We do what needs to be done

The Brain Bus is driving change in how we support Alaskans with brain injury. 

Like any bus, the Brain Bus can deliver people and supplies.  But we do more.  We bring compassion, resources, information and a place where people with brain injury are heard, understood and supported.  

We do this by engaging communities and their members, sharing local wisdom and outside expertise, empowering individuals, families and communities, building self-agency for those with brain injury and bringing innovation to everyone.  The bus in the spark which starts building community around brain injury.
Engaging Communities
The Brain Bus engages with communities where they are and in ways that work for them
  • By coming to the community as a whole rather than engaging with single members who leave the community for treatment, we can help build a fabric of understanding and support.​
  • By training community-based professional and lay-people, we allow them to enact care in a way which suits the community.
  • By helping grow community-based care, we not only increase access to appropriate care, we reduce the cost and trauma of having to leave the community to get care. 
  • ​Many communities already have resources which can be brought to the table once some barriers to access are removed.  If resources are lacking, the bus can connect communities to state or national resources which already exist to help those with TBI.
Sharing Wisdom​
The Brain Bus carries local knowledge back to centralized policy makers giving them realistic and practical perspectives upon which to build systems of care.
  • We can help identify community members with TBI using proven screening tools.
  • We can collect data (without identifying individuals) on prevalence which informs policy makers and determines resource allocation for TBI services.
  • Our clinicians will learn from real-world interactions with communities which will help them help others in a realistic and practical manner.
  • When it comes to brain injury, wisdom of all sorts must be shared and the bus can facilitate this.  People with TBI often need advice and help with  medical and psychological  issues, help with housing and finances, referrals for addiction treatment, legal assistance etc.
Carrying Expertise
The Brain Bus delivers awareness expertise, education and training to communities with little or no access to these resources.
  • Awareness of TBI is quite low throughout the state and increasing this is the first step toward helping.​
  • Without a proper diagnosis, TBI can’t be treated, resources cannot be allocated and individual potential dwindles.​
  • Without training, professionals often do not know how to help despite the desire to do so. 
  • Communities can engage expert care, when needed, through the bus  bringing experts to the community or linking to them via tele-health.
  • ​The bus can also carry expertise from one community to another.  Sharing what works is powerful and the stories of real people overcoming brain injury inspires others and helps increase awareness and support for others who are on the same path.​
Building Self-Agency
The Brain Bus builds self-agency for those individuals living with TBI and those who care for them.
  • Those with brain injury often know best what others with brain injury need.  By harnessing their insights, we can give them purpose (and maybe even a paying job) and provide excellent support  for someone recovering from a TBI. 
  • TBI literacy is quite low among health care providers and when trained, they are activated to be local experts.​
  • By having frequent contact with a community, we can support TBI educated and experienced   individuals to be the local go-to people for TBI.​​
​Empowering People
​The Brain Bus empowers communities to build local sustainable treatment systems.
  • Community-based treatment is the best approach as it keeps people in their familiar environment with their family and friends present to support them.
  • Community-based treatment can help keep survivors engaged in life, school, employment and recreation.
  • When communities work to support one person with TBI, they begin to build resources to help others.​
  • Established community members are more likely to stay in the community providing a stable and sustainable TBI resources over the years.​​
​Innovating Care​​
Once a person is past the acute stage of TBI, further treatment need not be complicated. In fact, it can be quite low tech.  But it must be individualized and provided for an extended period of time to be successful. 
  • By partnering with communities to build local resources, provided by trained but not necessarily clinical staff,  communities can provide excellent TBI treatment right were it is needed.
  • By literally placing our volunteer clinicians into the community, they will understand the context in which the community member lives and functions.  This results in  treatment recommendation which are  realistic, appropriate and likely to be enacted and sustained over time.​