GULFPORT—Staff from Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson will share strategies to help brain injury survivors adjust to life outside the health care setting during a seminar May 20 and 21 at Gulfport Memorial Hospital’s Center for Neuroscience and Restorative Medicine.
Methodist is one of only 16 hospitals in the nation to be named a Traumatic Brain Injury Model System site by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. As such, the 124-bed hospital is on the forefront of research designed to improve outcomes for brain injury survivors. It also operates Quest, an outpatient program that helps people with brain injuries successfully return to school, work or community life.
“Through our research and our clinical experience with patients, we’ve developed a number of strategies to foster community re-integration,” said Dr. Mark Sherer, director of neuropsychology at Methodist and project director for the Traumatic Brain Injury Model System of Mississippi. “This seminar will give health care professionals, as well as TBI survivors and their loved ones, insight into the issues that often develop during that transition.”
The session on Friday, May 20, will be from 12:30 until 4:45 p.m. and will provide information targeted to occupational therapists, psychologists, rehabilitation counselors and speech language pathologists. Tuition is $60 and includes breaks and program materials.
The session on Saturday, May 21, will be open to the general public and will focus on the concerns of brain injury survivors and their families and friends. The session is from 8 until 11:45 a.m. and admission is free.
Sherer said the seminar is being offered in conjunction with the Brain Injury Association of Mississippi. Speakers include Sherer and three members of the Quest staff—admissions coordinator Joyce Leverenz, speech therapist Cassie Means and neuropsychologist Dr. Clea Evans.