Since a car crash 10 years ago, when Darious Sheffield suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI), his life hasn’t been the same. For a solid year, he couldn’t eat, sit up straight or stand by himself. After an extended hospital stay and rehabilitation, he has regained those abilities. But he still cannot walk.
Even after 10 years, however, he remains determined – maintaining the mindset that, “It’s not a matter of ‘if’ I walk again, but ‘when’ I walk again.”
Sheffield said that much of that confidence in his ability has come from the encouragement of the Alabama Head Injury Foundation (AHIF). AHIF is a United Way of Central Alabama (UWCA) partner agency that takes a multi-faceted approach to improving the lives of people with traumatic brain injury.
“AHIF has basically fueled my engine to get better than what I am right now,” Sheffield said.
Founded in 1983, AHIF provides an array of health, engagement and other support services to both people with traumatic brain injury and their caretakers. One of its flagship programs is the Bright Ideas Camp, which it hosts at colleges throughout the state each June.
Each of these camps gives people with traumatic brain injuries the opportunity to work with a team of specialized medical students and professionals to learn new strategies and actions to improve their quality of life. These include daily cognitive or physical exercises, as well as long-term planning to achieve goals such as walking.
Bright Ideas Camp also provides education on the various support services available to people with TBI and their families, as well as legal advice, nutrition guidance and strategies for managing the mental load of caregiving.
During his time at Bright Ideas Camp, Sheffield said his AHIF team put together a book of various exercises for him to use in working toward his goals. Those exercises included handwriting practice and memory drills.
TBI teams work with the knowledge that clients will have to use different methods to perform tasks they could do before – stressing that there’s more than one way to achieve the same result. “They really open your mind to different avenues of how to do various things that you knew how to do before your injury,” Sheffield said.
During a recent Bright Ideas Camp at Samford University’s College of Health Sciences, clients spent three days with their team of medical students, first bonding with them and then participating in treatment planning. On the last day, clients and their caregivers spent time playing games that model physical and cognitive exercises that can be useful at home.
AHIF engages its clients year-round with a variety of programming, both online and in-person. That includes support groups for clients and caregivers, as well as book clubs, large public awareness events and music therapy. AHIF also hosts a virtual program each year, focused on traveling the world. For those clients who may no longer be able to travel, the series provides a way for them to experience different countries and cultures.
For more information about how United Way partners and programs work in Community Health & Well-Being, click here.