About Our Pediatric Brain Injury Program

In 1989, the Pediatric Brain Injury Program at Hennepin Healthcare was created to provide a coordinated approach to children and adolescents with brain injuries. Today, this team is as active as ever, providing exceptional care to children from all over the state who are admitted to our Level I Pediatric Trauma Center, or who are being seen as an outpatient in one of our clinics. The Pediatric Brain Injury Program is part of a full range of state-of-the-art medical and rehabilitative services offered by Hennepin Healthcare’s Traumatic Brain Injury Center.

The Pediatric Brain Injury Program uses a coordinated, team-based approach. Depending on the child’s needs, specialists from various disciplines on the team contribute to the child’s care. Members of the team include:

  • Pediatric doctor
  • Pediatric nurse
  • Pediatric neurologist
  • Physical therapy
  • Occupational therapy
  • Speech-language pathology
  • Child psychology
  • Neuropsychology
  • Neurosurgeon
  • Social worker / Pediatric Brain Injury Program Coordinator
  • Dietitian
  • Chaplain
  • Audiologist
  • Child life specialist
  • The patient and family

Inpatient Care

The Pediatric Brain Injury Program's continuum of care provides for ongoing services for children admitted to Hennepin Healthcare's Level I Pediatric Trauma Center with a diagnosis of acquired brain injury, which includes traumatic brain injury, stroke, anoxic brain injury and abusive head trauma. Severity ranges from a minor injury, which may involve only a short overnight stay, to the severely injured who may require a lengthy stay in critical care for many weeks with intensive rehabilitation therapy services.

Outpatient Care

Our program also offers outpatient services for those who have been hospitalized here following an injury, as well as those that are referred to us from other providers or even their parents. Our program follows children and adolescents shortly after an injury or even years later.

Children age 12 and younger are seen by a pediatric neurologist in our Pediatric Brain Injury Clinic.

Adolescents age 13 and older are seen by a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation provider in our Traumatic Brain Injury Outpatient Program.

Return to the main Pediatric Brain Injury Program page.