Agency rebuilds brains’ brawn

| Sunday, April 29, 2007

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Long before he suffered a brain hemorrhage five months ago, Sen. Tim Johnson was a strong supporter of Community Transitions and the brain injury services it provides.

Now, the Rapid City agency that works with people with mild to moderate brain injury would like to return the favor once Johnson is released from the inpatient rehabilitation facility where he has been since February, director Ron Sasso said.

Although no discharge date has been announced, South Dakota’s senior senator is approaching release from that undisclosed facility, according to his communications director, Julianne Fisher. Johnson will continue outpatient speech, physical and occupational therapy while living at home.

His Senate office suite in the Hart Building is being modified to accommodate the powered mobility device, or electric scooter, that he will use to navigate the capital once he returns to work. Aisles between some of the staff desks will be widened, and Johnson’s office will be rearranged to make it easier for him to move from the scooter to his desk, Fisher said. His personal bathroom also will be made handicapped accessible.

In early April, Johnson’s physician said the senator continued to make gains in strengthening his right leg. “These very early signs of physical improvement offer the hope of even greater gains over time. It is not uncommon for arteriovenous malformation (AVM) patients to see improvement for up to two years,” a news release from Johnson’s office quoted the doctor as saying.

Putting those kinds of time limits on recovery from brain injury is outdated information, Sasso said.

“It drives me nuts when I hear doctors say things like that,” he said. “A person can continue to improve throughout their lifetime.”

With the right compensation techniques and tools and “the best cognitive therapy that’s available in the country, which is what we provide here,” Sasso is confident that Johnson can get back to work.

In fact, Sasso thought he had the perfect debut for Johnson’s return to public life: giving the welcoming address at the second annual Black Hills Brain Injury Conference on May 17 and 18 in Rapid City.

“He’s always been great to work with and a big supporter of our program,” Sasso said, noting Johnson’s support of the 2005 Traumatic Brain Injury Act, which provides federal funding for research into TBI, as well as Johnson’s service on the congressional Brain Injury Task Force. “I’d like to think that we could return the favor by assisting him and his staff in any way to help him be more efficient and function more effectively. That’s what we do. We walk into the situations of people’s lives and look at their strengths and ... at the areas that have been weakened by the brain injury.”

Johnson had to decline the invitation to the conference, Fisher said.

“Tim won’t be able to be there, but there’ll be a statement from the senator, because he wants to be involved,” she said. “Trust me, he wants to be up and traveling about the state. If he hasn’t visited Community Transitions before, I’m sure it will be a place of particular interest to him now.”

Instead, a staff member will read a letter of welcome to conference participants, many of whom are expected to be

survivors of brain injury and their families.

“I would think that it will be a much more personal letter than gets read at some other events,” Sasso said.

Johnson is one of an estimated 10 million Americans who live with a brain injury as a result of accident or illness. “Most people know someone with a brain injury; they just don’t know it,” Sasso said.

Brain injuries, ranging from mild to severe, are prevalent, but also unique. “Nobody is immune from a brain injury, but every single brain injury is different,” Sasso said, which is what makes working at Community Transitions so challenging.

“I love what I do,” Sasso said. “It can be frustrating, but enormously gratifying, too.”

The nonprofit agency was created in 1988 and serves about 50 people per year by helping them “re-wire” their brains and recreate their lives after a brain injury.

One of them is Desirae Hale, 22, who has spent the past 10 months at Community Transitions. Hale suffered a frontal lobe TBI 10 years ago in a car accident but has seen big improvements in her organizational abilities and job skills in the past few months, thanks to state-of-the-art cognitive therapies.

Cognitive therapist Leah Jester jokes that she has more than 200 cognitive exercises — affectionately referred to as torture methods — to help retrain a brain.

Other staffers offer individual and family counseling, teach community living skills and offer employment training and placement. There is also a neuropsychologist and a clinical psychologist on staff. “Basically, we provide most of what a person needs post brain injury,” Sasso said.

Justine Ashokar is a

licensed counselor at Community Transitions who helps survivors and their loved ones adjust to and accept life after a brain injury. She and Sasso facilitate the Brain Injury Support Group of the Black Hills, which meets at 6:15 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at Rapid City Regional Hospital’s Rushmore Room.

Betty and Bob Bowers of Rapid City say the support group has been invaluable in their recovery from Bob’s traumatic brain injury.

Like many in the support group, Bob Bowers was severely injured in an automobile accident, but there are also members whose injuries were caused by epilepsy, tumors and stroke.

Six-and-a-half years ago, doctors told Betty her husband probably would not live and certainly would never talk, walk or recover. Today, Bob walks with the aid of a walker and plays his harmonica again. They attend the support group together, where Betty leads the family members’ portion of the meeting.

Brain injury, she tells them, is a long, long road, where progress is measured in small steps.

The next meeting is Tuesday, May 8.

If you go

What: Black Hills Brain Injury Conference

When: Thursday and Friday, May 17-18

Where: Ramkota Hotel, Rapid City

Presenters: Dr. Claudia Osborn, the nationally known author of “Over My Head: A Doctor’s Own Story of Head Injury from the Inside Looking Out;” Thomas Bergquist, program director of the Mayo Clinic’s Brain Injury Outpatient Program; two experts with Veterans Affairs programs on brain injury, James Gardiner and Christopher Elia; Scott Cherry, a neuropsychologist; Robert Arnio, a therapist; and Ron Sasso, director of Community Transitions.

Cost: Professionals, $125; brain injury survivors, family and caregivers, $55 for one; $40 for two or more.

Sponsors: Community Transitions and Rapid City Regional Hospital

Information: 718-8446 or 343-7297

Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8410 or mary.garrigan@rapidcityjournal.com