Waterbury nonprofit lands $10,000

Among great unmet health needs in Vermont and elsewhere are people suffering brain injuries, often either undiagnosed or misunderstood as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Indeed, nearly half the homeless men tested at a Toronto shelter had suffered a concussive injury during adolescence or childhood, researchers from the University of Toronto found in a study published in April by the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Among Vermont’s homeless, nonprofit associations and medical providers say between 20 and 67 percent may have undiagnosed brain injuries.

That’s why Barbara Winters, assistant executive director for the Brain Injury Association of Vermont, based in Waterbury, was delighted this week to learn that her nonprofit had won a $10,000 grant from PC Construction Co., which is working to rebuild state offices devastated in Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.

Two other agencies also got grants: $3,000 to the Green Mountain Club and $2,000 to Revitalizing Waterbury.

The Brain Injury Association won the most of 7,000 votes cast in a competition among 10 area nonprofits. Winters said the money will go toward services for people with brain injuries, emphasizing a holistic approach.

“We’re a statewide nonprofit that provides services for individuals with brain injuries and an entire support system, which means family and friends, schools and whoever’s interacting with the brain-injured person,” Winters told the Record this week. “Being a small organization, one of the projects we have is with concussions.”

The association gives Vermont schools a toolkit to help employees recognize concussions that student-athletes can get playing sports such as soccer and lacrosse, and injuries that any student can suffer on the playground.

Winters said the group would like to expand its outreach and education efforts, in addition to “care transitions” for brain-injured patients from hospital to home.

Winters volunteers with the COTS homeless program in Chittenden County, often facilitating group therapy sessions after working a full day in Waterbury.

“I’ve done education in COTS and another homeless shelter down south in Vermont, and certainly some of our (local clients) are in homeless shelters,” Winters said. “But homeless shelters are really hard on those individuals and they tend to go to the street. The crowded situations, the chaos, in homeless shelters is very difficult for those with a brain injury.”

People with brain injuries are often unable to follow simple rules, and are simply not well served by the existing social welfare system, she said.

To help prevent brain-injured residents from slipping into homelessness, the association focuses on care transitions. “One of the thing that happens is an individual is in some aspect of our care, maybe in a rehab center, and then they are discharged,” she said. “They may need some more help, but their families are overwhelmed and overburdened.”

Winters said the grant help provide transitions for residents released from the hospital or the state’s correction system.

Visit biavt.org, greenmountainclub.org, revitalizingwaterbury.org and pcconstruction.com/giving-back to learn more.