Brain injuries: Difficult return to everyday life
After a brain injury, nothing is often the same for those affected and their relatives - but the consequences are hardly visible at first glance. The Fragile Suisse Foundation wants to draw attention to this issue at Brainweek 2017.
In Switzerland, around 16,000 people suffer a stroke and another 4,000 a traumatic brain injury as a result of an accident every year. The consequences are often very serious for those affected and their relatives.
The Swiss Association for People with Brain Injuries and their Relatives, Fragile Suisse wants to take the occasion of the Brainweek 2017 from March 13 to 18 to draw attention to the issue.
Invisible injuries
Peter Zangger, neurologist and co-founder of Fragile Suisse, criticizes the fact that the topic of brain injury has developed in a rather difficult way until today: "It is not possible to make the complex problems, especially the invisible disabilities of people with brain injury, understandable to a large section of the population in a simple way".
In contrast, he sees paraplegics: Their handicap is more visible and therefore easier to understand. "The problems of brain-injured people cannot be reduced to two or three buzzwords because they are so different," Zangger emphasizes.
Consequences are often severe
What all brain injuries have in common, however, is that they fundamentally change the life of the person affected and his or her relatives: Certain programs in the brain no longer function as usual. The affected person can no longer rely on his or her previous brain performance. Individual brain functions are no longer available to him or her reliably or not at all.
The consequences of a brain injury are very diverse and depend on the severity of the injury and on the region in the brain in which the nerve cells are injured. In addition to the visible consequences, there are a large number of invisible impairments that outsiders often do not notice.
Peter Zangger hopes that the population will develop more understanding for the problems of people with brain injuries and that the insurance companies will offer more help to those affected so that they are not burdened with additional major financial problems.
Support for those affected
Fragile Suisse offers people with brain injuries and their relatives services such as a free helpline, self-help groups, courses and further education, and assisted living. In public, the non-profit organization also promotes the interests of those affected and their relatives. Fragile Suisse finances its services largely from donations and is recognized as a non-profit organization by the Zewo Foundation.
