Speaker Nancy Mullen brought professional and personal observations on identifying and treating brain trauma to the attention of Rotarians at this week’s meeting.  Commonly referred to as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Post Concussion Syndrome, Mullen said the severity of injuries can be hard to determine.  As explained by Mullen, unlike the impact of an acquired condition such as from a stroke, a traumatic injury and its repercussions are the result of  head contacts.  These are not always severe one-time events but can be the result of incidents that are repetitive.  Military incidents and sports contacts are most frequent for these types of injuries.  They may also involve something other than a blow to the head such as strangulation or near-drowning incidents where oxygen is deprived to the brain.  Symptoms include dizziness, vision distortion, problems with balance, and communication inconsistencies.

 

Mullen explained that there are a number of misconceptions regarding brain trauma injuries.  As an example, Mullen did some comparisons to assumption about concussions.  Where most people think such an injury means someone gets knocked out, only 10% of those impacted actually lose consciousness.  Most people assume one has a short-term headache, but the headache could last for weeks.  And a return to one’s normal routine is expected to happen right away when the reality is a rigid clearance protocol to follow.  Mullen shared her experience with a car accident and a three-year recovery process.  It went from overcoming an inability to speak to readjusting to soft skills in the workplace.

 

Mullen encouraged spreading awareness of brain trauma systems so appropriate treatment can be prescribed.  Mullen cited possible misdiagnosis with symptoms of dementia in the elderly or not recognizing the cumulated effects of head trauma from incidents going back into childhood as examples.

March 9, 1451 – Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci is born in Florence, Italy.  He explored South America and the Amazon River.  Believing Vespucci discovered a new continent, a German mapmaker makes the first notation of the land as “America”.

 

March 11, 1952 – English author, screenwriter, and humorist Douglas Adams is born in Cambridge.  His work “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” was originally broadcast as a radio comedy over the BBC in 1978 and was later adapted into novels, comic books, a television show, video game, stage shows, and a 2005 feature film.

 

March 14, 1879 – Albert Einstein is born in Ulm, Germany.  His theory of relativity led to new ways of thinking about time, space, matter, and energy.  He won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921.

 

March 15, 1767 – The seventh U.S. President, Andrew Jackson, is born in a log cabin in Waxhaw, South Carolina.  He was a hero from the War of 1812 and in politics he helped form the new Democratic Party.

March 10, 1862 – The first issue of U. S. Government paper money occurs as $5, $10, and $20 bills begin circulation.

 

March 11, 1918 – The “Spanish Influenza” first reaches America as 107 soldiers become ill at Fort Riley, Kansas.  The worldwide death toll from the virus approaches 20 million by the end of the epidemic in 1920.

 

March 12,1933 – Eight days after his inauguration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives the first of his famous “fireside chats” to a national radio audience broadcasting directly from the White House.  His topic centered around his decision to close the nation’s banks in order to stop panic withdrawals, the so-called “run on the bank.”.  He went on to deliver 30 more of these broadcasts between 1933 and 1944. 

 

March 15, 44 B.C. – Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Senate chamber in Rome by Marcus Junius Brutus and fellow conspirators.  His death is immortalized by playwright William Shakespeare and the line “Et tu, Brute?”.