December 17, 2008 Minutes

Attendance Total             40
Brain Injury Survivors       25
Family Members             11
Advocates                      04

Special Guests
Ms. Robin Kohn spoke to us about how to handle stress during the holidays, concerning substance abuse. She works with the Orange County Coalition for a drug free community on addictions and disabilities workgroup. If you are interested she left an Educational & Resource Guide on Addictions & Disabilities “A Tangled Web.”

We have to be careful with the medications prescribed to us. It is important that we follow the prescribed dosage and inform our doctors of all the other medications prescribed by other doctors. Plus, it can be dangerous to mix medication with alcohol. But we all understand that with our brain injury it is the best to live a free life without crotches. In prayer we can find the strength and courage to do the best for all.

If you require additional information, please contact:
Robin M. Kohn, MSW, LCSW
BSW Program Coordinator
UCF, School of Social Work
P.O. Box 163358
Orlando, Fl. 32816-3358
Ph. 407-823-2967
E-mail rkohn@mail.ucf.edu

Kelly Judkins with the Brain Injury Association of Florida joined our Christmas party. Ms. Kohn was actually Kelly’s teacher and Marie-Terese’s social worker when Marie-Terese was in the hospital. What a small world we live in. Or could it be Our Lord’s Plan to keep us all in this link for brain injury recovery. We are surrounded by the love of good people who really do care. We would like to Thank You Lord for each and every one of you.

Colm Roe, Clinical Evaluator at Center for Comprehensive Services (CCS) was again a great spirit of support and guidance. Colm has been working with brain injury patients for 14 years. Presently, he has been promoting the new CCS inpatient and outpatient program to open in 2009 at Avalon Park. Thank you for the additional Christmas gifts. There were plenty of gifts for everyone.

Sheri Butler, MA CCC-SLPW, again brought some delicious food and provided great support. We so appreciate all that you do for the Orlando Brain Injury Support Group and the many brain injury survivors that attend our meetings.

We would like to give them both a special Thank You for adopting our group by attending on a regular basis providing the wind to help guide our sails in the world of brain injury. This follows our mission statement of Building Brain Injury Awareness through knowledge and partnership. With community involvement we can succeed. Thank You.

Plus, a special thanks to Mia Li, sister of Darleen brain injury survivor and Joey Khanthavong for all the huge cupcakes. Please remember to include Darleen in our prayers.

Tom Dockery, brain injury survivor and Chairman of the Deland Brain Injury Support Group blessed us with his presence. Christmas is always such a good time to gather with good friends to share in the blessing of the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

We would like to welcome the new attendants:

Kenny and Jeannie Tiedeman, parents of a recent brain injury survivor.

 

 

John Sackaris, brain injury survivor and his brother Andrew.

 

Thank you. We look forward to seeing you as often as possible.

The meeting was great:
Wow Thank you everyone for making this a special Christmas. We had pizza and plenty of sweets. Hope everyone had themselves a very Merry Christmas and enjoyed their gifts.

It was great to see...

     George Callander,                Richard Walton          and Jim Smith
all for their second visit. Plus, some members we haven’t seen in awhile,

    Randy Welch who picked up Carin Benford.

Also, Jerry Scott who assisted Marie-Terese bring all the essentials for a Christmas party. Like a Christmas tree, a Santa Claus, a Manger, a ginger bread house with a brain injury, and candy. It was great to be joined by

Bob and Mary Cope,    Leo Valles and Mark, Quyless Force and Sue McCord,

     Paul Brandano,              Lisa Mesa,                   Marta Slone,
Julie Thompson, John Jupin, Austin Highby, Robb Fiedler and Karen Keplinger. The whole family was there, except for a few who were really missed. Hopefully, we were able to reach you by email or telephone to wish you and yours and special Merry Christmas. We are sorry that Elizabeth Bray had to resign. We wish her and her family all the best. We will include you all in our prayers.

Please find an opportunity to check out our web site at http://www.orlandobraininjurysupport.org   you all can be very proud of what we have accomplished. We are touching the lives of fellow brain injury people. The most important Thank YOU is to you Lord for the gift of our web master Iona who makes all of us come to life on the Orlando Brain Injury Support Group web page.

So what do we have planned for the future?

• 21 Jan 2009 Meeting - Guest Speaker: Beverly Kehrley of Brevard Achievement Center

• Who would be interested in a field trip to visit the FAAST people at the University of Central Florida Communication Sciences And Disorders Clinic during the first part of February? If you are interested in checking out the resources available please contact us mt@orlandobraininjurysupport.org

• 18 Feb 2009 Meeting Guest Speaker Michelle Erfurt, Music Therapy

• 18 March 2009 National Brain Injury Awareness Month

• 15 April 2009 Orlando Brain Injury Support Group Annual Officer’s Election

Thank You!
In these hard economic times when services are being cut. We need to extend a helping hand to our fellow man. Together we can be strong for each other and share in the faith that we have what we need now and the Lord will provide any other needs when the time presents itself. With the attitude of giving, loving, and sharing with one another indeed we will succeed.

We at the Orlando Brain Injury Support Group promote brain injury survivors to be proactive in their recovery. We are not enablers. We provide resources to choose from in hopes of a successful positive productive result for our community. We would like to reflect the benefits that we as brain injury survivors have to offer our society. Concentrating on what we “can do” which strengthens the link in the chain of brain injury recovery. Together our voices echo forward with love in peace for all. Amen. Thank you everyone for your all of your contributions.

Happy New Year 2009
Gratitude is the Attitude for 2009

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