Program:
Side by Side Brain Injury Clubhouse
- Budget:
-
$635,912
- Category:
-
Health Care
- Population Served:
-
Adults
-
Disabled, General or Disability Unspecified
Program Description:
88 adults with brain injuries were provided services for a total of 5000 days. Focus is daily psychosocial and vocational rehabilitation. Objective: increase quality of life through productive activity including paid and non-paid work, school, independent living.
Program Long-Term Success:
Long term success will achieve availability of medical, physical, social, financial and vocational resources so that adults with brain injuries will have the best possible quality of life.
Program Short-Term Success:
Members establish and work toward measurable, achievable, individualized steps toward the chance to work again and contribute to their family and community. Families will have respite from full time care and members will not become institutionalized.
Program Success Monitored by:
Success is measured on a monthly basis by members and staff meeting to mark progress on goals. Progress is recorded and measured by our Efforts to Outcomes program. Twice yearly satisfaction surveys are completed.
Program Success Examples:
Martha is a mature woman (over 50) who functioned in a high level in the business world before a motor vehicle accident ended her professional career, her ability to maintain her role in her family and almost ended her life. Before she came to The Clubhouse, Martha was housed in a personal care home with Alzheimer’s patients and no stimulation or socialization. Martha, who speaks five languages fluently, was spending most days just watching television from morning until night. Brain injury patients left to their own devices and plopped in front of a television are often found to grow restless and exhibit the signs of depression. They frequently end up back in the system either in jails or hospitals.
Martha was one of the lucky ones who found her way to the socialization and vocational program offered to brain injury survivors at Side by Side Clubhouse. Here she took jobs in the kitchen and business units and was involved on a daily basis in productive activity. We provided her a routine, a chance to contribute, things to look forward to, as well as a place to be socially engaged and appreciated. Martha cherished her time at the Clubhouse even walking in the pouring rain to attend when her ride failed one time. When soaking wet and picked up by the police she could only tell them she was headed to the Clubhouse and was welcomed with open arms and a warm blanket.
Because her children were not established enough to care for her, Martha spent several years in this situation. Over that time she watched her son marry and have several children. She visited them in their Florida home. This spring he and his wife came for Martha moving her into their home to enjoy her company and to let her grandchildren get to know the wonderful woman that she is. Without Side by Side, Martha would have grown more like the other patients in her personal care home and less like herself. Side by Side enabled her quality of life to remain high while she waited for the next phase of her life.
Program:
Business Unit
- Budget:
-
$158,978
- Category:
-
Diseases, Disorders & Medical Disciplines
- Population Served:
-
Adults
-
Adults
Program Description:
This program helps challenge members who have set as a goal to improve concentration, short term memory and to feel more independent. With tools in place in our clerical setting members learn to answer the telephone, use the office machines, count and deposit money and make change and become more computer literate. Practice in running the snack bar translates directly to setting and achieving short term goals that many members have for being more independent in their daily lives.
Program Long-Term Success:
Brain injury survivors will have access to the natural supports they need to live with the life-long, life changing results of brain injury.
Program Short-Term Success:
Members will be able to achieve at least 75% of their goals for independent living. They can volunteer for unit jobs like running the small store, making bank deposits and answering the Clubhouse telephones. Successfully learning how to perform one of the jobs like taking and tallying daily attendance then learning how to record it in our software program can prepare them for keeping their own records at home again. Once a member feels more in charge of their own life a natural progression will be to teach the skill to another member.
Program Success Monitored by:
Goals are addressed on a monthly basis with each member and a staff member and adjusted or kept until the member is satisfied. Satisfaction surveys conducted twice per year show that members feel more prepared for their new lives and feel that they can be more independent.
Program Success Examples:
Mitchell has attended Side by Side for 10 years, since we opened in 2000. He lived in a nursing home for 19 years before receiving one of the first Independent Care Waiver slots designated for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). He now lives in a HUD apartment in Dekalb County, receives 12 hours a day of personal support and attends Side by Side one day a week.
