The Brain Injury Resource Centre:
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The Brain Injury Resource Centre was established on January 1st, 1994, in cooperation with Vejle County, Copenhagen Municipality, Vejlefjord Center, the Center for Rehabilitation of Brain Injury, Copenhagen, and various user organizations.
During 1996, the Resource Centre was reorganised. The current structure is as follows: The Brain Injury Resource Centre is financed by financial support from the Minstry of Social Affairs.
The Resource Centre is under the direction of a Board of Trustees representing all the regions and communes in Denmark as well as the National Board of Social Services. The two user organizations are also represented.
The Head of the Brain Injury Resource Centre is responsible to the Board of Trustees for the administrative and professional management of the organization on an ongoing basis.
Purpose:
The goal of the Resource Centre is the systematic undertaking of the:
* development
* gathering
* processing, and in particular
* distribution
of information to support and ensure a satisfactory level of quality in the local and regional initiatives taken for brain-injured individuals.
The gathering of information takes place both nationally and internationally.
Tasks:
The Resource Centre provides appropriate information or makes appropriate referrals when contacted by state, county or municipal departments, institutions, hospitals, schools, brain-injured individuals/relatives and their organizations as well as the public in general. However, individual cases will generally not be addressed.
The Resource Centre aim to develop connections between interested service groups and other relevant organizations.
The above is be achieved in the following manner:
· Development of information
The Brain Injury Resource Centre shall, by contacting treatment centers and professionals, create an overview of the field of brain injury. In this manner, the Resource Centre can identify the need for new developments in treatment, rehabilitation and community re-entry.
Furthermore, the Resource Centre can play an important role as catalyst for interdisciplinary efforts and cross-sectional services. Future research areas and initiatives in practice can also be identified.
· Gathering of information
The collection of information takes place by close contact with the treatment centers that the brain-injured individuals come in contact with after injury and includes all phases of treatment, namely; acute inpatient, post-acute rehabilitation and instruction, and the social re-integration phase.
It is essential that the Resource Centre gathers and provides information about the treatment centers (i.e. capacity, professional disciplines represented, qualifications, etc.) Currently, information is made available via the Internet to ensure rapid access and retrieval.
· Processing of Information
Information to be analysed and integrated will be obtained at the various treatment phases and will be used to indicate the effectiveness of specific treatments. This information can then be disseminated to all relevant treatment facilities at the various phases of treatment.
It is specifically in this area that cooperation with user organizations is particularly valuable.
· Distribution of Information
There is a great need for the distribution of information concerning brain injury and its treatment to the brain-injured, their families, significant others and places of employment. The various disciplines that are in contact with brain-injured individuals should be included.
The Expert Group:
The role of the Expert Group is to provide support for the Head of the Brain Injury Resource Centre's management of the Resource Centre. The Expert Group consists of professionals that represent the treatment, rehabilitation, work re-entry and education areas of brain-injured individuals. The Expert Group appoints Focus Groups and establishes various work groups for analysis and review. Proposals for international cooperation are also evaluated. Referrals to the Brain Injury Resource Centre are evaluated so as to identify trends for future development.
MagazineThe Brain Injury Resource Centre publishes a magazine "FOKUS" (only in Danish) four times per year, on thematic issues. Each issue furthermore provides information on current courses, books, etc.
International Functions
Courses and workshops on current topics of interest, held by international speakers are provided. International conferences are also organized.
The Resource Centre financially supports participation in these conferences. Information about the conferences is published in the Magazine and on the website.