December 2004
Help for Brain Injury Victims Survey Addresses Local Need
Wytheville Enterprise
by Stephanie Porter-Nichols, StaffRead Article...
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Help for Brain Injury Victims Survey Addresses Local Need
December 2004 Wytheville Enterprise by Stephanie Porter-Nichols
Health experts estimate that about 8,000 people living west of Pulaski suffer from some type of brain injury and are not receiving the full gamut of help available.
Brain Injury Services of Southwest Virginia, a non-profit organization founded by Fran and Greg Rooker who lost their only son Jason to a brain injury, wants the opportunity to help those individuals According to the agency's director, Helen Butler, this projection of tremendous need is coming from the federal Centers for Disease Control.
Working in conjunction with the Virginia Tech Institute of Community Health, she said, Brain Injury Services is conducting its own needs assessment in the Mount Rogers region.
The more information the agency possesses, Butler said, the more compelling case it can create for grant funding to provide services in the region. The service agency, which has assisted 150 clients in the New River Valley and Roanoke area since opening in 2000, has already applied to the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services for grant money to extend its reach into the area that includes Bland, Smyth and Wythe counties.
Butler said the agency hopes to learn soon of the funding request's outcome. While she hopes to be successful, Butler said that if this request were denied, other opportunities would be pursued. "We are committed to expand our services there," she said.
The executive director urged physicians, human service agencies and prospective clients to fill out a survey if they received one and to request one if they'd like to participate.
"Numbers matter," she said.
Brain Injury Services does provide valuable resources to clients.
Case managers are helping 27 children and 55 adults navigate the complex human services system and find the resources they need, said Butler.
The organization, she explained, works with individuals to identify their goals and provide them with the tools to achieve those objectives.
Butler noted that an individual coping with a brain injury would likely suffer physical, emotional and cognitive impairments. Often, she said, the cognitive problems are the most frustrating and difficult to overcome. For instance, she said, a person who used to be able to do math suddenly may find himself unable to perform even simple arithmetic.
Case managers, said Butler, try to optimize the individual's capabilities. Sometimes, she noted, that's as simple as getting them a Palm Pilot to help them keep track of where they need to be.
Another major focus of Brain Injury Service is life skills training, which helps clients adapt their environment to live independently.
Holding down a job is another part of independence and just a month ago, Butler said the agency initiated a new program called Survivor Volunteer Placement through which clients relearn vocational skills, often by doing them repeatedly.
The organization also works with companies to understand the impact of brain injuries on people and that individuals do recover from such injuries, though they are not like they previously were.
That, said Butler, is an important fact for everyone to know when dealing with someone who has suffered a brain injury ñ personality change is a part of the injury. "They are a different person."
With an office in Radford and in Roanoke, Brain Injury Service now employs four case managers. When funding for the Mount Rogers area is in place, Butler said a case manager who can work with both children and adults would be employed for the area.
Anyone who would like more information, especially about the community assessment survey, may contact Butler at (540) 344-1200.
Brain Injury Services is separate from the Jason Foundation, which was also founded by the Rookers in honor of their 11-year-old son to provide information and support to the families of brain injury victims. A longtime newspaperman, Rooker was a one-time owner of the Enterprise. To learn more, visit www.jasonfoundation.org.
Stephanie Porter-Nichols may be reached at (276) 228-6611 or spotern@wythenews.com
Back to TopGetting Back on Course with Life
October 5, 2004 Times–World Corp. by Katarina Waugh
This article is © 2004–the Times–World Corp. Reprinted with permission.
Mark Tames bent his knees and settled the slightly crooked wooden driver he'd borrowed from his dad behind a golf ball.
"This shot will amaze," he announced. "One way or another." He was right.
On our opening hole, Tames belted a 200-yard; bullet-straight shot that plopped onto the green. Later, an errant shot flew over a pond only to dive up to its last dimple in the muddy bank with a sickening thwock.
The most amazing thing, though, was that Tames was out playing golf at all. Eleven months ago, Tames was the gregarious assistant manager of the Hunter's Grille restaurant at the Patrick Henry Hotel. Then a stroke derailed his life.
"I'm having memory problems," he said, ticking off a frustrating list. "I can't work, I can't drive. I'm not self reliant in a lot of ways. I'm not supposed to live alone for safety reasons. I get lost very easily. . . .
"I had lunch downtown, I used to work there, and I am just now starting to recognize the place."
Tames was hospitalized twice for a total of 12 days. Since then he has worked with a speech therapist at Roanoke Memorial rehabilitation and with life trainers from Brain Injury Services of Southwest Virginia.
"The recovery process has been kind of slow," Tames said.
Unlike those of many survivors of catastrophic injuries or illnesses, Tames' friends have stuck around to help. "Family, of course, you expect to be supportive," Tames said. "But my friends have been surprisingly sensitive. Everybody's been great, it's been a real confidence builder.
"I've been, kind of, lucky."
While Tames had tried his hand at golf before the stroke, he didn't want to participate in the monthly Roanoke Valley Adaptive Golf clinics conducted by Dr. Bill Wellborn and Kenny Loving, a one-armed, one-legged 18-handicap golfer from Richmond, at Blue Hills Golf Club this summer.
"I thought it would be gross, or remind me of being unhealthy," Tames said. "Instead it reminds that there is a network of people who understand my problem. It's a good environment. . . . I must say I don't know why they encourage golf. Putt Putt is one thing, but golf?
"Maybe it's to get outside, participate in a group kind of sport activity. My mom says it's so I won't feel sorry for myself." Tames, Dr. Wellborn, Dr. Chris Covington and I were teammates in the rain-soaked Southwest Virginia Invitational Golf Challenge at Ashley Plantation last week. The tournament raised money for three charities that work with people who have suffered brain injuries, but raising money was only the start. Each foursome was made up of three able-bodied golfers and one who was physically challenged.
Generally, you could pick out the physically challenged members of the foursomes by the shiny metal limbs, not by their relative golf talent.
Tames' troubles were less obvious. He has two arms and his legs are of the flesh-and-blood variety. He was friendly and well spoken. He made good solid contact most of the time. His flubs, like those of nearly everyone who tries to master golf, came mostly from rushing his swing.
But he told his "this shot will amaze" joke a few times. On the first tee, he noticed the kink in his dad's driver shaft and quipped, "Dad must've had a bad day." Near the end of the round, he noticed it again and said, "Gee, I hope I didn't do that." He needed some help finding the target and moving along from shot to shot. More than that, though, he needed an extraordinary amount of faith.
Tames admitted that early in his recovery "I was very hesitant to go out of the house and away from my family." Last week he spent an entire afternoon on the links with three relative strangers.
"I was nervous the whole time," he said. "I might not have showed it, but I was nervous."
Amazing.
Brain Injury Services of Southwest Virginia serves survivors of acquired brain injury and their families who reside in Roanoke and the New River Valleys.
2036-A Colonial Avenue SW
Roanoke, Va. 24015
[Please note this address has changed]
(540) 344-1200
Roanoke Valley Chapter of the Brain Injury Association of Virginia
Support group meets the first Thursday of every month.
P.O. Box 10763
Roanoke, Va. 24022
(540) 342-9531
Roanoke Valley Adaptive Golf Program
Clinics on the second Tuesday of each month April-October at Blue Hills Golf Club
(540) 342-9531 or (540) 344-7848
Click here to see upcoming events.
