform TBI screening, as per an annual report on state epidemiology.

Today, Grove has a quest to spread awareness of the traumatic brain injury so that people can seek treatment. His quest for solutions led to a long period of advocacy and then, eventually, an accident on a bus.

With the help of the Alaska Mental Health Trust, the entrepreneur converted an old 1967 Blue Bird bus into a mobile medical clinic specifically designed for those suffering from traumatic brain injury. He refers to it as”the Brain Bus and drives from his home in South Anchorage to more remote areas on the road system to educate people about TBI as well as to help counsel and help people access sources.

“I could serve as the channel”

Grove is able to keep the bus parked in a coniferous forest after a long journey within his wooded South Anchorage neighborhood. He is a solution to what he called an ineffective response to the state-wide public health policy.

“We are so absorbed in this whole issue of policies. The issue is that policies don’t seem to get passed on to the people I worked on,” he said. “So I decided that it was my job to become the agent.”

Instead, he’s telling people that they might have suffered TBI or TBI and that assistance is readily accessible.

“I could sit with a person and be a part of their grieving over how their world has been turned upside down as they’ve had to lose their family members. It’s helpful,” he said.

He described a woman aged 80 who had struggled for years to have her injury and its symptoms treated seriously.

“She stated, “Everytime I tried to seek help, and people would say”There’s there nothing to worry about’ “Oh, you knocked your head on the floor,’ I’d be a bit less confidence and the confidence would wane a bit and then a little more,'” he said.

He also said that the effects of brain injuries can quickly escalate into larger issues, such as homelessness. He has patients suffering from brain injuries and then lose their jobs as they can’t work. He added that once the pay checks cease, there can lead to a rapid descent into the state of homelessness.

“They aren’t able to pay their rent and in one month, they’re living in their car. Then the car is confiscated if they’ve got payment due on it. Then they’re now homeless, isn’t it?” he said. “It’s easy, and it’s done in one month or two.”

Nationally, around 50% of those homeless also suffer from an injury to their brain that is traumatic.

Domestic violence and brain injury

Grove doesn’t keep the count of how many people he’s encountered on the bus, however Grove estimates that one-third of the people he meets who suffer brain injuries due to domestic violence.

“There is a huge interplay,” he said, creating circles on the Venn Diagram of traumatic brain injuries and domestic violence using his hands. The circles were just over the other.

He noted that the majority of people suffering from brain injuries don’t know that they are suffering from them. This can be harmful as the signs can affect their lives. However, he noted that it is particularly difficult in the context of domestic violence.

“You’re already in an advantage, but you add a cognitive impairment. This is a catastrophe,” he said. “It can seriously hinder the process of making decisions, which allows them to get out of the situation, or even solicit assistance.”

He also emphasized the growing evidence suggesting that brain injuries could be caused by emotional abuse too. There are also studies on imaging that prove that emotional and verbal abuse can affect the way that the brain develops. “That is like a brain injury, something that occurs after birth and alters the how the brain works,” he said.

Screening for prevention as a way to prevent

Grove explained that brain injuries are treatable, therefore it is crucial to be aware of the signs of brain injury early. Grove said he would like to see more screenings for brain injuries early, before the consequences such as unemployment, homelessness, or justice involvement could cause irreparable harm.

“Somebody encounters behavioral health, mental health or juvenile justicemake sure to check for brain injuries! Right? Be careful not to let it become something,” he said.

He noted that an important obstacles to receiving treatment is knowing an injury to the brain could be the root of the symptoms.

This is the place where the bus arrives equipped with medically trained staff who have expertise in the field of brain injuries and brain injury, equipped with individual resources and prepared to assist in the development of solutions for communities that understand the importance of brain injuries.

The article was created as part of a project for the HTML2 project of theUSC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism 2023 Domestic Violence Impact Fund.