Initiatives

INITIATIVES

Monthly Support Group Meetings

Annual Brain Injury Conference

Bicycle Helmet Give-Away

Community Involvement

Education

Contact Information

Lisa Combs
Phone:  859-903-9600
Fax:  859-903-9601
lisa.combs@bridgesnky.org

http://themiraclemind.com/BRIDGES hosts, sponsors and participates in various brain injury events within the Northern Kentucky area. 

Monthly Brain Injury Support Group Meetings

1) BRIDGES Support Group for Brain Injured Survivors and their Family Members/ Caregivers meets the third Thursday of each month at 6:00 p.m.  Meeting location is the law office of Sutton Rankin Law, PLC located at 130 Dudley Road - First Floor Conference Room, Edgewood, Kentucky.  Guest speakers are often scheduled. 

2) BRIDGES Support Group for Pediatric Caregivers meets the last Wednesday of the month at 9:00 a.m.  Meeting location is the Bob Evans Restaurant on Dream Street in Florence, Kentucky.  This is for pediatric caregivers (mothers, fathers, grandparents) while children are at school. 

For further information about either support groups and exact meeting dates, please contact Lisa Combs at 859-903-9600.

3) Stroke/TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) Support Group meets the first Thursday of the month at 6:00 p.m.  Meeting location is Gateway Rehabilitation Hospital, 5940 Merchants Street, Florence, Kentucky.  Call:  Jennifer Jones at 859-426-2400.

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Annual Northern Kentucky Brain Injury Conference 
Hosted annually on the last Friday of the month of March.  Upcoming conference is scheduled for March 23, 2012 at Receptions Conference Center in Erlanger, Kentucky.  The 2012 conference will be the sixth annual conference.  Target audience is pediatric and adult brain injured survivors, families and caregivers, healthcare professionals and the general public.  The audience has grown from 17 at the 2007 conference to 250 at the 2011 conference.  Click here to view a history of previous Northern Kentucky Brain Injury Conferences.  Click here to view a slideshow of the 2010 conference.
 
The annual conference provides a venue to host brain injury educational courses in a one-day event.  The conference offers general sessions to the entire target audience and individual educational tracks (professional, adult survivor and pediatric survivor).  The educational sessions are presented by local and renowned speakers with expertise in brain injury.  The content of the education includes anatomy & physiology of brain injury, rehabilitation, community re-entry, brain injury programs & resources, legalities and ethics, technology, etc.  The conference also includes approximately 25 exhibiting vendors for attendees to visit to gain knowledge of services that may meet their needs.

The conference includes a silent auction and a free survivor/caregiver raffle.  BRIDGES survivors and caregivers are involved in collecting donations from local businesses. 

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Bicycle Helmet Give-Away
Proceeds from the Northern Kentucky Brain Injury Conference is used to fund a bicycle helmet give-away.  The first event was held in June 2010 and was sponsored by BRIDGES, Inc. and the City of Covington, Kentucky.  The second annual Bicycle Helmet Give-Away was held Saturday, May 14, 2011.  Click here for event flyer.  Click here for event sponsors.

The purpose of the event is to promote brain injury awareness and prevention.  Appropriately fitted bicycle helmets, which were safety approved, were provided to children and adults.  The event also includes brain injury education regarding helmet safety with various leisure activities including bicycling, skating, skate boarding, snow boarding, skiing sledding, horseback riding, etc.  Click here for more information about appropriate use of helmets from the U.S. Commissioner Product Safety Commission.

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Community Involvement
The City of Covington, Kentucky adopted a "Brain Injury Awareness Task Force" in 2009. The mission of the task force is to develop programming for brain injury awareness, advocacy and education within the city departments, work places and schools.  This program is the first civic or legislative based program adopted by a city within the state of Kentucky.  BRIDGES has established a relationship/partnership with the City of Covington, specifically the mayor and city administration, to promote brain injury awareness.  Contact Bob Stark, Covington Risk Manager, at (859) 292-2177 or mailto:bstark@covingtonky.gov

Covington Mayor Bowman issued the first Brain Injury Awareness Day Proclamation which was showcased at the 2009 Northern Kentucky Brain Injury Conference.  Brain injury awareness is growing as Governor Beshear proclaimed March 10, 2010 as Brain Injury Awareness Day in the State of Kentucky and 13 mayors in Northern Kentucky issued the same proclamation in their respective cities. 

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Education
Efforts are underway to establish Sarah Jane Brain (SJB) clubs in area high schools, colleges and universities.  The mission of each SJB Club is to assist the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation in advancing knowledge of the human brain in order to prevent, identify and treat brain injuries. 
 

The Sarah Jane Brain Foundation was formed in 2007 in New York City by Patrick Donohue, father of Sarah Jane Donohue.  Sara Jane was violently shaken by her baby nurse when she was only five days old, breaking four ribs, both collarbones and causing a severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), which is a form of Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury (PABI). 

Patrick launched the Sarah Jane Brain Project after discovering the lack of collaboration among experts in the field, and learning that the care for children and young adults with PABI is not consistent across the country.  The National PABI Plan was drafted in January 2008 and addresses the entire continuum of care for children and young adults with PABI.   

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