Dear Friends,
If you think brain injury can’t happen to you…think again. Financial
status, ethnic background, genetic makeup, and religious preference
have no effect on whether in one second your life may change
forever. You have no way of knowing if you will need assistance with
re-learning to live independently, or walk, or speak. Your thinking
skills and emotions may not be as before. When you leave the
hospital, you and your family will need support and services. Only
time will tell how long you will need assistance.
Each year more people are living after brain injury. Unfortunately,
services that address this disability are still either very scarce
or are completely missing in many areas of the state and nation.
Over the past six years, The Jason Foundation has worked to
establish the support and services that your family, or any family
would need to adjust to living with brain injury. I’ve enclosed our
new brochure which explains some of them. And I’m pleased to add
news about the programs you’ll read about inside it:
- Brain Injury Services of SWVA now has a full-time Executive
Director, added more case managers to its staff to serve more
families, moved into larger office space, and started a new
support group for children and adolescent survivors and their
families.
- The Jason Foundation served as a major sponsor for the third
annual “Transcending Brain Injury Conference for SWVA”, which
continues to be a main venue for education and awareness for
approximately 200 survivors, family members, medical and
rehabilitation professionals, and students.
- An adaptive golf program has begun in the Roanoke area, as a
result of the annual Southwest Virginia Invitational Golf
Challenge and its clinics.
- The new Child/Adolescent Case Management Program is now
assisting 25 families.
- A local survivor is now enrolled in the George Washington
University Center for Education and Human Services in Acquired
Brain Injury Master’s Degree Program, with scholarship funding
provided through The Jason Foundation.
As we continue to provide support and financial aid to survivors
and their families, we repeatedly are blessed with opportunities to
be of further service. Recently, we were contacted by groups in two
other regions of Virginia, who asked our advice and assistance in
beginning services in their areas like those we are building here in
the Southwest Virginia. We look forward to working with them to
establish the critically needed community-based services and
programs that enhance the quality of life of survivors and their
families.
We ask that you keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we strive to
bring them hope, and that you share our news with those who may need
us and those who may wish to support us. Please let them know that
their gifts are tax deductible, and most sincerely appreciated.
May blessings continue in your lives!
Fran Rooker, President
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