We need YOUR help! CPN has the opportunity to apply for a Federal grant through the Dept. of Health and Human Services for new equipment. Even if you aren’t a Nevada resident, you can still sign a letter of support.

Fill out this link to sign your advocacy letter as a community member: https://us1.list-manage.com/survey…

Fill out this link to sign your advocacy letter as a client/caregiver of DRIVEN: https://us1.list-manage.com/survey…

Show your support to CPN by April 14th!

Social Security Ticket to Work program
1-866-968-7842
https://www.ssa.gov/work/
Social Security’s Ticket to Work Program supports career development for Social Security disability beneficiaries age 18 through 64 who want to work. 
 
     Health Insurance for Work Advancement (HIWA)
     775-687-1900
     https://dhcfp.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/dhcfpnvgov/content/Pgms/HIWA.pdf
     Medicaid option that allows you to work, earn money, and have affordable
     health insurance coverage. It is    
     a program to provide medical assistance to persons who are employed with
     disabilities
 
Vocational Rehabilitation
702-486-5230
www.vrnevada.org
Designed to address assessment, training, treatment, and job placement for Nevadans with disabilities
 
Southern Nevada Center for Independent Living (SNCIL)
702-889-4216 
www.sncil.org
Benefits counseling on adaptive equipment, SSI/SSDI Back to work benefits, Medicaid, Medicare
 
 

#GivingTuesday is just around the corner! On November 30, 2021, many will come together for this special 24-hour online Giving Day & we need YOUR help! This year we’re switching it up – instead of simply raising funds, we are asking you to SHOP ‘TIL YOU DROP for us!  

Head on over to Smile.Amazon.com on your PC/laptop, log in with your regular Amazon credentials, & select “Sam Schmidt Foundation dba Conquer Paralysis Now” as your charity of choice. Then, follow THIS LINK to check out DRIVEN-CPN’s Wish List and hit that ‘Add to Cart’ button for anything you see! We’ve included items from $5 to $50 to $500 – all of which serve our mission in CONQUERING paralysis and putting those with disabilities on a path towards greater independence! 

And how’s this for easy giving – WHENEVER you shop at Smile.Amazon.com, Amazon donates 0.5% of your eligible purchases TO US – at NO cost to you! So shop ‘til you drop and the smiles will never stop! 

Looking for additional Disability Resources in Southern Nevada? Join DRIVEN at the Harvesting Hope Festival hosted by The Collaboration Center Foundation on Saturday, November 6th 3-7:30pm at Las Vegas Ranch!

The Collaboration Center Foundation is holding a fall festival and resource fair called Harvesting Hope and will offer a petting zoo, movie on the lawn, games, resources, and more! This a FREE, INCLUSIVE, & COVID-SAFE event to learn more about local resources for Intellectual, Developmental and Physical Disabilities. RSVP is required – contact pathways@collablv.org to register today! 

DRIVEN will also have a booth set up, so be sure to stop by and say hi! We look forward to seeing you there! 

Stay DRIVEN! 

September is SCI (Spinal Cord Injury) Awareness Month.  According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistic Center there are 296,000 people living in the United States with a spinal cord injury with 17,900 new SCI cases each year.

You can take action and help the United Spinal Association in their goal of improving lives of the disabled including those with Spinal Cord Injuries.

SSI Reform

Support SCI Month

Wheelchair Air Travel

Do you have an ABLE Savings Account? Simply put, ABLE accounts are tax advantage savings accounts for individuals with disabilities. The Stephen Beck Jr. Achieving a Better Life Experience Act (ABLE) passed in 2014 allows someone who is disabled to have a savings account that is not considered in the “means tested” benefit of SSI. When a disabled individual receives SSI any liquid asset over $2,000 is counted against their SSI benefit. This helps people with disabilities and their families increase financial independence, ease financial hardships, and improve quality of life. 

Basics of an ABLE account

Eligibility: Participants are eligible from disability onset until they are 26 years old.

Contribution limit: Participants can contribute up to $12,000 per year and have a balance of $100,000 or less.

Qualified expenses: Expenses related to the designated beneficiaries: education; housing; transportation; employment training and support; assistive technology; healthcare, prevention and wellness; financial management and administrative services; legal fees; account oversight and monitoring; funeral and burial expenses; and basic living expenses.

The IRS recommends people to consult their state for a specific rules about ABLE accounts.  

Links for more information:

Social Security

IRS

State of Nevada

Sheila Verts, thus far, has lived her life in full spectrum. On one hand, this native Iowan bears a degree in Elementary Education, reads for pleasure, and could consider it a great day sitting on the couch just playing with her cats and dogs watching anything from Pride and Prejudice to Marvel movies. Her career evolved into the role of a Small Business Loan Officer, which eventually relocated her from Des Moines to Las Vegas.

