Wheelchair-bound teenager tried to take own life after being left unstimulated with brain injury in Irish nu – The Irish Sun

A TEENAGER tried to take his own life after he was left unstimulated with a brain injury in a nursing home.

The wheelchair-bound lad, 18, is one of 900 young people with brain injuries who are currently being forced to live in old folks homes around the country.

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The shocking revelation was highlighted at a small protest outside the Dail on Wednesday by members of Acquired Brain Injury Ireland.

The group said people are being sent back to their acute hospital after receiving an initial treatment at the National Rehabilitation Hospital.

But hundreds end up in nursing homes when there is no place to house them with Acquired Brain Injury Ireland seeking 5million from the Government to help them get treatment to live independently.

ABI boss Barbara OConnell told us: The youngest we have taken from a nursing home was 18, a young gentleman who attempted to take his own life, he had suffered a brain injury.

He would have been left in a nursing home, so when he came to us he was in a wheelchair and within two or three months, he was out of the wheelchair and doing normal things that normal 18-year-olds should be doing.

"That was in an environment that was a home environment, that was encouraging him to wash and dress and do things for himself.

The difference to his quality of life is just massive as well as his family, because it was soul destroying seeing him sitting, literally, in a nursing home with older people, not being stimulated and with no rehabilitation.

New figures from the Disability Federation of Ireland show 19,000 people a year suffer brain injuries with 9,000 caused by strokes.

Ms OConnell said: Most people recover physically, but many people cant manage their money or problem solve after a brain injury. They can be irritable or tiredness, it is devastating.

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I think what people dont realise is, that people with a brain injury need a specialist response. You have to actually understand what the brain injury challenges are and you need specialist staff who are trained to deal with that.

Sometimes people have a different change of personality. So, you need trained people as you do for any illness, why should it be any different?

If youve got diabetes or a hip replacement or anything like that, you get a specialist. Well, it is the same for rehabilitation.

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Wheelchair-bound teenager tried to take own life after being left unstimulated with brain injury in Irish nu - The Irish Sun