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Mahoning Valley doctor Chrisanne Gordon helpS vets with brain injuries
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning Valley native Dr. Chrisanne Gordon is on a mission to end the misery of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who are suffering from TBI, or traumatic brain injury.
It is estimated that 360,000 military veterans, including some 10,000 Ohioans and many from the Valley, will return from the Middle East wars with TBI, the invisible but — Dr. Gordon says — very real “signature injury” of those wars.
“The estimate is, I think, low. In the civilian world, this would be an epidemic,” said Dr. Gordon, a rehabilitation specialist.
“That’s why we have to share — the military’s TRICARE, the Department of Veterans Affairs and civilian health-care systems — so that all of our heroes get the expert care that they deserve,” said Dr. Gordon, a 1971 graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School.
She is the daughter of Dr. James “Nick” Gordon of Georgia, who had a private practice in Struthers and is a former Mooney football team physician, and Mary C. Gordon of Poland. She has a brother, Neil Gordon in Georgia, and two sisters, Patty Patterson of Boardman and Mary Gail Kavanaugh in Texas.
TRICARE is the health-care program for active-duty service members; and the VA provides health care for veterans.
“I tell my patients, ‘You are not out of your mind; you are out your brain.’ By that, I mean they are not crazy. I tell them that if they were tougher, they would still have this injury ... you can’t just tough it out. You need treatment,” she said.
Traumatic brain injury is real, and it can be fixed with cognitive retraining, but neither TRICARE nor the VA are paying for treatment. That’s the big debate now, she said.
To raise awareness about TBI and the need to fund treatment, Dr. Gordon has made a documentary film, along with Warren’s 2 Ticks & The Dog Productions, titled “Operation Resurrection.” The film includes Youngstown native and former boxing champion turned movie producer Ray Mancini interviewing veterans, including some attending Youngstown State University, about the effects TBI has had on their lives.
She also provides education and awareness about traumatic brain injury through her whatistbi.org website; and a public-service announcement titled “What is TBI?” that can be seen online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl8FeHVzXyY, also produced by 2 Ticks & The Dog Productions. The PSA features Vietnam War veteran and former Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl champion running back Rocky Bleier.
Dr. Gordon is developing a nonprofit organization, The Resurrecting Lives Foundation, to define and promote coordinated solutions to the health, education and employment issues of veterans; and within the last week, she and several veterans suffering from TBI met with a delegation of the U.S. Congress members, several of whom are veterans, to tell them about TBI.
In a synopsis of the meetings, she said a plan was proposed to launch a telemedicine program linking VA and civilian physicians throughout the country who treat service personnel suffering with TBI.
Traumatic brain injury results when an external force causes the brain to collide with the inside of the skull. In the case of veterans particularly, TBI can result from the compressive effect of a blast such as a nearby roadside bomb or rocket explosion.
Dr. Gordon, a summa cum laude graduate of The Ohio State University School of Medicine and medical director of Rehabilitation Services at Memorial Hospital of Union County, admitted that until about five years ago she had little awareness of TBI in veterans. That changed when she spent a “tour of duty” diagnosing returning veterans suspected of TBI at the Chalmers P. Wylie VA Outpatient Center in Columbus.
What started with a desire to honor the memory of a friend’s nephew who was killed in action in Iraq turned into an education for herself about TBI in veterans and a fierce desire to tell the rest of the world what she had learned.
“I was extremely surprised at the seriousness and number of the TBI injuries,” she said.
Part of the problem, Dr. Gordon said, is that TBI does not show up on a routine MRI or CT scan. It is necessary to go to a large medical center, such as OSU, that has diffusion tensor imaging, the technology needed for diagnosis.
“We need to change the way we treat vets with TBI, show it’s a real problem and show that there are real solutions,” she said.
The reason the documentary is titled “Operation Resurrection” is because veterans who come back with TBI are living, but they have no hope and no purpose, she said.
“They’ve lost everything, and we need to bring them back to life. We need to bring together all of the resources available to these returning heroes. We need to listen to them and decide what can and must be done to resurrect the lives of our warriors, our warriors’ families and the institutions and agencies that strive to care for them.
“Here’s the deal. If you have TBI, you can’t just jump into a job and college. Before we get them hired, we have to get them healed.”