Your Weekly Dose of #5ThoughtsFriday: A description of what we think is important at BIAMD
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  #5Thoughts Friday
The "Juneteenth" Edit ion
06/19/2020
To Register for this free training, Click the Link Below:

Here are the 5 things we thought were
worth sharing with you this week:
Photo by Josue Escoto on Unsplash
By
Guest Writer
Tom Gallup
Tom Gallup Lives in Olney with his wife Suzanne. Together they care for their son Andrew in their home and moderate a nationwide Brain Injury Caregiver Support Group.

This article is a frank and truthful telling of Tom's experience.

It may prove too intense for some of our readers.

We are placing a trigger warning on the article not to discourage reading it, but merely to let our readers know about some of the graphic depictions of Andrew's injuries may be triggering to some.

We are extremely grateful for Tom's generosity and willingness to share his family's story and invite others to share their own experiences in future guest articles.

CLICK HERE to read Tom's powerful Caregiver's perspective.

For more information on the group visit:
We are witnessing mandated social isolation and social distancing on an epic scale. As part of BIAMD's interest in serving Maryland's Brain Injury Community, we are starting what we call "Check-In Chats".

We would like to "check in" with anyone looking to share their experiences and challenges with either an individual or in a social group setting.

Even though we can't meet in person, there are many ways open to us, and, if you are interested, we would like to hear from you about your needs and how we can help you feel more connected.

COME JOIN US ONLINE AT TODAY's
Group Check-In Chat
from Noon to 1pm.

Please CLICK HERE to sign up using our online registration.

Once we receive your registration, we will send you the link.

We hope to "see" you there!
Photo by CDC on Unsplash
Medical University of South Carolina researchers report that adding a compound to reduce inflammation to standard stroke treatment improves learning, memory and motor recovery and may extend the treatment window by reducing risk of hemorrhage.
Reperfusion therapy, the gold standard for stroke treatment, helps restore blood flow after a stroke caused by a clot, preventing loss of brain tissue. However, only about 10% of stroke patients qualify, in part because of reperfusion therapy's narrow treatment window.

A recent Medical University of South Carolina study suggests that this therapy could be both safer and more effective for both motor and cognitive recovery if administered with a specialized compound that blocks the immune response. The team's preclinical findings, reported in the cover article of the May 13 Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that reducing the immune response in the brain could be a strategy for improving cognitive recovery. It could also extend the treatment window for therapy, allowing stroke specialists to help many more stroke patients.

"With reperfusion therapy, we're restoring the blood flow, which is necessary to save the tissue, but there is an ongoing inflammatory response by the immune system that is not targeted by reperfusion," said Stephen Tomlinson, Ph.D., interim chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at MUSC and senior author of the article.

This could explain why, though mechanical reperfusion has a success rate of 90% in returning blood flow to the brain, only about 40% of treated patients recover enough motor and reasoning skills within three months to tend to their daily needs independently. Even those who do recover motor function can still struggle with cognitive challenges months later.

CLICK HERE to read more about this exciting new finding.
Photo by Claudia Wolff on Unsplash
Many people are caregivers for their sick parents, partners, friends or others, with an unfortunate consequence: They end up suffering. TED speakers share steps that caregivers can take to help maintain their own well-being.
Today, people in every country are living longer than ever. Globally, there are an estimated 962 million individuals aged 60 or over, and this age group is growing faster than all others, according to the United Nations. And while many of them are healthy and able-bodied, disease and disability inevitably increase with age. As the aging of the world’s population accelerates, politicians, policy makers and physicians are scrambling to anticipate and address its impact on society and its institutions.

But one important group is being overlooked — the increasing number of people taking care of family members who are ill or disabled. Which leads to the question: Who is caring for the caregivers?

“No one can be a pillar of strength 24/7,” says Françoise Mathieu, a psychotherapist and specialist in an area known as “compassion fatigue.” Compassion fatigue refers to the phenomenon of perpetual caregivers — whether familial or professional — becoming physically and emotionally depleted by the process of ministering to others. “One study found that family members caring for a loved one with dementia reported very high rates of depression,” says Mathieu. Canadian artist Tony Luciani, who spent years caring for his mother as she declined into dementia, describes feeling a sense of almost personal dissolution. The experience, he says, “threw my sense of being into random directions without reason or purpose.”

CLICK HERE to learn about some important steps towards well-being .

ONLINE Brain Injury Support Groups

Severe Brain Injury Caregiver Group
Zoom Room Internet Conference
2 nd  and 4 th  Sunday of the month, 7:30 p – 8:45p
Tom Gallup 301-502-8420

BIAMD Check In Chats
Every Friday at Noon
To register for a Check-In-Chat please visit

Young Stroke Group
The first and third Fridays of the month from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET.
​For individuals in their 20’s to 60’s, Contact: Susan Emery [email protected]

Rockville Brain Injury Support Group
2 nd  Thursday, 6:30p – 7:30p
Tom Wilkinson 240-493-8472
 
Anne Arundel County Brain Injury Support Group
3rd Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Debbie Cottrill (410) 320-8948 

Brain Injury Support Group
1st Monday, 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Candice Rebuck (410) 448-6303

Caregivers Support Group
4th Tuesday, 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Gwen Alexander (410) 448-6311

Stroke Support Group
Meets monthly 10:00 a.m. – Noon
Brandy Breaux (410) 448-6821
Call for the monthly calendar
Online stroke support and information resources
 
The John “Jack” Godfrey Brain Injury Support Group
2nd Tuesday, 6:00p – 7:00p 
Dawn Moreland (301) 618-2364 
Brentrell Spencer (301) 618-2134
 
BIADC Support Group
3rd Wednesday, 5:30p – 7:30p
Gemma Rosas (NRH) (202)-877-1192
Joan Joyce (NRH) (202) 877-1420

2) What We are Reading This Week and Know You Will Find Enlightening and Important
In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion.

What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?

Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

CLICK HERE for more on this book.
1) Quote We Are Contemplating...

  • “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
Have you ever clicked on the pictures posted at the end of every #5ThoughtsFridays? Try it. You might learn something fun!
Photo by Madison Olling on Unsplash
HAVE A WONDERFUL
WEEKEND.
(THANK YOU FOR PRACTICING "SAFER AT HOME" AND SOCIAL DISTANCING.)

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This blog is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement of treatments, individuals, or programs which appear herein. Any external links on the website are provided for the visitor’s convenience; once you click on any of these links you are leaving BIAMD's #5ThoughtsFriday blog post. BIAMD has no control over and is not responsible for the nature, content, and availability of those sites. 

  Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful weekend.