Author Archives: Jacob Masters
Don’t Become a Statistic: Reduce Brain Injuries by Stopping Texting and Driving
Five seconds. That’s about how long a driver takes his or her eyes off the road when reading or responding to a text. It doesn’t seem like a very long period of time until you realize that, at 55 mph, 5 seconds is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field while blindfolded. Texting while driving is hands down the most dangerous form of distracted driving because it requires the use of manual, visual, and cognitive skills. The driver’s eyes, hands and focus are off the road, leaving him or her vulnerable, as well as anyone else who’s in the car or unlucky enough to be on the …
Danger at Sea: Silent Cancer - Asbestos at Large
For well over a century, courageous men and women, enlisted in the Navy, have braved the seas to protect the United States; a country they are proud to fight for. Decades later, these same war heroes are fighting for their own lives as they struggle with life threatening diseases as a result to years of asbestos exposure. Navy veterans, who struggle with asbestos-related diseases, are diagnosed too late and often given a bleak prognosis, leaving many veterans feeling abandoned by the country they fought for. Long-term Asbestos Exposure Leads to Fatal Diseases Asbestos, a natural mineral which was mined in the U.S. between the late 1880’s through the late 1970’s, …
Music and Your Brain: A Deadly Lullaby of Distracted Driving
Once the first car radio was rolled out by Gavin Corporation (Motorola) in 1930, there was no turning back. Since then, we’ve been accompanied on our drives by music from retractable record players, 8-track and cassette players, satellite radio, MP3 players, and iPODs. Technology doesn’t come without its downside, though. Auto accidents caused by distracted drivers injured an estimated 421,000 people in 2012, and listening to music while driving was a factor in many of those accidents. It’s estimated that 9 people die every day as a result of distracted driving, which can include anything from changing the song on the radio to talking to a passenger, or placing a …
Social Security Disability Benefits for Brain Injuries
Severe brain injuries that cause lasting impairments are qualified for disability benefits. Meeting the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) eligibility requirements means you must satisfy both the medical and the technical criteria in order to receive benefits. Qualifying Brain Injuries There are a number of brain injury types that qualify for Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits, and the SSA actually does not distinguish between them when it comes to evaluating a disability claim. While a definitive diagnosis of the form of brain injury is required for approval, the SSA reviews all brain injuries under the listing for cerebral trauma, which appears in Section 11.08 of the Blue Book. Traumatic Brain Injury …
Texting While Driving Vs. Drunk Driving: Which Is More Dangerous?
For decades, drunk driving has been at the forefront of debate. Stricter laws have been passed across the nation leading to a decrease in drunk driving accidents. However, a new driving threat is quickly taking its place. That threat is texting while driving – and many say that it is actually more dangerous than drunk driving. Comparing The Two: Texting While Driving Is Like Drinking 4 Beers The impairments associated with drunk driving and texting while driving are similar, according to the National Highway & Transportation Administration (NHTSA) website, distraction.org. Both cause distraction and impaired driving that can result in following too closely, not being able to brake on time …
Spinal Cord Injuries
The Worst Thing That Can Happen Over the course of the years, I have been told that some people, recovering from surgery or unconsciousness after a bad accident, can be heard to say, “Please don’t let me survive a bad car accident. If I can’t walk (or use my hands, or move) I don’t want to live.” I come by this information second-hand: my daughter is a nurse. The tragic truth is that a surprising number of paraplegics (paralysis in the lower half of the body) and quadriplegics (paralysis below the neck) make the decision to live only because their loved ones want them so. In their hearts, in the …
Traumatic Brain Injury Linked to Homelessness
Who Are the Homeless? It sounds just as tragic as it is, with hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of Americans falling into the ever-widening, recession-driven cracks in the protective services webs. Those who fall are most commonly between the ages of 17 and 75. The cohort, comprised of 900 homeless men and women, shows that the odds of ending up on the street are fully 58 percent. For women, the figures are lower, at 42 percent. This could be related to the preponderance of males living at the fringes of society, or it might correlate to the fact that men are most often involved in the sorts of activities …
Social Security Disability and Drug Addiction
Drug and alcohol addiction is a debilitating condition that decreases the ability of the addict to successfully function at home and work. Those under the influence of drugs or alcohol exhibit symptoms such as drowsiness, slurred speech, poor judgment, paranoia, confusion, and the inability to concentrate. For many addicts these symptoms result in a reduction in productivity in the workplace to the point where the addict is unable to sustain meaningful employment. Some believe that this incapacitating result of addiction is comparable to the debilitating effects of health conditions unrelated to drug addiction in that the end result is the inability to effectively function in the workplace. However, the Social …
Speeding up SSA Disability Payments
Getting disability benefits should be faster and easier for most people under new procedures recently announced by the Social Security Administration (SSA). Under the new application system, people applying for disability benefits will deal primarily with a single SSA employee assigned to their case. Applicants and/or their representatives will be shown how they can help get medical evidence to support their claims. A person whose claim is denied can immediately file for a hearing. An “Adjudication Officer” can approve a claim on appeal prior to a hearing by an administrative law judge, and will assist people through a streamlined appeal process. It is anticipated that the new system should reduce …
Social Security “Plan to Achieve Self Support”
Social Security has a program called the “Plan to Achieve Self Support” (PASS) to enable participants to work and eventually decrease/eliminate their Social Security benefits. Under the plan, a person sets aside money from their SSDI to save for whatever it takes to get them back to work. Money set aside from SSDI is no longer considered income so participants may qualify for other programs such as SSI and food stamps, etc. The PASS program has been used to save for things such as vans, computers, child care, drivers, additional physical therapy, canine companions, training, etc. You have to do two things: Develop a plan. Get it approved by Social Security. …