On the other hand, Sheila loves snow skiing, scuba diving, mountain biking, and is an avid cyclist overall – with her longest ride being 105 miles. At any point in 2017, you could find her in any of the 15 countries she’s visited during her very own yearlong tour of the world. Besides her genuine love for 90s grunge music, probably one of the most fascinating facts about Sheila is that she’s managed a Vegetarian lifestyle for now over 15 years despite the many temptations presented during all her global ventures!

Albeit, her love for pasta, bread, chocolate, and wine certainly helped her through it – plus her supportive husband, Drew! Sheila and Drew have been married for 19 years, and he, too, shares her love for cycling, delicious food, and world-travelling. Together, you could likely find them working on jigsaw puzzles, attending Broadway shows at Las Vegas’ renowned Smith Center, or scuba diving in Mexico, Hawaii, or the Great Barrier Reef. In fact, Sheila was working on her Master Diver certification right before her impending accident.

Despite their many incredible undertakings, fate seemed to have in store a journey that most don’t plan on having. In January 2019, on one of their weekly Sunday drives out to Blue Diamond for a mountain biking ride, Sheila and Drew were hit head on by an SUV at 60 mph on Highway 159. For reasons unknown, the approaching driver ran off the road, eventually overcorrecting into their lane. While Drew came out of it nearly unscathed, Sheila suffered a deacceleration/acceleration traumatic brain injury from the impact.

The two and a half weeks to follow consisted of a comatose state at UMC Trauma Center. Eventually coming to, Sheila spent two months at a long-term acute care hospital then over five months at Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado, where she committed to both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation therapy. Sheila finally returned home in September of 2019, and has since been participating in home therapy, outpatient rehabilitation, the Nevada Community Enrichment Program, and of course, DRIVEN.

Sheila has been a member of DRIVEN since February 2020. Having only been training with us for just a few months now, Sheila’s recovery has been impeccable. Not only have we witnessed a significant improvement in her motor skills and gait, her verbalization and ability to communicate has dramatically increased. Short-phrased answers and questions from earlier in the year have evolved into full-length conversation and even hilarious quips from Sheila on a regular basis.

Sheila is a role model for the traumatic brain injury community, and continually excites and inspires our own Activity-Based Trainers. Her progress has genuinely impressed us all – and we see a lot of cool stuff here. While there is always more work to be done, Sheila has achieved lengths and we know she will continue to do so.

And in spite of everything, Sheila wants to make sure the world knows: She’s loved cats, still loves cats, and will always love cats – for as long as cats shall exist.

In honor of Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month for September, we are featuring a truly incredible member here at DRIVEN NeuroRecovery Center! Mr. Eddie Haney Jr., age 40, has lived with a T3 level Spinal Cord Injury for almost 15 years – in fact, the 27th of this very month will be the 15th anniversary of his head on collision with a drunk driver that fateful morning.

Having lived in Las Vegas, Nevada since soon after his accident, Eddie spent the earlier years of his adulthood in Georgia then Melbourne, Florida. He has an Associate Degree in IT-Visual Communications and had been working as a pharmacy tech at Walgreens for three years, then management, up until 2005. “I ended up in Las Vegas 15 years ago. My mother had just been transferred here when I had my car accident. So, when I was able to be moved, my family brought me out here for rehab and to help repair my life,” says Eddie.

When talking about his accident from 2005, Eddie explains that it was merely forgetting his keys that set him back by just five minutes – eventually leading to the one minute that would change his life indefinitely.

I was rushing to work when I locked myself out of the house. I had to bang on the door until my roommate woke up so I could grab my keys. This put me behind by 5 minutes. I was on the highway behind a dump truck doing 50mph. We were both in the left lane and I was hoping he would move over so I could pass him. All of a sudden, he moves right and everything from that moment on goes dark until I wake up 6 weeks later…

Eddie eventually came out of his induced coma to find a tracheotomy tube in his throat. Being brought up to speed with what happened, he learned that he CODED FOUR TIMES just on the way to the hospital. It’s to no surprise that Eddie also had six broken ribs, a fractured pelvis, and both lungs punctured. Doctors had even told his family to not expect him to be alive by the time they would arrive in state to see him.

While there are many challenges Eddie has had to learn to overcome, re-learning to breathe was one of the scariest of them all. [T]o be feeling like you cannot get enough air not because you are underwater but because you cannot get your lungs to work right is terrifying. After about three weeks of daily exercise I no longer needed the ventilator and was breathing on my own.

Overall, Eddie sees the ways that this incident has dramatically impacted his life both negatively and positively. On one hand, it took away his career, a relationship, and a lot of independence on simply daily tasks that he says, too often people take for granted. Specifically, he misses the quick showers and rollercoasters – oh, the rollercoasters, don’t even get me started! On the other hand, he is so at peace with the life he leads now. To begin with, I am ALIVE – thanks to my God, doctors, and EMTs that returned me from the dead FOUR TIMES. Eddie says he is especially grateful for the past 15 years of real quality time he has spent with the family that he took for granted prior to his accident. During his time in the hospital, his brother was stationed in Iraq (U.S. Army branch) and was flown back to the States to see him, bringing an American Flag hat as a gift. To this day, Eddie holds on to this hat and cherishes it dearly.