Mitchell has had 2 highlights this year: first, he was able to attend the Hawaiian Night Dance sponsored by Side by Side at the Decatur Recreation Center. It was the only opportunity he had in over a year to socialize on a Saturday evening and dance with a partner who understood wheelchair dancing techniques. Second, Mitchell grew summer vegetables and shared them with his friends at Side by Side. Why is this special? Because Mitchelll has not been able to eat regular food in a couple of years since having a stomach tube inserted to assist him with nutrition. He misses food and especially the socialization of eating with others. To compensate for that lack of socialization, his personal assistant helped him plant a garden in his apartment complex. Mitchell’s job is to hand water the vegetables. His friends at Side by Side gushed over his bounty and his generosity in sharing with us. The members quickly prepared green beans and included them in that day’s lunch at the clubhouse. Mitchell was proud of his accomplishment and the value his efforts brought to his clubhouse community.
Program:
Membership/Employment Unit
- Budget:
-
$158,978
- Category:
-
Diseases, Disorders & Medical Disciplines
- Population Served:
-
Adults
-
Disabled, General or Disability Unspecified
Program Description:
This work unit provides both the long term care that alumni members need to support them after they leave the daily Clubhouse program, and welcomes new members into the community. Whether it is keeping the job you've worked so hard to get or adjusting to life's changes, the members in this unit are there to serve their peers. It helps members achieve their desired goals of going back to work by learning what they can do now as this new person, coaching the person on the job, helping with accommodations and educating employers about the benefits of hiring our very motivated members.
Program Long-Term Success:
Brain injury survivors will have access to the natural supports they need to live with the life-long, life changing results of brain injury.
Program Short-Term Success:
Members will be able to achieve at least 75% of their goals for independent living. They can volunteer for a unit job like circulating birthday cards for signature and mailing them out, then learn how to create the cards with our software program. A natural progression will be to eventually teach another member how to do that job. Once a skill is mastered the members can create a new goal to position themselves for future independent living. Self confidence soars with successfully helping a newer member learn a task.
Program Success Monitored by:
Goals are addressed on a monthly basis with each member and a staff member and adjusted or kept until the member is satisfied. Satisfaction surveys conducted twice per year show that members feel more prepared for their new lives and feel that they can be more independent.
Program Success Examples:
Leroy worked successfully as a salesman for almost five decades. He was effective at making a call, asking for business and closing the sale but since acquiring a traumatic brain injury he has felt at a loss about supporting his family and occupying the place he once held in the community. At Side by Side he joined the Membership/Employment unit in hope of getting some normalcy back in his life. Leroy made a series of calls on local businesses with a Side by Side staff member in order to help establish a transitional employment job for Clubhouse members wanting to return to work. Leroy’s fellow members and his family are giving him a lot of positive feedback for reaching out into the community this way and he is feeling more independent as he makes this significant contribution.
Program:
Kitchen Unit
- Budget:
-
$158,978
- Category:
-
Diseases, Disorders & Medical Disciplines
- Population Served:
-
Adults
-
Disabled, General or Disability Unspecified
Program Description:
This work unit serves is the central hub of the Clubhouse. Each member who works in the Kitchen Unit uses their specific skills and talents to make sure we have a hot, nutritious, and affordable lunch each day. This is a great place to work on thinking skills as the members plan, organize, and execute each step of a process to operate a commercial style kitchen that feeds 40 people on a daily basis.
Program Long-Term Success:
Brain injury survivors will have access to the natural supports they need to live with the life-long, life changing results of brain injury.
Program Short-Term Success:
Members will be able to achieve at least 75% of their goals for independent living. They can volunteer for a unit job like cooking one dish of the noon meal with a staff member. They will be able to search for a recipe, help assemble the ingredients and make out a shopping list. A natural progression will be to eventually teach another member how to do that job.
Program Success Monitored by:
Goals are addressed on a monthly basis with each member and a staff member and adjusted or kept until the member is satisfied. Satisfaction surveys conducted twice per year show that members feel more prepared for their new lives and feel that they can be more independent.
