December 2008
Written and edited by Brain Injured Survivors
Lee Staniland & Meredith Wilder
And please remember we would like your articles and input, such as poems or short stories.
Something that you have done and would like published. Send them to leechar101@yahoo.com
In 2008 I was in a hospital for an eating disorder and while there I had a seizure and blood clot that soaked my brain. I had an operation where they had to remove pieces of my brain.
I use to do many things like play my flute and piano. I still write poetry and monologues as you saw from last quarter’s Newsletter. I’m sure that I will be writing again for you.
Now I go to the Wednesday night meetings for the BIC and to the Y to go swimming. I enjoy these activities very much.
We’re delighted to report that our fall Cornucopia fund raiser was a great success. We sold out all seats and had robust bidding on every auction item, which is all the more impressive considering the current state of the economy. It was a beautiful day at Saticoy Country Club and our guests enjoyed the views out over the club grounds and nearby hills. The first hour was spent socializing amid the beautiful and exciting array of auction items on the patio. Then came lunch, entertainment and a rollicking, fun-filled auction.
I would like to express our deepest thanks to a great many people who worked hard to make this a success: Midge and Dave Stork, Peggy and Pat Dolan, Donna Davies, Peggy Harris, Mackey Lindsay, Joan Moore, Carol and Bob Cole, Yonica McLaren, Linda and Rex Wells -- and to all of you who supported us with your attendance, donations and purchases. Putting on an event of this scope and quality takes an enormous amount of organization and this group gave a superb effort over many months to maximize the enjoyment of the day. Making it fun is pivotal to providing a good experience for those who attend and our volunteers did a wonderful job in every way.
Our preliminary estimate is over $21,000 profit. We are simply not getting financial support from the state or federal governments and private donations are our sole means of support. The proceeds from the fall Cornucopia and our late summer mailing will keep us in business for a few more months. Meanwhile fund raising is a never-ending necessity to keep the Brain Injury Center alive. We’re working right now on next fall’s fund raiser and a special activity for March, which is the National Brain Injury Awareness Month.
Joan Moore, our director, succeeded in finalizing a grant from the City of Santa Paula for community organizing and we will be working with Santa Paula to raise awareness of brain injury in their community and to reach out to brain injury survivors and their families to offer our help and support. We welcome participation from anyone in Santa Paula who wishes to get involved in our efforts there.
Reaching more communities in Ventura County is one of the foremost goals of our organization and we made beneficial inroads last month with the city of Camarillo in informing city officials about what we do and exploring a cooperative relationship. We’re hoping to have a regular presence in Camarillo with public meetings and support groups for survivors and families/caregivers. From there we would be able to reach a lot more of the population in central Ventura County.
We continue to make progress with our website and invite all of you to visit and contribute to www.BrainInjuryCenter.org If you have ideas, information, photos or anything else that will make the website better, please email me at Dave@BrainInjuryCenter.org I will share your thoughts with our webmaster, Cliff Aggen, and we’ll continue to make the site better.
Reduce STRESS During the Holiday Season
Celeste Racicot, M.Ed., Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, facilitates the survivor’s support group on Wednesday’s from 4:00 to 5:00 PM. She is on the Advisory Board of the Brain Injury Center. Celeste has over 20 years of experience working with individuals with brain injuries.
Wow……. I just googled “stress”, “relaxation”, “holiday hints”, and “ways to reduce anxiety” and found myself with a zillion articles to read. Oh dear….. where do I even begin? I experienced a moment of panic when I realized how much information there is available. I then experienced some “stress” when I realized that I am feeling overwhelmed by even writing a brief article. Eeeegadzzzzzzzz…………… So, I sit back and breathe in slowly and deeply though my nose and out through my mouth. I hear myself say “Breathe in relaxation” and “Breathe out tension”. Hey, this actually works! I am feeling pretty good and can get this to Lee (our editor at the Brain Injury Center) on time. Yahoo!!
For those of you with brain injuries and neurological conditions, you know that stress / anxiety makes those symptoms you experience even worse. And for your loved ones and caregivers, they may have their own stressors emerging as the holiday season draws near. With everyone having the potential for a major “stress attack”, there is even more reason why ALL of us need to take care of ourselves. Stress impacts us physically, emotionally and psychologically; it is damaging, especially when it becomes chronic.
There are plenty of ways to increase stress and many people have become quite good at it. So, let’s look at ways of decreasing stress levels and enjoying this beautifully festive time of year.
