Brain Injury Awareness Day: Fun and |
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Brain Injury Awareness Day: Fun and |
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The New Focus Program
hosted its second annual Brain Injury Awareness Day on March
10. New Focus is a community reintegration program that provides
comprehensive rehabilitation to adults who have experienced brain injuries
in order to better facilitate their transition from the hospital to life
and work in the community. Twelve people who participate in New Focus
joined in the event, and many guests gathered for a variety of activities
organized by New Focus Manager Lisa Goldman and staff members Ralph Moses,
Carlie Merkle and Erin Sheahan, as well as program intern Jeannine Salemi,
a graduate student in dance/movement therapy and counseling at Columbia
College, Chicago. The event included both fun and educational
displays, such as: dance/movement therapy; the telling of personal stories
by individuals who have experienced brain injury; a resource table; and a
game called “Pin the Lobe,” a variation on “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” in
which players try to identify different parts of the brain while
blindfolded.
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month, spurring the thinking behind New Focus’s awareness-raising event, says Lisa Goldman. “Our goals are: to provide our visitors with exposure to and education about what it means to rehabilitate from a brain injury; to embrace the physical, emotional and cognitive changes that are part of the process; and to recognize that there’s both hope and life after a brain injury.” Chicagoan Michael McClendon, a participant in Brain Injury Awareness Day, came to New Focus in February 2006. He is very definite about how the program is helping him improve his skills and abilities since experiencing a stroke in 2005 that impacted the right side of his body. “I ’m making good progress here. I really enjoy working out, and I’m regaining my strength on the exercise bike and using weights. Staff members are working with me to improve my memory skills, particularly in areas such as spelling, at which I used to excel.”
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