Back to work; can brain-injured patients be rehabilitated and return to their jobs?

• Author: Nelson, Eric

In the movie "Regarding Henry," the character portrayed by Harrison Ford suffers severe brain injuries from a gunshot wound. Though he was near death at one point, he slowly recovers and regains functions, eventually returning to his law practice for a time.

Was it Hollywood, or can real life work that way? Can an employee with a severe brain injury really be rehabilitated to the point where he or she can walk back into the same office and perform the same tasks?

Perhaps so, say experts. Helping an employee get back to work after a brain injury is one of the most challenging tasks that rehabilitation experts can undertake, but they often succeed. Whether the worker can return to exactly the same job, however, is not as certain.

"These people want to work," says Kris Proctor, coordinator of the community employment services program with the Center for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, or CNR, at Community Hospitals Indianapolis. "They're motivated."

Proctor says the clients who go through CNR's program--as well as programs at similar facilities around the state--are dependable, determined to work and, most importantly, trained for the specific job they are to perform. Still, these individuals often are overlooked.

"We want to send a message to employers that programs like this exist, and that there is assistance for them to either hire brain-injured clients or to work with existing employees who've suffered a brain injury," says Proctor.

"It's a good deal for the employer," says Mike Howard, program coordinator for the Neuro Rehab Center at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana, an Indianapolis joint venture between St. Vincent and Methodist hospitals. "We don't just place people, we train them on the job. We send a specialist to the work site, train the individual employee, and guarantee everyday the work will be done to the satisfaction of the employer."

Also not to be overlooked are tax credits available to employers who hire brain-injured employees--up to $2,400 for each employee hired through the Indiana Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.

Surprisingly, clients of such programs have a good chance of remaining employed and productive. Howard says more than 75 percent of the Neuro Rehab Center's clients in the last two years have either returned to work or found new employment; 72 percent were involved in productive activities for at least 20 hours per week after their three-month follow-up.

Dr. Paul Roberts, a neuropsychologist at...