Here are several ways to decrease stress:
The Dali Lama said “We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves”. May we all have a peaceful holiday season.
YES/NO
Times I feel like I should have died.
NOTHING WILL BE CURED BY SUICIDE.
Now I live with a brain that is fried.
It would be cured by suicide.
I will be a man that is always trying to hide.
It would be cured by suicide.
Feel as if my life has been tied.
It would be cured by suicide.
For years I have gone though therapy and tried.
It would be cured by suicide.
Many nights I have done nothing but sat and cried.
It would be cured by suicide.
I feel all these doctors did nothing but lied.
It would be cured by suicide.
I am thankful I didn’t die.
NOTHING WILL BECURED BY SUICIDE.
So what if my brain is a little fried.
NOTHING WILL BE CURED BY SUICIDE.
I won’t be a man in shell trying to hide.
NOTHING WILL BE CURED BY SUICIDE.
They helped my life become untied.
NOTHING WILL BE CURED BY SUICIDE.
All those years of therapy they couldn’t say he should have died.
NOTHING WILL BE CURED BY SUICIDE.
For many years I have sat and cried.
NOTHING WILL BE CURED BY SUICIDE.
The Doctors, Nurses, and Therapists did their best and tried.
This is why I swear to the Lord I WILL NOT COMMITT SUICIDE!
I know of a great book to read when you are really stressed out, so that you can see that other people have survived even greater odds in their lives. IT’S ALWAYS TOO SOON TO QUIT. This book will show you that people have come thru some amazing things in their lives by just Thinking Positive. You will recognize the names of many of these people. So do yourself a favor and pick this book up. It is written by Lewis R. Timberlake.
We would like to THANK Bible Fellowship Church for letting us use their facility for our Wednesday Nite Meetings. We have great times together over there. One of our speakers talked to us about Speaking in the Now. His name is Jim Dreaver. He has a web site if you would like to look him up.
Tyler Sutton, Memory McAdams, and Lee Staniland, joined Bill and Mike Yarnall at the CIT Academy to speak to the Sheriff and Police of our county to let them know what to expect when they confront a Brain Injured person. They were very appreciative and they welcomed us back.
Bill will be writing an article for next quarter’s NL to tell us all about what he and Mike have been doing for 8 years. So don’t miss that one.
Here are some more people we would like to thank for our successful Cornucopia: Glen Goss, auctioneer, Linda Ottsen soloist, Dave and Shelly McClosky....All of Rotary East...Deborah and Mike Roberts, Jeff Hatta from Anchor Printing
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Where did 2008 go? Those of you that were with us at this time last year may well remember the uncertainty this organization faced. It was scary. Well, with a lot of hard
work, reorganizing, re-directing priorities and setting new policies in place – here we are a year later. Our doors are still open and just look at what we’ve accomplished: we served 60 new clients this year – giving information and referrals. We found a home for our two Ventura Support Groups. We had a Survivor Support Group meeting every week, with a number of participants averaging between 10 to 20 people, some
regulars and some new. In September we contracted with Celeste Racicot to serve as a professional facilitator for our Survivor Support Group which has enabled our survivors to better focus and stay on task with peer-to-peer support and an educational
component. We renewed our commitment to support for Family members and caregivers - those who we call the survivors “circle of support”. That group met
weekly and continue to address tough issues. We did outreach into the community and spoke at over 10 social service clubs. We were on TV - twice, on the radio, in the newspaper, we had picnics and a major fundraiser. We received two private grants
and one Community Development Block Grant from Santa Paula. We formed a Professional Advisory Board, we published a quarterly newsletter. We created a webpage. All this work – all this progress- all this growth: with a part-time Director, an amazing Board and over 5,000 hours of volunteer time from our amazing stakeholders. Congratulations to us. Now, let’s look forward – it’s going to be a great 2009!
Happy Holiday Season and hope to see you next year!
And remember IT’S ALWAYS TOO SOON TO QUIT!
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September 2008
Written and edited by Brain Injured Survivors
Lee Staniland & Meredith Wilder
And please remember we need your articles and input, such as poems or short stories. Something you have done and would like published would be super.
Send them to leechar101@aol.com also if you don’t want Head Tales, let me know.
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Here is this Quarter’s Author
Miss Memory McAdams.....
