Haiti: TBI Injuries

As most of you are well aware, Haiti was recently hit very hard with an earthquake over 7.0 magnitude.  The earthquake was followed by nearly a dozen aftershocks of magnitude greater than 5.0.  The damage quickly resulted in a mass number of fatalities.  A majority of the injuries suffered in Haiti were traumatic brain injuries. When the buildings collapsed, the concrete walls fell and injures or killed a lot of Haitian natives.  Since roads are blocked and the airport is bottle-necked, it has been very difficult to get medical supplies in to Haiti for all of the injured patients that are fighting for their lives.

Currently, the largest number of injuries to survivors are bone fractures and breaks as a result of the crushing pressure of the concrete blocks that fell.  Traumatic brain injuries are definitely a problem since they are not able to be treated immediately. Haiti needs an influx of traumatic brain injury treatment equipment as soon as possible.  At the very least, they need medical tape and casts.  If the injured patients in Haiti cannot at least get to a point where they can walk, then they will not have any means of survival.

There are no TBI rehabilitation facilities like, CareMeridian, in Haiti.  Likewise, there are no firms like The Farber Law Group which has more than 30 years experience representing brain injury patients and their families after traumatic accidents which can give them any legal advice.  In this particular case, the people of Haiti suffered a natural disaster and basically have to start over.  There is a long, tough road that lies ahead for them and at this point they are just trying to survive.  Hopefully other countries will continue to help the people of Haiti after they are out of the spotlight.

CareMeridian Las Vegas Nursing Home Medical Terminology

Medical terms can be very confusing.  More often than not you’ll hear a medical term and not understand what it means, when really the definition is quite simple.  For instance, osteoarthritis is more simply, inflammation or swelling of a bone joint.  “Osteo” means bone, “arthro” means joint and “itis” means inflammation or swelling of.  CareMeridian is a subacute and skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility for patients suffering from the following conditions:

Traumatic Brain Injury
Pulmonary (ventilator and tracheostomy weaning)
Neuromuscular Disorders
Spinal Cord Injury
Pediatrics
Congenital Anomalies

Some of these might not be familiar terms.  So a small definition for each could probably be very helpful.  First of all, the term “subacute” refers to a length of time that a disease has been present.  While there is no exact length of time that the term subacute represents, in the medical world it refers to a time period between “acute” and “chronic” which mean “short” and “long” respectively. Therefore, “subacute” means longer than a few days, but shorter than several months.  So, CareMeridian is a skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility for patients of a few months.

A “traumatic brain injury” is a brain injury caused by trauma.  Trauma is a body wound caused by sudden physical contact, such as a car accident.

“Pulmonary” refers to an illness or injury of the lungs.  “Ventilators” are devices that assist breathing.  “Tracheostomy” refers to a procedure that involves the creation of an artificial opening in the neck in order to assist breathing.  “Weaning” means to withdraw from something.  CareMeridian offers lung rehabilitation services that help patients withdraw from the use of assisted breathing devices and procedures.

“Neuromuscular disorders” refer to injuries and diseases affecting the nerves and muscles.

“Spinal Cord Injuries” naturally refer to injuries involving the spine.

“Pediatrics” refers to the development, care and diseases of babies and children.

“Congenital anomalies” refer to uncommon conditions inherited at birth.  “Congenital” refers to birth, while “anomalies” refer to something uncommon or uncharacteristic of the norm.

These brief definitions should help describe the type of patient services that CareMeridian offers.  For more information, feel free to browse the CareMeridian website.