Ed Smith spoke with Cathy Iacviello, Director of Program Development and Corporate Compliance at Bridges for Brain Injury Inc. and Sara Sayor, Wildlife Education Program Director at Bridges for Brain Injury Inc.
-They explained the mission which is to help guide individuals with a traumatic brain injuries and their families
-They support people of all ages and backgrounds
-They support folks with brain injuries after they are released from the hospital and are now trying to adjust to their new lives. The support is focused on home and in the community.
-Cathy said the services they provide are through the medicare traumatic brain injury waiver, the nursing home diversion waiver.
-They talked about helping people with service coordination because the medical and insurance system can be complicated.
-They said a brain injury is almost always unexpected and it could be a small concussions or something very serious
-Cathy and Sara talked about the day program that they provide for about 40 individuals with brain injuries.
-They see the Wildlife Rockstars program as a way to provide therapy for people with brain injuries. It helps keep them motivated and active and at the same time supporting the animals in the Wildlife Rockstars program.
-The goal is to keep people mentally and physically active after a brain injury
-This program provides a hands-on opportunity for brain injury patients to assist them in caring for the animals
-They also do community outreach events with the animals going to schools, the mall, senior centers and other locations.
-Sara talked about educating the public about wild animals.
-Sara said they do have trained employees that can assist some wild animals if they are sick or injured. They can also refer people to other organizations in the community if someone comes across a wild animal in need of help.
-Sara explained the Wildlife Encounters they provide and in particular the birthday program. This gives children an up close experience with animals while celebrating their birthday and helps them fundraise money to care for the animals.
-Sarah said they have acquired a 4 acre farm near their current facility and are working to make it fully operational with more space for the animals and people in the brain injury program.
-Sara and Cathy said donations are critical for them to be able to keep this program alive as it is expensive to care for the animals.
-They brought a Pale Fox named Chewy with them. He is one of the animals in the Wildlife Rockstars programs.
-Sara did a demonstration with him to show how they can engage with the wild animal and explain one of their current fundraisers they are doing on their social media platforms.
-They encouraged people to volunteer to help them care for the animals.