In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, every day brought news of more and more people who were being hospitalized and ventilated in critical condition. At first, the focus was solely on saving lives, but as time passed and patients started to stabilize, calls started pouring into BINA on a daily basis. 

Dozens of families were frantically trying to get COVID patients admitted to vent-weaning and rehab facilities after a long and debilitating hospital stay. At the time, these facilities were full to capacity, some with long waiting lists, and admissions were limited in general because of various restrictions and regulations.  

The staff at BINA was overwhelmingly busy working with families to figure out a viable plan for each of these many patients. They reached far and wide to identify suitable facilities to alleviate the crushing shortage of appropriate beds for these patients.  These intensive efforts were all in addition to BINA’s ongoing work assisting the usual stroke and traumatic brain injury caseload which continued unabated.

BINA also faced a troubling volume of COVID patients suffering from related neurological events including strokes in young patients, vented patients who were not waking up from sedation, and others who suffered cardiac arrest leading to anoxia (oxygen loss to the brain).  Articles slowly started to appear in the media and medical journals reporting on the widespread neurological impact of the virus which BINA was witnessing in real-time.

BINA has been working with top researchers and physicians as they try to gain a better understating of the mechanism behind the neurological aspect of the virus and develop testing and treatment protocols. The staff was deeply involved in establishing collaborations in the form of informal “neuro-COVID” teams and sites to address this critical issue.

Although Covid-19 is considered “over” in many communities, it’s unfortunately far from over for many families dealing with strokes, comas, delirium, behavioral changes, and other serious neurological issues. BINA will stand at their side during the long road to recovery, just as they continue to do for thousands of stroke and brain injury survivors and their families. 

Give BINA the power to empower families with knowledge and with hope on August 11-12 at https://www.rayze.it/bina/

Please call to donate at (848) 280-7500.