Program Success Examples:
Kurt is a 45 year old man living with the life-long results of a traumatic brain injury. His mother cared for him until her death almost 20 years ago. Since that time he has lived in a personal care home where there are 3 other men who also cannot live on their own and a caretaker. Life is the same in the personal care home day after day so instead of sitting and smoking and watching TV all day long, Kurt attends Side by Side Brain Injury Clubhouse.
Here he is an active, happy member of the kitchen unit. He works making salad dressing or an occasional dessert, drying dishes and serving plates, but his favorite activity is working side by side with his supervisor and creating the main dish for the Clubhouse daily lunch. There is appreciation and a lot of positive feedback for Kurt from staff and the other brain injured adults in the program. Stopping him in the hall or thanking him during adjustment group, they give him the affection and boost that he really wants.
Kurt’s brain injury left him with challenges that he wants to overcome so he can be a contributing member of our community. His communication is often abrupt and it tends to make people angry with him. At Side by Side he is in a group who care for him and are willing to interpret to him how he is coming across. Here he has seen much improvement in working on his goal to get along better with others.
Another goal for this gentleman with seizures, who cannot drive, was to learn how to use community resources available to him. He spent several weeks learning and practicing the rules of taking MARTA. Now he proudly rides Marta to the clubhouse.
When asked what membership in Side by Side meant to him Kurt said he has found meaningful work here and he is treated with dignity and respect. We found that he is an artist and he frequently brings a potholder he has made for our kitchen or recently bracelets and necklaces with names of each staff member. His father commented that Kurt is taking more pride in his appearance and the caregiver’s burden is reduced.
By setting his own meaningful goals and working with other members and staff, Kurt has found a place to belong while he develops skills to move back into our community in a positive way.
Program:
Maintenance Unit
- Budget:
-
$158,978
- Category:
-
Diseases, Disorders & Medical Disciplines
- Population Served:
-
Adults
-
Disabled, General or Disability Unspecified
Program Description:
This unit is charged with keeping the Clubhouse safe and clean. Often members choose to work in the maintenance unit because they like a more active day and are able to work both inside and outside. It is especially attractive to our members who were injured while doing manual labor jobs like construction. Blowing leaves off the sidewalk, safety inspections of all the emergency equipment and doing the laundry are some tasks that are being re- mastered so they will carry over into home and work life.
Program Long-Term Success:
Brain injury survivors will have access to the natural supports they need to live with the life-long, life changing results of brain injury.
Program Short-Term Success:
Members will be able to achieve at least 75% of their goals for independent living. They can volunteer for a unit job like taking a fire safety inspection with a staff member or cleaning grab bars throughout the building. A natural progression will be to eventually supervise another member in that job.
Program Success Monitored by:
Goals are addressed on a monthly basis with each member and a staff member and adjusted or kept until the member is satisfied. Satisfaction surveys conducted twice per year show that members feel more prepared for their new lives and feel that they can be more independent.
Program Success Examples:
Clarisa survived a stroke many years ago but it left her with difficulty understanding spoken and written words, and unable to use the right side of her body. Her children were 2 years old and 6 years old at the time of her stroke. Her husband soon left and his family eventually stopped assisting her, leaving her to raise both children alone and without language or the ability to work. She lost her home and moved into public housing. Now, 16 years later, one son proudly serves in the US Military; the other graduated from high school and is working to save money to attend college. Clarisa found the support she needed at Side by Side. She now works part time cleaning the office of one of our board directors and volunteers at a nursing home each week when not attending Side by Side. Teresa, a staff member at SxS who assists Clarisa with advocacy issues such as Social Security, public housing, utility and bank accounts, devoted hours to the successful completion of her tax return. The degree of assistance she needs is a reminder of the relativity of the term “living independently.” If it were not for Side by Side staff and volunteers, those who live independently would not be able to maintain that level of independence in the community. While unexpected occurrences throw most people off and create challenges in adjusting to change, brain injury magnifies that many times over such that activities that one is ordinarily able to do are also adversely affected by unexpected change. Increased depression, behavioral outbursts, and inability to perform work duties previously mastered, are all examples of needed help that can be found at the Clubhouse.