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Traumatic Brain Injury... Life on the Outside
Author: | Thursday March 18, 2004
Jay Morrin, top photo and Loren Wilson. At Communicare, Inc. of Clearwater, residents have the opportunity to move back into the community.
Life on the Outside
Some Residents of Communicare�s
Brain Injury Program in Clearwater
Learn to Live on Own in Community
Jay Morrin, 23, is going to school, lives on his own and is looking forward to working as a contractor one day. That might seem like a good plan for the average young man in today's world, but it is not the world that Morrin lived in after a car collision in March of 2001 nearly took his life.
Morrin sustained serious brain injury, multiple skull fractures and broken bones throughout his body. After extensive rehabilitation in his home state of Michigan, Morrin came to Communicare, Inc. a brain injury rehabilitation program in Clearwater, FL. where the mantra is learning and independence.
"We do push the envelope a bit and we do our teaching from that vantage point," said Program Director Neal Galloway, Ph.D. The result is that after extensive interpersonal rehabilitation with the professional staff and close analysis of an individual's potential and support system, certain individuals with a brain injury are provided the opportunity to face the real world. "Isn't that what transition should really be about?", Dr. Galloway asked.
Morrin's case manager in Michigan, MaryAnn Douglas, RN, decided that the approach was one that was worth taking with her client. "At Communicare they kind of let him make mistakes, instead of telling him what to do, but they are there to pick him up when he falls. They provide a support system", she explained.
She pointed out that when Morrin attained his own guardianship he wanted to make more decisions for himself. For example he took an algebra class and, at Communicare, Dr. Galloway and other staff members, instead of telling him it was too advanced, allowed Morrin to find out for himself.
The result, after trying algebra, was that Morrin made his own decision to take a mathematics class that fit his learning curve.
In the meantime, watching over Morrin is Communicare Program Manager, James Cranford, who keeps close tabs on the young man's progress, talks to him about his goals and makes sure that he is doing okay in his interaction with coworkers and other people in the community. Cranford, like Dr. Galloway and other members of the Communicare team, say that clients who are given the opportunity to return to the community can thank an extended support system.
"It has to be said that Communicare, alone, couldn't make this work. We need to have the case managers, adjusters, employers, educators and the community on board if individuals are going to make a transition from an institution," Cranford said.
Morrin said that Communicare made all his goals possible. "They have been more than good, but you also have to have the will power yourself to be successful."
Loren Wilson
"There is much more to it than you know. I have become someone from when I was little and had my first injury," said Loren Wilson. The 27-year-old man has been institutionalized since his teens and some might have suggested that he would be for the rest of his life. That was not a status that Communicare accepted after working with Wilson and learning what his potential might be.
Working closely with Cranford, Wilson has started working in the evenings doing stock work at a nearby Costco Warehouse.
He also earns money working at Communicare, lives in his own apartment nearby and is even handling his own medications.
Is there some risk? Perhaps, but it could be said that life is a risk for everyone. "By being out in the community with the chances to make decisions and choices, Loren will build a behavior repertoire for successful living," explained Dr. Galloway. "That just won't happen if you keep an individual down. When one of our clients makes a mistake and then makes an adjustment or corrects the mistake, we don't say we told you so, we say "you made a good decision," Dr. Galloway added.
This philosophy is labor and time intensive, but Communicare is committed to the concept. "We have to think outside the box. We just can't keep someone just to keep them," Cranford pointed out.
Wilson's case manager Scott Silver, who has his own company in Michigan, knows that while Wilson has had some "bumps" along the way, for the most part he is doing fine, especially considering Wilson's challenges as a result of his brain injury.
"Communicare has met my expectations. Wilson was raised institutionally but he has ideas and he wants what other people have," Silver pointed out. "There are some risks involved, but I would say that in many ways, Loren Wilson is a success story," Silver said.
Ed. Note: Communicare, Inc. provides specialized assisted living facilities serving individuals with acquired brain injury and neurological impairment. To learn more visit Communicare or call Ron Steele at 866-802-9191.
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