From a distance, North Bethesda group cares for brain injuries in Iraq — Gazette.Net

Greg Dohler/The Gazette

Eileen Elias of Bethesda-based JBS International has been providing resources for doctors in Iraq who are treating traumatic brain injuries.

A North Bethesda organization says it is waging a battle against the emerging but silent epidemic of traumatic brain injury in postwar Iraq.

A little over a year ago, employees of JBS International, a firm of government contractors, traveled to Iraq to help physicians treat a nation and populace beset with trauma from war.

According to Eileen Elias a former mental health commissioner for Massachusetts, who went on the trip the goal was to take on traumatic brain injury.

The condition refers to the brain being injured by an external force. The most common causes are traffic accidents, falls and violence.

The World Health Organization considers TBI to be a leading cause of death and disability worldwide.

Jerri Shaw, a co-owner of JBS, said the effects of TBI in many victims in Iraq are compounded by other stressors.

Theres a ripple effect. There are lots of consequences of brain injury, she said.

At that meeting in Iraq, physicians put together a strategic plan to deal with traumatic brain injury.

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From a distance, North Bethesda group cares for brain injuries in Iraq -- Gazette.Net