abi Possibilities

This morning we learned of the death of Rima Zavys, Director of Mental Health and Homelessness at Woodgreen Community Services and Co-chair of the Toronto Bed Bug Committee.  She died on 17 January  2012.

Rima worked tirelessly to create a collaborative community to address the impact of bedbugs in Toronto.  It was this part of her work that benefitted us at Possibilities significantly for she shared without condition, gave voice to issues that many chose to ignore and worked tirelessly on behalf of all of us.

To read more of Rima's contributions and the work she completed, please visit Woodgreen's tribute page.

She will be missed by many. 

Hot off the (virtual) press! A young Master's student in Biomedical Communcations, Paul Kelly, has created a super animation of what happens during brain injury as part of his Master's thesis.

What makes this video special is that he has the animations so you get a sense of what is going inside the skull when the brain is doing all the bouncing around, but he also zooms in and out from the whole brain to parts to neurons (brain cells) to even smaller internal parts of neurons called microtubules.

So when you see pictures of someone falling off their bike without a helmet or heading a soccer ball or getting head-checked in hockey (you don't DO any of those things, do you?? ;-), imagine what's going on inside their skull and re-play for yourself the sound of microtubules snapping (gives me the heebie-jeebies every time I hear it!)

Concussions - Seeing the Invisible Injury from Paul F Kelly on Vimeo.

(If your internet connection isn't very fast or if you don't see movement of the brain when Paul talks about it in the video, let it load first or play through and then play with it -- that will get rid of the dealys that prevent you seeing as it was meant to be seen!)

This sounds like it's going to be a tremendous learning and sharing opportunity. I'm just going to give the introductory information from  Brainstreams.ca, a British Columbia brain injury support website:

The following is a series of podcasts titled, The Write Hemisphere, by Greg Goldberg. The series will feature a new episode each week based on the diary that Greg kept after he suffered a traumatic brain injury, and throughout his path to recovery.

Greg Goldberg is a Brain Injury Survivor, Inspirational Speaker and author. After suffering a car crash in 1998, Greg spent nearly a month in a coma, followed by a long journey of recovery. Life became fraught with challenges; initially struggling with impulsiveness, bouts of anger and fatigue. However, as the year’s progressed, Greg learned to adapt to his limitations and become proactive in managing and structuring his life so he can enjoy it to the fullest. Today, Greg is upbeat, cheerful and full of zest for life. He uses is experience of living with a brain injury to fuel his compassion and passion to help others with similar experiences. Greg currently volunteers with the Victoria Literacy Program teaching adults how to read. In addition, a portion of proceeds from the sales of his book “The Organ of Intelligence” go to Brain Injury associations and support group across Canada.

To watch his first entry of this video story, go to The Write Hemiphere

This entry is by his wife, talking about her experience of the day Greg was injured.

But don't stop there -- there are 7 entries so far --

I've come across an approachable video introduction to the brain. It's a useful series created by the University of Oregon Brain Development Lab and its called Changing Brains.

It focuses mostly on the developing brains of children, but since our brains are all based on the same principles, you can watch these and still think about (or comment or ask!!) about how it applies to adults -- with or without identified brain injuries.

I'll post links to the videos to help create a little "self-study" about the brain. Do they tell you all you need to know? Not by a long shot -- but they are very well-done introductions to important things about brains and they only last a few minutes per video -- they fit in everyone's schedule! ;-)

Here's the introduction to the series -- an overview of what's coming up (<2.5 minutes):

And, since I'm sure you'll want another taste right away, ;-) part 2 is about Plasticity of the brain and how a brain's "architecture" is put together (about 4 minutes). 

For more about plasticity -- the ability of the brain to change itself-- you might enjoy:

The Brain that Changes Itself (the link is an excerpt from a book by Norman Doidge)

Watch a CBC documentary about the brain's plasticity (45 minutes) or listen to a CBC Radio program about brain plasticity (25 minutes)

Brain Plasticity Overview: Posit Science

We would like to bring your attention to a great new annual opportunity to get involved in developing services for persons with acquired brain injury in Toronto.

BIST had its first Annual Walk, Run or Roll on the 24th of September 2011 and it was a tremendous success!  The event was sold out several weeks before the event and there was a terrific crowd assembled on Saturday morning.  Ben Mulroney gave heart felt remarks about brain injury as he has a friend who is living with brain injury.

Team Possibilities was comprised of Tom and Andrea Finlayson, Deb Gallagher and Paula Cassin.

Congratulations also to Possibilities alumni -- Dan Harren and Melanie Hay for a terrific showing!

Mark your calendars for Saturday 22 September 2012 for the next opportunity. Oh and by the way - BIST is looking for ideas on what to call the new run.  Have any ideas -- send them along to info@bist.ca

Congratulations to the BIST organizers on a job well done!