A Gift to Heal Injured Brains: Family Transformed by TBI Gives to Aid U-M Health System Care & Research

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Newswise ANN ARBOR, Mich. A tragic accident 32 years ago forever altered the lives of an entire prominent Michigan auto industry family, as a beloved wife and mother suffered a devastating traumatic brain injury, or TBI.

Now, the Massey family has invested in the hope that University of Michigan medical and scientific teams can spare other families what they endured.

With a significant gift from the Joyce and Don Massey Family Foundation, the U-M Health System has launched a major initiative to find new ways to treat TBI, and to care for and support those affected by it.

To recognize their generosity, UMHS has named a new emergency treatment area in their honor. When it opens later this month, it will give patients who have suffered a TBI, stroke, major trauma or other critical illness or injury the most advanced care possible in the first crucial hours of their crisis.

Located within the adult emergency department in University Hospital, the Joyce and Don Massey Family Foundation Emergency Critical Care Center, or EC3, will be among the first of its kind in the United States.

Every time a patient with a serious TBI enters our emergency department, or flies in our helicopters, we do all we can in those first critical hours to prevent as much lasting damage as possible, says Robert Neumar, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the U-M Medical Schools Department of Emergency Medicine. Weve made great strides, but too many patients and their families cope with serious and long-lasting effects. Through research and advances in care, fueled by the Massey gift, we can improve the odds for patients here and around the world.

Neumar and his predecessor William Barsan, M.D., worked with the Massey family to develop U-Ms comprehensive new Joyce Massey TBI Program. It includes funds for clinical research, technology innovation, translational research, a patient/family support fund, and an annual TBI summit where researchers can share their results.

We are honored to be the recipients of the Massey Family's generosity and compassion, supporting our missions of research, education and patient care," says Tony Denton, Acting Chief Executive Officer of University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers. "This gift will boost our efforts to improve care for those suffering from traumatic brain and other critical injuries and illness."

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A Gift to Heal Injured Brains: Family Transformed by TBI Gives to Aid U-M Health System Care & Research