Blogs Archives - Beechwood NeuroRehab

Dr. Drew Nagele Featured in Recent Publications

May 17, 2018

Beechwood NeuroRehab Exective Director Dr. Drew Nagele’s study entitled “A call for implementing preferred practices for brain injury screening in youth to improve transition” was recently featured in NeuroRehabilitation: An Interdisciplinary Journal. The newsletter can be accessed here.

A research study co-authored by Nagele titled “The Under-Identification of Brain Injuries and the Relationship with Juvenile (and Eventually Adult) Criminal Justice” was recently published in the Brain Injury Professional. The outcome is the result of work being done at Beechwood NeuroRehab, in conjunction with the Brain Injury Association of Pennsylvania, as well as policy work being done by the National Collaborative on Children’s Brain Injury (NCCBI). You can read the full article here.

The Ivan Project: Powering Forward

May 16, 2018

One of Ivan Loesch’s favorite things to do on a nice day is to ride from his residence at Beechwood NeuroRehab into Langhorne Borough. He will often stop to chat with friends along the way as he pops into the Tiger Mart, Luk-Oil gas station, and Dollar General. Thanks to Ivan’s research and ingenuity and help from Woods’ Maintenance Department, those trips into town are now being made in an electric wheelchair that is run on solar-powered batteries.

“I first got the idea from Super Storm Sandy, which was a major influence for this project. We were without power for about a week and I knew from my research that solar power does not go down during weather anomalies,” said Ivan.

Ivan has always been an idea man so once he got the notion in his head to make his wheelchair solar-powered, there was no stopping him. He devoted himself to researching and learning everything he could about solar energy before diving into what is now known as “The Ivan Project”.

After reading numerous articles and guides on solar power, Ivan reached out to Tyler Doan, Mechanical Lead in the Woods’ Maintenance Department, for assistance. Tyler then enlisted the help of other department members, including electrician Frank Britsch and HVAC technician Tony Daniels. Despite the research, preparation and technical expertise of those working on the project, solar energy wasn’t exactly in Frank and Tony’s wheelhouse.

“We hooked everything up and everything was working and we come back the next day and the battery is drained and his wheelchair is not charged,” said Tony, who has worked at Woods for three years. “We thought the manual was really going to tell us everything we needed but it didn’t.”

Though the project required some additional research and ended up taking longer than expected, the group did not give up and the system is now up and running. Ivan has a routine that he follows each day in order to ensure that his arsenal of batteries stay charged so he is able to make his trips into Langhorne Borough and joyride around the Beechwood NeuroRehab grounds. Ivan is very thankful to Frank and Tony for their willingness to participate in his project and bring his vision to life, but he says he’s just getting started with his solar power plans.

“I would like to expand my solar apparatus. It would be great to power a tower at Woods. I know it’s a big undertaking but I think it could be feasible,” said Ivan, who will turn 40 in June and celebrate 20 years at Beechwood in July. “I want to do the tower because I think it could be symbolic, like a monument or a legacy.”

Beechwood NeuroRehab Executive Director, Dr. Drew Nagele, served as the mediator for “The Ivan Project” and set all of the necessary wheels into motion after hearing about the idea from Ivan himself. Nagele even arranged for a video to be shot (coming soon!) to document the process.

“Ivan’s determination to explore and experiment with alternative energies has now paid off,” said Nagele. “I’m extremely proud of Ivan’s accomplishment of creating a solar-powered wheelchair.

As for Frank and Tony, though “The Ivan Project” was frustrating at times, the pair was happy to help Ivan’s dream become a reality.

“I happened to be in Beechwood Manor when he was talking to Drew (Nagele) and I heard him telling people that he loved it and that he would like to do more stuff with (solar

energy),” said Frank. “Anytime you see our individuals and you know they are happy because of something you did, it’s rewarding.”

So how does it work?

The solar panels are on a 45-degree angle in the back of (Ivan’s residence) facing Southwest, where we can get the most sunlight. There are two wires on the back that absorb and transfer the energy into the basement. Once in the basement it goes to a control panel, from the control panel it goes to a battery. The battery absorbs the electricity from the solar panel. From the battery it goes to an inverter. The inverter changes the power from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC), which is then fed into a receptacle that is connected to a wire that goes through the basement up a half-wall that is connected to the other end of an outlet, which is where Ivan plugs his battery in for his wheelchair.

Video version of Powering Ideas: The Ivan Project

Report to Congress on The Management of TBI in Children

February 21, 2018

Dr. Drew Nagele, the Executive Director of Beechwood NeuroRehab, recently served as an external reviewer of the CDC report to Congress on “The Management of TBI in Children”. Click to read the full report here.

Brain injury research study focuses on work conducted at Beechwood NeuroRehab

January 4, 2018

A research study titled “The Under-Identification of Brain Injuries and the Relationship with Juvenile (and Eventually Adult) Criminal Justice” was recently published in the Brain Injury Professional.

The study was co-authored by Beechwood NeuroRehab Executive Director Dr. Drew Nagele and the outcome is the result of work being done at Beechwood, as well as policy work being done by the National Collaborative on Children’s Brain Injury (NCCBI). You can read the full article here.

Neuroplasticity after Traumatic Brain Injury

July 8, 2016

By: Scott S.

I am writing about neuroplasticity because it relates directly to me and other victims of brain damage that I live and work with on a daily basis. It is this neuroplasticity that can give brain damaged people a second chance at substantial independence. Despite deceased neural tissue, neuroplasticity will allow healthy brain cells to do what the lost ones had achieved previously. Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change at a micro level, known as neuroplasticity, or at the macro level, known as behavioral plasticity.

Neurologic exercises will directly influence behavioral plasticity which allows the brain to respond to environmental changes or changes in the organism itself. For example, prior to my brain damage I was left handed. Post-injury I was able to teach myself to print with my right hand. My manual dexterity will not allow cursive writing, but I’m happy to have slow but legible printing with my right hand. Some skills are more preferable to none. There is a distinction between compensation and recovery; both are responsible for observed improvements. Plasticity infers changes in neocortex activity related to the things performed such as action perception and cognition. Recovery implies completing a task in the same way as before the nerve damage. Compensation refers to finding another method to come to the same (or almost the same) conclusion.
Dr. Daniel Amen is a psychiatrist who specializes in medical imaging, especially SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography). This is part of a nuclear medicine study that looks at blood flow and activity in the brain. Amen and colleagues built the world’s largest database of brain scans related to behavior. The results are intriguing: Illnesses like ADHD, anxiety, depression and addictions have multiple subtypes. People with traumatic brain injury can have the same symptoms but different brain scans. For example, a mild traumatic brain injury is a major cause of psychiatric illness.
Intensive rehabilitation can literally change people’s brains (neuroplasticity). You are not stuck with the brain you have. Part of this rehabilitation is to focus on trying to rebuild connection between the nerve cells or neurons. This re-wiring of the brain can make it possible to complete a function previously done by the damaged area to be completed by healthy brain tissue. The word for this is neurogenesis. Or the generation of new brain cells. The connection between brain nerve cells is infinitely possible using this process. Neuroplasticity along with time and willpower will open doors we may have lost sight of! Observations have supported the positive benefits of continued neurological therapy after the usual brief therapy programs. Please accept that often improvement can become a reality and it is quite important, perhaps even necessary to accept and even experience pride in your acceptance and mastery of the “new you!”