Helping the ‘walking wounded’

MS LEE Kah Keow is the main coordinator
for the National Neuroscience Institute’s (NNI) Brain Injury Support  Group. Her portfolio comprises organising activities, talks, volunteer referrals and requests for hospital visits from survivors of brain injuries and their caregivers. The Group has 54 members.

She graduated as a staff nurse in 1995
and now works as a nurse clinician in NNI’s department of Neurosurgery. "I educate caregivers of brain injured patients in the acute phase in hospital on the common problems to expect after brain injury, and some coping strategies and link them to resources in the community such as the Brain Injury Support Group," says Ms Lee, 33, a nurse clinician.

Many brain injured people are often called the "walking wounded" as they show no physical signs of disability but continue to suffer behavioral, cognitive and memory problems. At times, they are misidentified as persons with learning disabilities or mental illnesses. She spends time empowering braininjured survivors and their caregivers with knowledge and resources to cope while on the road to recovery and successful integration into society.

"Being able to see ex-patients who used to be so ill, yet survive and recover enough to be able to return home and back to society is the greatest return for the work I do," she says.