[COMMUNICATED] You see your neighbor at Shacharis every morning…you heard that he was in a car accident a few months ago but wasn’t hurt too badly…just a couple of broken bones and a head injury.
Aside from a slight limp, he seems just fine when he nods in response to your friendly “good morning.”
You can’t tell that he suffered a traumatic brain injury which has affected his memory and personality, and that he struggles to find the right words when having a conversation. His employer is keeping him on as a ‘chesed’ despite his frequent mistakes…his young children are afraid of the changes in their Abba…he never yelled or had outbursts like this before. His doctor prescribed some medications but they don’t seem to be helping. “Just give it time,” he repeats, “and then you’ll have to learn to accept the changes and move on with your life…”
BINA helps the family find the right therapy programs and specialists, and provides desperately needed support to the entire family, as they travel on the long road of rehabilitation and recovery.
Your 75 year old father could have retired from the family business years ago but has kept up his rigorous schedule of davening and learning followed by a full day of work. He maintained this active lifestyle until the day last week that he had a severe stroke which has left him paralyzed on one side and unable to speak or swallow…he is slowly recovering in the hospital, your mother at his side, and you and your siblings are taking shifts around the clock.
Early one morning, the day after a procedure to insert a feeding tube, you enter the room and catch the end of a conversation between your mother and the hospital case worker. “I’ll be back at noon for your answer,” she calls over her shoulder as she walks out the door. Your mother is holding a computer printout in her hands and tells you that she was instructed to choose from a list of nursing homes located within a 25-mile radius from home.
You look at each other in bewilderment…you have no idea where to begin to make such an important decision. Are these facilities the best for your father? You start to make calls but everyone you speak to seems to have a different opinion. One friend tells you that his mother went to a certain facility after knee replacement surgery and assures you that it’s the best one around…surely a stroke can’t be that different?
BINA spends as much time as necessary with the family to explain the complex rehab system and guides them through the admission process to a world-renowned rehab facility that specializes in stroke where their loved one will make every possible gain.
The brain is the most important organ in the human body and controls everything we do. That’s why a brain injury can be so devastating. Brain injuries resulting from falls, car accidents, strokes, aneurysms, brain tumors and other neurological conditions can affect every function including walking, speech, memory and behavior.
BINA is the only Jewish organization dedicated to providing lifesaving assistance to brain injury survivors of all ages, including children and young adults, and their families who have nowhere else to turn. Over 2,500 survivors of stroke and brain injury whose lives have been unexpectedly shattered by brain injury, including hundreds of local Lakewood families, have turned to BINA for rehabilitation referrals, case management, crisis intervention, support and education.
The Lakewood community will have an opportunity to show their hakaras hatov to BINA at a reception this evening at 7:30 p.m. at the home of R’ Shaya Prager, 7 Olive Court. Harav Malkiel Kotler shlit”a will address the gathering with divrei bracha at 8:45 p.m. Entertainment will be provided by Isaac Honing and The Zemiros Group.
Your support will allow BINA to ensure that no brain injury survivor is alone while on the long and difficult road to recovery. For more information contact BINA at 718-645-6400 or www.binausa.org.
BINA has been there for hundreds of Lakewood families; today, be there for BINA.
