Author Archives: vkwan

Something that has been troubling me is the low number of members I often see at Headway. Last week when I was volunteering, there were even more volunteers than members! I wonder if this is something you’ve noticed too.

Why are there so little members visiting? (Image via Flickr by Tim Samoff)

When I was a volunteer last summer, it seemed like there were more members. Perhaps this has something to do with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), as Jazon described during his facilitation on emotional outcomes. Maybe less sunlight during the winter leads to depressive symptoms and general fatigue that then makes it too much to go to Headway. After all, I hear members say they’re tired and have low energy all the time. To be honest, I even suspected they were using it as an excuse sometimes to not participate in activities. But I know now after our discussions on symptoms that I shouldn’t make this assumption.

Fatigue alone is unlikely to be causing the low number of members, according to a study by Cantor et al. (2008). The authors suggest that while post-TBI fatigue is associated with health-related quality of life, it is not related to participation in major life activities. Curiously, it was not made clear what counts as being a “major life activity”. Here’s an interesting legal briefing on how major life activities are interpreted in court.

Another explanation for the low number of members is just not enough people knowing about Headway. Especially after Alison’s convincing talk on how Headway can increase life satisfaction, I feel that Headway Vancouver is very underutilized. After speaking with the manager, I learned that reaching more potential members is a high priority. However, the Headway manager is newly hired and not from the Vancouver area. As such, she does not yet have many connections with the Vancouver health care community.

I think we have the capability to really help out here! From our undergraduate careers, we’ve likely networked with many health professionals and community workers. Whether through directed studies, co-ops, summer studentships, clubs, jobs or volunteer programs. Lets put together a resource with potential contacts that may be able to refer their patients/clients/members. I’ll start a document on Google drive next week so we can compile our connections together. This will count as bonus participation marks for your course grade. If you don’t personally know any contacts, another idea is to search online. Places like Vancouver General Hospital, St Paul’s Hospital, psychology/physiotherapy centers and private clinics are a good place to look.

I don’t expect new members to come pouring in by the time this semester ends. But if we manage to reach even a few individuals that can benefit from joining Headway, I think it’ll be worth our efforts. It’d be pretty cool to walk away from this experience leaving a lasting impact on a Center that has been so welcoming and generous with us.

I started volunteering at Headway in May 2013. Activities-wise, I usually help with the art classes and music therapy or accompany the members on the walks to Granville Island. I wish to share with you three things I’ve learned at Headway that changed how I understand brain injury.

1. Focus on empowerment for healing

We’re accustomed to view individuals with brain injuries as being disabled and somehow less than everyone else. But you never see that we feel sorry for you vibe at Headway. Everyone, including the staff, is seen as equals. No one is being treated or “fixed” for their impairments.

Instead, Headway aims to provide social support and empower members to set/work towards their personal goals and live the best life that is possible for them. This may sound abstract and cheesy, but it’s not all just talk— we follow up! In fact, Headway uses software called ShareVision to document personalized member goals and track individual progress. Below is a short descriptive video of this program.

2. Dramatic fluctuations in mood states

Perhaps most striking is seeing how differently a member can behave from the week-to-week that I volunteer. For example, I work closely with a member who is on most days gentle and polite. We would play Wii Golf and laugh whenever our shots would land far from target. Other days, this member would be aloof and irritable. On these days, he would curse loudly whenever he did not make a good shot in Wii Golf.

The changes in this member’s mood is so severe that I often feel like I’m talking to someone entirely different. (Image via Wikipedia)

Connecting this to our class discussions on assessment, I can appreciate how difficult it is to gain an accurate clinical picture of a patient’s condition. A study by Chamelian et al. (2006) found that TBI patients with depression do worse in measures of memory, attention, and executive functions. The current convention of conducting neuropsychological tests in one long day clearly isn’t ideal, but neither is overwhelming patients with tests too frequently. I wonder what the right balance is.

3. Prominence of social factors

One of the most emotional experiences I had volunteering was a conversation I shared with a stroke survivor. She was telling me how the most difficult part of her brain injury is not dealing with her neurological impairments. Rather, it was the crushing guilt of being a burden to her family. For a long time, she told me how she painfully hated herself for needing to depend on her family for financial support.

Her story was on my mind during Jessica’s facilitation on how TBI can affect social dynamics. Clearly, these social changes (besides physical symptoms) can also have profound effects on an individual’s well-being. These factors are an important part of case management. When I sat in during rounds at Langara hospital, functional/social status was a very important part of the meetings (see below).

 Discussion at Langara Hospital Rounds