The Calgary Brain Injury Program

The Calgary Brain Injury Program addresses the rehabilitation needs of individuals with acquired brain injuries which may arise from trauma, infection, aneurysm rupture, hypoxia, tumour resection or other causes. The affected individuals cross the spectrum from mild to severe levels of injury.

Service

The service includes both an inpatient and an outpatient component. The inpatient service includes a physiatry consultation service for individuals in acute care, as well as 15-16 inpatient beds on a tertiary neurorehabilitation unit (TNR) at the Foothills Hospital. The primary goal of the TNR unit is to provide intensive rehabilitation services for the inpatients. The patient experience team continues to provide one-on-one peer support on the neurorehabilitation unit. There is also a facilitated group meeting every two weeks for individuals as well as their families to provide an opportunity for connection and support. The music therapy program on the neurorehabilitation unit has also been well received and funding to continue the program has been established.

The Early Supported Discharge Program is a home-based program where people discharged from hospital can receive interdisciplinary rehabilitation. This service is for patients who do not require nursing care at night and have appropriate supports at home. It allows these patients to leave hospital earlier and apply their rehabilitation to practical goals that are immediately relevant to them. Evaluation of the program showed it was equally effective to tertiary inpatient rehabilitation and saved a significant number of inpatient bed days and associated costs. The program is now ongoing, in association with the stroke early supported discharge program.

The outpatient service is based upon a centralized referral system which provides triage and advice from our community case manager for access to several different services, including:

• Sub-acute concussion education sessions delivered approximately every two weeks. This consists of symptom management advice in a group format to individuals affected by concussion within three months of injury. An early concussion education module for patients is also available at https://myhealth.alberta.ca/learning/modules/Early-Concussion.
• A Brain Injury Rehabilitation Clinic provides assessment and treatment by physiatrists for moderate and severe brain injury. Social workers are also associated with the clinic.
• Liaising with the Community Accessible Rehabilitation program in order to arrange interdisciplinary rehabilitation for individuals as required.
• Contracting for services with the Association for Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured, a community-based program, to provide rehabilitation services for appropriate individuals.

Education

We continue to be actively involved in teaching at many different levels. We support learning by medical students, residents, graduate students, Allied Health students, and nursing students. Many of our members contribute to undergraduate medical teaching.  Drs. Grant, Francis, McGovern and Li Pi Shan all teach the physical exam portion of the Neuroscience course and small group sessions.  As well, Dr. Debert provides an hour-long lecture on concussion.  Our members provide teaching for post-graduate training programs and we provide lectures for our residents in half day as well as for psychiatry and neurology.

Grants and Research

The Calgary Brain Injury research program, led by Dr. Debert, allows residents, graduate students, and undergraduate students to participate in clinical and basic science research. Researchers lead and collaborate on grants funded by the Cumming School of Medicine, Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), Foundations for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and New Frontiers Funding (CIHR, NSERC) and the Department of National Defense of Canada.

We have a relationship with the Integrative Concussion Research Program and we are actively involved in the non-invasive neurostimulation initiative and the Brain and Mental Health Research Clinics—both HBI funded research initiatives. Members of the Calgary Brain injury Program are also involved with the HBI Traumatic Brain Injury neuroteam.

The program also has four research assistants, 3 post-graduate trainees (2 PhD students and 1 MSc), four undergraduate trainees, and two ongoing residency projects, involved in the Calgary Brain Injury Program.

As well, over the last fiscal year Dr. Debert’s team was involved in 12 peer reviewed publications.

Members

Managers: Jason Knox, Lisa Patel, Kim Kennedy

Community Case Manager: Heather Murison, Alison Barnfather

Inpatient Brain Injury Nurse Clinician: Jill Congram

Physiatrists: Dr. Christine McGovern, Dr. Rodney Li Pi Shan, Dr. Chantel Debert, Dr. Christopher Grant, Dr. George Francis

Psychiatrist: Dr. Jeremy Quickfall

Clinic Social Workers: Valerie Bunz, Melissa Ehrlich

Neuropsychologists: Dr. Stewart Longman, Dr. Amy Siegenthaler, Dr. Ashley Fischer

Administration Support: Kendra McDonald, Susan Morson, Brenda Festa, Ashley Derksen, Marj Moon, Shelby O’Connell