Doing My Best
I am a young adult who has received guidance from my parents, family, teachers, friends and doctors to teach me how to try to live independently for my future. At a young age, I learned how to walk and talk. Then at 20 twenty years old, I received my traumatic brain injury and had to re-learn everything.
After my 10- month long coma at Saint John’s hospital , a tube in every orifice, full length casts on each leg, a feeding tube and an air tube connected to my body, I have come along a lot further than was predicted. I am obviously not perfect, but I intend to be the best, strongest, happiest and healthiest that I can be to myself and others. I’m so grateful to the Brain Injury Center for helping me on this journey.
Now a word from our Prez. . .
Our website is now up and running, thanks to Cliff Aggen. The URL is www.BrainInjuryCenter.org. Anyone who has ideas to add content to our website, we'd welcome hearing them. We’re especially looking for articles or stories written by our Survivors and also any books, videos or websites you want to recommend to others. Just email anything you want to suggest for the BIC website to me -- Dave@BrainInjuryCenter.org
Joan Moore and I met with Cindy Legge at St. John's Regional Medical Center and we're talking about several ways we can work together. They are a leader in rehabilitation services for people who have suffered a brain injury- after progressing from critical care and before going home. They gave us a tour of their outstanding rehabilitation facilities and explained their services. They are very appreciative that BIC can help people with brain injury and their families resume life after leaving the hospital and rehab.
The Brain Injury Center television news story is scheduled to run on CNN Headline News (ch. 47) in Ventura County on September 3 and 4. It will rotate with other five-minute segments at :24 and :54 after the hour up until 4 p.m. At about that same time it should get posted to Time Warner Cable’s Video OnDemand (VOD) platform as well as their web site.(sorry we were too late)
Our Cornucopia fund raising event will take place November 9th at 11 a.m. at lovely Saticoy Country Club. It will be a delicious Sunday brunch and will include several exciting events, including an auction. Be thinking about friends and family to invite and items or services that can be donated to our auctions. This fund raiser is vital to BIC’s future. Please save the date. You will be getting an invitation.
You should have also received a special mailing from us conveying the reality of brain injury in Ventura County, including a copy of our new full color brochure and inviting you to mail in a donation to BIC. We know this is a tough economy, but no one needs help more than our brain injury survivors. Hopefully you can support our efforts.
--David Wilk, President
. . . and from our Director Joan Moore
I’m not sure where to begin. So much has happened and continues to happen with the Brain Injury Center. I think the theme I’ve seen developing is - just when we have a need, something good happens or someone steps up to the plate and delivers - see if you don’t agree - read on.
Wednesday Meeting: For the past several months we have been meeting at the newly renovated home of Peggy Harris (a new member of our Board). Peggy has graciously made her home the temporary home for our support meetings. It was a wonderful place to meet through the summer and we cannot thank Peggy enough for her generosity. But, circumstances and needs change, so thanks to a contact from the Ventura Kiwanis and Bible Fellowship Church, we have a new meeting place for our Support Groups:
Beginning Wednesday, September 10th, our two support group meetings and our social hour will be held at Bible Fellowship Church in Ventura. The church is located at 6950 Ralston, the corner of Ralston and Johnson, is on a bus line, has ample parking, is completely handicap accessible - including bathroom, has a small kitchenette, has two large, meeting rooms (one for our Survivors Support Group and one for our Family/Caregivers Support Group) - and on top of that - the price is right - the wonderful folks at Bible Fellowship offered us this space as part of their mission, for a donation from us. So, although our meetings are free - we will continue to take a free-will donation and split that with the Church.
Survivor Support Group - early this spring I received a call from a student at Moorpark College - Amy Garrison. Amy was looking for some volunteer experience in working with and for people with brain injuries. Okay, follow me here - then along came Celeste Racicot - a long time supporter of the Brain Injury Center (she had been one of our speakers and is currently on our Advisory Board.) Celeste has her Masters in Education and she has worked largely in the area of cognitive rehab. She has been volunteering her time to mentor Amy and has been facilitating the Survivor Support Group. The bar has been set - and has been raised. Beginning in September, Celeste will come on board as an independent contractor and continue to facilitate our Survivor Support Groups and, depending on Amy’s school schedule, she will continue to help out when she can.
Family/Caregiver Support Group - we are realizing more and more just how important this group is. We have an amazing group of folks that are listening to each other and beginning to voice how they can best support each other.
