Head Injury and Trauma-Spine Support Program
- The motto of the Head Injury and Trauma-Spinal Support Program (“HITSS”) has always been, “Survivors helping other Survivors,” and since its founding in 2001 at Loma Linda University Medical Center, has offered compassionate support to current and past patients, and their loved ones, as they are confronted with the biggest life changes imaginable. It has been and is the only neurological injury support group extant among Southern California Level I Trauma Centers. It is also the only neurological injury support group among all of the 5 Trauma centers locate in the Inland Empire.
- As early as the 1980’s, during the first years of the Trauma Center at Loma Linda, it was recognized by Surgical Intensive Care Unit nurses and Trauma Services Department staff that something needed to be done to assist traumatic brain and spinal cord injury patients and their families deal with these most catastrophic traumas that were reaching the medical center. Families undergoing their own emotional trauma as their loved ones lives were saved and the long process of recovery began spoke loudly in favor of a support group where their voices could be heard. Nurses and staff listened, and the Trauma Services Department took on the task of establishing the group.
- Over the past 15 years the group has been there every month for thousands of patients, who then become what we call “survivors”. The frequency of meeting insures that current and past patients and families have a place to go, and have an anchor… something that they can count on as they re-integrate into society. This kind of severe trauma can greatly effect the emotional well-being and stability of families, and the best way we have found to cope is to share with others who have been there before.
- Although brain and spinal cord injuries are different, and no brain injury and its accompanying deficits is the same, the common theme and bond among all our neurological injury survivors is that status-post discharge, their lives will never be the same.
- Many patients and family members express bewilderment after being discharged from the hospital with such a life-changing injury, and the group eases that transition, softening the sometimes rough landing.
- From the beginning, the idea was to offer a forum so that survivors and their loved ones could tackle the challenges of their new lives having the benefit of others who have walked the path before them. Survivors find validation and common bonds with other survivors. Families meet other families who can point the way to how to deal with a myriad of issues confronting them. Questions about changed relationships, dealing with deficits, long-term rehabilitation resources, independent living, insurance, work re-entry, and how to negotiate the maze of government benefits and programs are just some of the subjects that come up in the group meetings.
- As the sponsoring of the group mutated over the years into a co-sponsorship by Trauma Services and the Possibilities Program of the medical center’s Rehabilitation Center, the HITSS Support group has also evolved as it has become more well known in the community. The support group’s principal focus is on current and past trauma and rehabilitating patients, but it is also open to the community at large. If a survivor from our region received medical and/or rehabilitation treatment at another facility, they are welcome as community members to participate and benefit from the group.
- HITSS has been a positive addition to the “continuity of care” and “community outreach” goals of our Trauma Center
- Contact information
- Head Injury & Trauma-Spinal Support Group
- 24- Hour-A-Day Patient & Family Visitation & Help Line 11406 Loma Linda Dr., Conference Room # 129A (Old Library), Loma Linda, CA 92354
- (800) 986-HITS (4487)
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