Priory Highbank Centre highlights impact of brain injury

Priory Highbank Centre in Bury held a week of events to celebrate Brain Injury Awareness Week, with a focus on improving understanding of the impact of severe brain injury.

Activities included drop-in question and answer sessions run by the therapy and nursing teams, quizzes and puzzles, and 'colour your brain'. There were also opportunities for families and staff to watch brain injury related films, such as “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”, and to discuss these together. The hard working care team were offered hand massages, a therapy that is done regularly with many of the clients.

An acquired brain injury (ABI) is an injury to the brain, which has been caused by a traumatic or non-traumatic event. Common traumatic causes include incidents on the road, assaults and falls which cause violent movement of the brain within the skull. 

Whether the brain injury is traumatic or non-traumatic, the physical, cognitive and behavioural consequences can be complex and difficult to manage. In these instances, the person suffering will often require brain injury rehabilitation from a specialist rehabilitation team in order to maximise their future quality of life and ability to function to their maximum capability.

Priory Highbank's neurorehabilitation services specialise in ABI and neurological rehabilitation. The service offers care, support and encouragement to help patients regain their maximum physical, emotional and social capabilities in an environment that offers individual care and positive outcomes.

Helen Powell, Hospital Director at Priory Highbank Centre, said: “The impact of a severe brain injury is devastating, not only for the individual, but also their families and friends, and this week was a great opportunity for relatives of patients to find out more about how brain injury affects every aspect of life, and to allow them to ask the staff any questions that were most important to them.”