DCoE TBI Expert Participates in Live Webcast to Veterans

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By Robyn Mincher, DCoE Strategic Communications

Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) subject matter expert Kathy Helmick participated in a live webcast hosted by USVets.tv September 30. Helmick, DCoE deputy director for traumatic brain injury, was part of a panel on traumatic brain injury (TBI), which focused on symptoms, prevention, treatment and progression of TBI care along with Dr. Vicky Youcha, director of Brainline.org, and Dr. Dan Budenz, founder of Online Rehab Clinic.

Because a large part of the USVets.tv audience includes Vietnam veterans, the panel discussed how some TBI cases were not treated because little was known about TBI during the time of the conflict.

“As we read history books and documentation of previous references to ‘shell shock,’ one would wonder if [they were] concussion related,” Helmick said. “We now have the capability to learn so much about concussion sustained during combat that it would be a shame to let this important time pass without filling these gaps of knowledge.”

A TBI may still be difficult for many service members to recognize. According to Helmick, there are guidelines to help service members remove some of the guess work.

“When a service member is exposed to a potentially concussive event, they’re now required to have a mandatory evaluation,” she said. “This, along with education, has transformed our culture [so] everyone can have detection capabilities.”

Helmick spoke about the progression of TBI care, which now includes in-theater telehealth capabilities for early detection.

“Technology has allowed us to communicate with a provider [remotely] so that the service member can stay as close to their unit as possible,” she said. “Unit cohesion is important to avoid co-occurring conditions, like post-traumatic stress disorder.”

The panel also discussed the challenges military families face as they care for a service member with TBI. Helmick identified the Family Caregiver Curriculum, created by Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC), a DCoE component center, as a helpful resource for families and caregivers.

Youcha, with Brainline.org and Brainlinemilitary.org, listed the tools available on the DVBIC and DCoE websites as helpful to get more information about TBI prevention, detection and care.

“People can access information at their fingertips anonymously, such as fact sheets, clinical practice guidelines and videos of those coping with a TBI,” Youcha said.

Resources available through the two centers include the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Pocket Guide, a quick reference, all-encompassing diagnostic tool for providers, as well as the Co-occurring Conditions Toolkit, a comprehensive clinical guidance tool to help providers assess and manage patients with TBI and psychological health concerns. DCoE also has a comprehensive TBI Information Sheet providing data and resources on TBI and a DVBIC Information Sheet, containing Department of Defense statistics on TBI throughout the military.