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Recovery
Process Recovery
Journals
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Brain Injury Recovery
Journals This project is the effort of Jay Smethurst and Kristen Bergquist to raise awareness about brain trauma in the US and to support brain trauma victims. Our interest in this cause stems from the Traumatic Brain Injury suffered by Jay's brother David in January 2001. The concept of a Recovery Journal as a useful tool originated with the website that Jay created during David's ongoing recovery process. www.smotty.com This website has proved invaluable for David's improbable recovery. Other families have taken this approach as well, with considerable success (see the examples to the left), but each site is created independently and haphazardly. All families deserve the ability to use the Internet in this way, even if they don't have a computer programmer in the house. We launched this effort in January 2003 to help other families who face crises like the one we experienced two years ago. Brain trauma effects over two million Americans each year, and the ramifications are felt by countless more friends and family members. The cost to the US economy is over $48 billion a year in acute care costs, rehabilitation costs, and lost productivity. The families of brain trauma victims represent the primary caregivers for these patients through their long-term recovery, yet there are very few resources dedicated to supporting these families. Our mission is to develop tools and resources to help both patients and their families through the life-long rehabilitation process. Our work for this year includes developing both the content and the tool for this online resource, and building the business plan for a not-for-profit organization to manage and grow this tool for years to come. We are asking for individuals to make tax-deductible donations to support the first phase of this development. Your donation will help build the tool and will help build the story that we need to tell the media, the public, and our government -- brain trauma is a national crisis and there is a growing constituency that wants to do something about it. Please read through this site to learn more about our efforts and the approach that we are taking. Your donation will help us help families and patients in dire need of support.
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