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Ed Yeates reporting New legislation passed by Utah lawmakers could have an impact on thousands of victims of brain injuries in this state. The Traumatic Brain Injury Fund will now offer a way to provide long-term financial help for those services not covered by insurance.
Brain injuries are the byproduct of all kinds of accidents. This month alone, an estimated 212 Utahns will suffer from one of these life-changing injuries. Almost 3,000 new brain injuries happen every year.
Twenty-five-year-old Derek Gosman has a long road ahead of him. Following a skiing accident and two months in a coma, he's now going through extensive rehabilitation at the University Hospital. "I jumped. I went 50 feet in the air. I was 50 feet high, and then I went about 50 yards, and then landed on my back," he explained.
Derek is one among more than 44,000 Utahns who are now living with long-term disability from a brain injury. He had recently graduated from BYU and has no health insurance.
The specialized care Derek receives at University Hospital is remarkable: word associations, coordination, walking, talking and more. But a lot more is yet to come.
The Brain Injury Association of Utah received more than 3,000 calls last year from people, like Derek's family, looking for help.
The new Traumatic Brain Injury Fund will now set up a trust account that allows victims to accept private donations, grants and government funds to fill in the financial voids. "Fifty percent of all the funds that will go into this trust account will actually go for services for people who have suffered injuries, and also for their families," explained Ron Roskos, with the Brain Injury Association of Utah.
The payoff for folks like Derek is improvement, no matter how slow, no matter what level.
"I think he's a miracle. He's a walking miracle," Pam said.
"I think I'm doing pretty good," Derek said.
The trust fund will also finance prevention programs--something the Brain Injury Association says is critical if the state is ever to turn the tide on the staggering number of injuries every year.
E-mail: eyeates@ksl.com
