Rehab can run the gamut from residential nursing homes to vocational rehab instruction. Cost is often the biggest impediment, but there are resources to help.
The bigger and the more vibrant the community, the more access to services families are going to find. So the best place to always start is with the Department of Health, and usually that system will help people find what it is that they are looking for exactly. On the severe side of the injury, there can be services like adult daycare services, nursing homes that may offer some kind of respite care, different home health systems can help out with that. But on the lighter side of the injury, or the less severe side, I should say, there are a lot of various options like occupational services or vocational services, going to some kind of a job placement service. There are a number of recreational activities and camps that people can seek out. There is a way to recontact the community and engage them, but it does take a little bit of work to do that. A lot of times a family's financial situation is the chief impediment to accessing the right kind of services. In many cases, what helps people overcome that obstacle is a lot of personal advocacy. What I suggest to family members is that if their loved one has a brain injury, they should contact their local disability law center and request training for becoming an advocate. And what they'll do is they'll actually teach you about your local healthcare system and basically how to get the most out of it. And it's an invaluable service that most of these places provide.
Posted on BrainLine October 28, 2010.
About the author: Michael Paul Mason
Michael Paul Mason is the founding editor of This Land, a monthly magazine based in Tulsa. Mason's first book, Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath, is an exploration into the harsh realities endured by people with brain injury.
Produced by Victoria Tilney McDonough and Brian King, BrainLine.