Published in the National Seniors Association’s 50 Something magazine. “While it might be common knowledge that falls are the leading cause of injury in Australia, perhaps it’s less well-known that falls are now also the leading cause of traumatic brain injury – accounting for around 2 in every 5 admissions to hospital.”

Published in Aged Care INsite magazine. “Firstly, while it was no surprise that those aged 85 years and over – the fastest growing segment of Australia’s population – have the highest falls, falls injury, TBI and TBI death rates, it was still shocking how high their death rates actually were. Every local and international study of TBI outcomes in the “old old” demonstrates “100 per cent mortality”. To be blunt; if you reach that age, fall over and hit your head, you die.”

Published in Aged Care Australia magazine. “Even though fall-related injuries to the head are consistently the second most common after hip fracture, head trauma in older people is often overlooked and appropriate neurological assessment and monitoring forgotten. Such checking is vital since older people run a much greater risk of bleeding in the brain following head trauma. Add blood-thinning medications like warfarin to the mix and that risk increases dramatically.”

Published in Parity magazine. “People with an acquired brain injury (ABI) are over-represented among the homeless. Everyone, at least, who works with the homeless knows this. But do governments know? And do they really want to?”

Published in the newsletter of Carers New South Wales (NSW) August/September 2009. “…just as falls are now the leading cause of injuries that end up in Australia’s hospitals, they are also the leading cause of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). And it’s not because more children are being bounced from trampolines or more drunken teenagers are falling from balconies on the weekend. It’s because older people are “slipping”, “tripping” or “stumbling” over (the labels our hospitals give to the kinds of falls involved).”

Published in Parity magazine. “Nowadays, so it’s said, governments only respond to beefs with a base in evidence. So, while I believe the White Paper when it says it “addresses the causes of homelessness” — in the same way that I believe any politics with progressive tendencies trying to differentiate itself from a “law and order” platform in its opponents, by stressing an interest in the “causes of crime” — I’m unconvinced that the Australian Government has evidenced sufficient knowledge of those causes, which are as multifarious and complex as any other social phenomenon.”

Published for the Brain Injury Association of New South Wales (NSW) in its Summer 2008-2009 Newsletter.

Nick Rushworth, Executive Officer of Brain Injury Australia, writes on the connection between “challenging behaviours” and brain injury for the Brain Injury Association of NSW Newsletter.