Index

Current News of Interest

The Medicare Rights Center is an advocacy and educational organization around Medicare issues. They are working to eliminate the current 24-month waiting period for Medicare for people eligible for Social Security income payments. To find out more about the group to www.medicarerights.org . If you are in the waiting period or have recently gone through the period and want to share your experience, contact Heidi Kreamer at hkreamer@medicarerights.org

The Consumer and Family Participation Fund (CFPF) is a great resource for survivors / family members who wish to attend conferences, workshops, training, etc. If funds are available, individuals can apply for assistance through June 2006. The Endependence Center in Norfolk administers the program.

Research Study: Family members of adults with brain injury needed:
Help test a computer-based program to teach advocacy skills for family members of adults with acquired brain injury and reduce stress in your own life. If you are the parent, spouse, or sibling of an adult with acquired brain injury, you can help test a new Internet-based program designed to help you learn to communicate and cooperate with service providers to gain the best services for your family member. You'll receive $40 for participating in the research study. Your participation will take about 60 minutes. You will need a PC (not Mac) with sound and video capability and Internet access. To sign up, call the Brain Injury Advocacy Project toll-free at 1-866-730-3211 (or 342-7227 in Eugene OR) or email sschroeder@orcasinc.com
This program was developed by the Oregon Center for Applied Science, Inc. with funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

The Center for Applied Biomechanics and Rehabilitation Research at the National Rehabilitation Hospital is looking for individuals who have had a stroke at least one year ago to participate in a scientific study investigating the strength and coordination in the paretic leg of stroke survivors. A total of 2 sessions will be conducted. For session 1, the strength in the leg will be measured while in session 2, the subject will walk within a robotic device in order to measure coordination. The long-term goal of this research is to improve the diagnosis and treatment of disabilities resulting from stroke. Inclusion Criteria: Single unilateral brain lesion, At least 1 year post-stroke, No significant cognitive or communication impairments, Able to flex and extend hip, knee, and ankle, Residing in DC Metropolitan area. Each qualifying participant will receive $50 upon completion. If you or someone you know fits the above criteria, please contact Nathan Neckel at (202)877-1935 or email us at 06Neckel@cua.edu

Georgia Tech Recruits Participants Georgia Tech's Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access
(CATEA) is recruiting people with disabilities to participate in a series of projects that are being conducted at Georgia Tech. CATEA's Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Workplace Accommodation is doing research about the barriers people with disabilities encounter in the workplace. We request that you join our consumer advisory network and participate in this survey. The purpose of this study is to make workplaces more accessible for people with disabilities. The survey has 45 questions and takes about 30 minutes to complete. You begin the survey by using your computer to get on the Internet and go to our website: www.workplacererc.org/R1/CAN.php.

"The Eric Fund" has grant applications available to help provide assistive technology, devices
and equipment for individuals with disabilities to help them live, work, go to school and participate actively in community life. They are announcing the availability of up to $10,000 in grant awards for the purchase of
assistive technology. This is a local organization and the grants are available only to people who live in Washington, D.C. and specific counties of Virginia and Maryland. You can find the grant application, which lists
the eligibility requirements, at their website: www.ericfund.org . Their phone number is 202/518-4141.

Research Study: Parents of child with brain injury needed. Help create a program to teach parents how to get services for their child and reduce stress in their own lives. If you are the parent or legal guardian of a child in grades 1-8 with a brain injury, you can help evaluate a new CD-ROM program that teaches parents to advocate for educational services for their child. You'll receive $40 for participating in this research study. Your participation will take about 90 minutes. Running the program requires a PC (not Mac) with sound capability. This program was developed by the Oregon Center for Applied Science, funded by the National Institute of Child and Human Development. Call the TBI Advocacy Project toll-free at 1-866-730-3211.

Health Insurance Premium Payments (HIPP) for Medicaid Recipients. Are you or a family member a Medicaid recipient? Is Medicaid the secondary insurer, and you pay premiums on the primary insurance? You may be eligible to have the Department of Medical Assistance (DMAS) in Virginia pay for all or part of your primary health care insurance premiums. If DMAS finds that paying for the premiums is cost effective (the cost of the premium is less than the cost of covering the monthly medical costs of the individual) they will send you a monthly check for the premium amount. A separate application for Health Insurance Premium Payment (HIPP) must be filed in order to get enough information about your private insurance coverage to decide if Medicaid can help with the premium cost. For more information, call the Health Insurance Premium Payment Program (HIPP) at 1-800-432-5924

Clemyjontri Park, Fairfax County's First Fully Accessible Playground - The fall 2003 issue of ParkTakes features an article about plans for Clemyjontri Park, which will feature Fairfax County's first fully accessible playground. For more information, the website that provides the General Management Plan (Master Plan) for Clemyjontri Park is at http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/gmp/clemyjontrigmp.pdf. You can also see additional information about this project and time-critical fundraising efforts at the Park Foundation website: http://www.fairfaxcountyparkfoundation.com/pages/337809/index.htm
The Washington Times published an interesting article called the "Devastating Reality of Brain Injury". Take a look.

Innovative Speech Therapy is pleased to be among the first speech-language therapy programs to integrate computers and technology into an intensive residential rehabilitation program in Potomac, Maryland. In 5 days, their goal is to empower people with communication and cognitive impairments and their families with the knowledge of resources needed to start improving quality of life. View their website at www.innovativespeech.com or call them at 1-800-IST-2550 to learn more.

The Ohio Valley Center conducts research, provide education and develop programs to improve the quality of life of persons who experience traumatic brain injury. At their request, NVBIA is entering into a collaboration agreement with the center to disseminate research results in the hands of primary and secondary consumers in a useable form through our newsletter and website. For background on this activity, please follow the OVC link.

Both our state association and its Roanoke Valley Chapter have websites. Why not check them out for useful information.

Learn about different parts of the brain and the bodily functions that each controls on the Lundbeck Institute's website. This site contains images that show how brain disorders affect the brain. Also to be found on this new site is an animation (which requires you to download free software) illustrating neurotransmission -- the way the brain processes information.

Medicaid Waivers. Read the recommendations of statewide meetings held to identify issues with the Medicaid Waiver system in Virginia.

Medicaid Buy-In. Bills and resolutions have begun to be posted at the General Assembly's Legislative Information System (LIS). One bill of interest addresses the establishment of a Medicaid Buy-In in Virginia. Read the summary of the bill.

NVBIA encourages all survivors to apply for the "Free" Survivor ID card. (Note: the application requires Adobe Acrobat Reader be installed on your computer. If you do not have this application or if you have trouble downloading; contact the helpline and request the form be sent to you.)