Group Develops Brain Injury
Support Kit

By Clem Richardson
New York Daily News
February 05, 2007

The 10-in-10 Project has developed a brain injury support kit to help victims recover.

Created by Lisa Keller, a brain injury victim, and Sandra Knutson, Keller's caseworker, the kit is a collection of simple tools that can be used to create a system of reminders and prompts to do things.

It comes with an eight-hour-long DVD detailing the various techniques. The DVD also includes segments that help the patient's loved ones understand how the injury affects the entire family.

There are workbooks, wristbands and color-coded folders in which notes of various tasks can be stored for easy retrieval - an orange folder, for instance, is for anything requiring immediate attention. The kit also includes a personal planner daybook with schedules and exercises to help improve short-term memory and organizational skills, and a voice recorder for personal notes.

The kit emphasizes the use of four elements of recovery: a buddy to help keep track of things until the victim learns to use the system; the need for rest, because an injured brain tires more easily; acceptance of your condition to alleviate frustration, and the establishment of a routine, because repetition strengthens memory.

"The intent of the brain injury kit is to give people who have brain injuries the tools they need to be able to function independently in real-life situations with as little limitation as possible," said Dr. Izriel Kornel, director of the Institute for Neurosciences at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, Westchester County, and a 10-in-10 board member. "The kit gives them the tools to speed up and enhance their recovery."

The 10-in-10 Project was so named because the National Institutes of Health estimates that only two in 10 people with traumatic brain injuries get the help they need to make a full recovery.

Project members want all brain injury victims to receive that help.

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