Outreach:
New Brochure - thanks to the talents of graphic artists Victoria and Donald Bull and to the printing by Anchor Printing we now have a beautiful and eye-catching brochure. We are using this as a marketing and informational tool and putting our brochure in places that will reach more brain injury survivors and their families. Victoria and Donald donated their considerable talents and time to the design and layout of this piece and we cannot thank them enough.
Public Speaking: We have embarked on an ambitious speaking schedule. Special thanks go to Linda Wells and Patrick Dolan, two brain injury survivors who have joined me in our speaking engagements. They both tell their stories so well and can really motivate an audience to understand what it is like to have a brain injury. This has proven to be a fruitful way to get the word out about who we are and what we do. We've been able to meet so many people and are beginning to develop relationships to further our mission. We will continue to do public speaking out-reach to area service organizations.
All-in all it has been an amazing summer. We are growing. We field approximately three new calls a week and the numbers continue to increase at our support groups. The more outreach and marketing we do, those numbers will only increase. We need to continue those efforts, but we also need to raise money to enable us to increase our services and capacity to reach all the brain injury survivors and their families of Ventura County. Currently we are in the midst of a letter-writing campaign to raise money. We also have a dedicated fundraising committee co-chaired by Midge Stork and Peggy Dolan. They are working very hard on a fabulous fall fundraiser - Cornucopia 2008! Save the date - Sunday, November 9th at Saticoy Country Club, you will have a chance to join us for a delicious brunch, a fabulous silent and live auction and the chance to meet and greet friends and supporters of the Brain Injury Center.
Special thanks: Anchor Printing (printed our brochure and materials), Victoria and Donald Bull, Ron Harrington (our attorney), Peggy Harris, all the people that donated dinners for our support groups, Linda Wells, Pat Dolan, Sherry Lyons (our accountant), Celeste Racicot, Amy Garrison, Cliff Aggen (our web master), Lee Staniland (our newsletter editor) and our tireless Board.
Wish/Need list: are you getting the theme here? - a need arises and amazing people step up to the plate and amazing things happen....call our office to find out details on how you can help.
Are you ready for some great writing by our poet
Eunice Kingsley?
Midnight August 12, 2001
Almost numberless stars burn brightly for us in the
night sky,
Their winking loveliness reaching us so many light
years after their long & perhaps colorful and dramatic
lives smoldered to an end.
If we knew each of their interesting histories
spanning birth to death, perhaps we could receive
great comfort from the beautiful aftermath of their
faraway demises, which have left a seemingly
immortal trail of inspirational glory amazingly
festooning the densely black night, as inexpressibly
helpful & enchanting co-stars to our friend the Moon,
for several races of sentient beings here below them
on this sweet gorgeous planet. Death began their
brilliance.
A FLASHBACK from Lee
A new gal came to us, one Wednesday night, with her husband. She was so scared, like a deer in the headlights.
The memories came flooding back to me of my early year as a Head Injured Person.
I remember being in a crowd of people and just feeling terrified. It is so hard for a lot of us to handle too much of any kind of stimulation.
I remember just crying and someone would take me out of the situation until I could calm down again.
So PLEASE be a little patient with us. Things do get easier for us.
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eScrip
Here is an easy way for you to give to the BIC. Just go to eScrip.com and register your credit cards and a lot of stores will donate part of the money from your purchases.
All you do is go to eScript.com
Click on SIGN UP
Put in GROUP ID which is 500002374 (it is still listed as Brain Injury Support Group)
Click NEXT
And put in your information!!! VOILA!!!!! WE GET A DONATION!
So PLEASE register and SHOP YOUR LITTLE HEARTS OUT!!!!!!
Another easy way to donate, if you bank on-line, is to make BIC one of your payees.
Just put in BIC account # 203039298
Put in P. O. Box 6576, Ventura, Ca. 93006
Again VOILA! We will receive your donation
I do this once a month. It makes donating so easy and it is not hard on the pocket book!
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Thanks again to all you wonderful people that support us with your hearts and your money! And if I forgot THANKS TIME WARNER! Here is a link to one of the tapes they took of us.
The "Brain Injury Center" story is now available for viewing on the Time Warner web site albeit without the anchor lead-in.
Here's the link: http://www.twcsocalnews.com/index.php?option=com_seyret&task=videodirectlink&Itemid=26&id=1011.
We envision a world in which people with brain injury are accepted and included and have the opportunity to reach their full potential.