Ultimately, he has chosen to take advantage of this new life as a chance to change himself and the world. Living by the slogan I Am Normal – emphasizing that your normal is as normal as any other – Eddie is finishing up his motivational autobiography, Living the Ultimate You, and working towards a career in motivational speaking. He also set a personal goal back in November 2019 to lose 100lbs in one year. He is very excited to announce that he is over halfway there with less 35lbs to go!

In his time at DRIVEN, Eddie has been one of the most dedicated clients we have had the honor of training. Not only is he committed to his weekly scheduled activity-based training sessions, but he comes in on his own time for the accessible gym. What I like most about DRIVEN is the family nature of the place. It seems like once you are a member and are attending there, not only are you being helped and being given support from the trainers and staff; but you are also given support from many of the other clients as well.

Besides coming to work out, Eddie’s favorite activities include accessible hiking at Wetlands Park early in the morning – the beavers, roadrunners, and all the other birds in the park – there is so much wildlife that you would never believe is right inside our city, it would truly amaze you – and going to concerts and musical festivals. I love just exploring all of my boundaries; because I don’t feel like I have any.

Lastly, Eddie has this message for the world:

Even though I am a motivational speaker and have overcome many obstacles, I am not perfect. There are many times where I need help and need a hug. So, it is alright to get upset from time to time. What is not alright is giving up. You must always keep trying to make yourself and your life better than it is today.

The next time you’re at DRIVEN, come say hi to Eddie!

There’s a dynamic system present in the human body referred to as the Psychoneuroimmunological system. The PNI system is a fluid interaction between psychology, immunology, neuroscience, physiology and endocrinology. In other words, there’s a legitimate connection between physical health and mental processes. The nervous and immune systems of the body are constantly talking to each other on multiple biological levels. These loops occur all throughout the body. The most note-worthy pathway being the sympathetic-adrenal-medullary (SAM) axis which connects the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathic nervous system (SNS). Stay with me here. The HPA axis is the system that controls your digestive and immunological responses to stress – while the SNS is just a fancy word for “fight or flight” a.k.a., physiological responses to outside stimuli. The SAM axis is the interaction between the two, indicating that stress has significant impact on your physiological processes.

Now, I’m sure you’ve heard this before, there’s “good” stress and there’s “bad” stress. If you’re on a rollercoaster, or meeting your hot date for the first time, your pulse quickens, your hormones surge and you might even sweat a little. That’s good stress because there’s no danger present. If you’re out admiring the trees then all of a sudden a bear stops taking a $#!+ in the woods to chase after you, your pulse quickens, your hormones surge and you definitely sweat a little. That acute stress is still good because you need it to survive. The negative aspects of stress begin when it becomes chronic, prolonged and unmanaged. Persistent feelings of fear, anxiety, tension, anger or sadness are registered as chronic stress within the body. That’s why mourning a loved one for an extended amount of time can increase your chances of becoming ill. Some studies have found correlations between emotional stressors and illnesses like psoriasis, allergies, cancer and chronic infections.

So, what does this mean for us? Basically, it means that positive mental habits like “looking on the bright side” help our immune system, and inversely, negative mental habits, such as worrying too much, will harm our immune defense system. Look at it this way, our body is always in either grow mode or fight mode. Chronic emotional, physical or chemical stresses will cause your body to be on constant fight mode, giving it no time to grow or repair itself. Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean we need to disregard reality and forget negative emotion entirely, we just need to manage it properly.

In a sense, understanding this dynamic system gives us power – it means we can take charge and encourage our bodies to heal, starting with our mental processes. Emotions have been sort of tossed under the rug in the past half-century or so. We’ve been encouraged to disregard emotions, to see them as just a chemical function of the brain that is reactionary and without our influence. That is incorrect and that is where emotional intelligence comes in. Emotional intelligence is one’s ability to be aware of, manage and express the emotions of the self and of others. The Emotional Quotient is a measure of this practice, and high EQ scores have been linked to high relationship satisfaction, good leadership skills, better social & communication skills, conflict-management, resiliency to life’s challenges, and reduced stress & anxiety. This is not something you can only achieve if you cut off all your hair and become a Tibetan monk – it’s like a muscle that becomes stronger the more we exercise it. It’s all about practice, consistency, and just doing the best you can.

Self-awareness, self-regulation, taking intentional action, and being aware of other’s emotions are all practices that become skills through rehearsal. These skills will increase your overall emotional intelligence and provide you with a more holistic approach to your mental health, which over time affects your physical health. Like the small intricate threads in the assemblage of a spider’s cobweb, it is all connected. A holistic lifestyle is the way to go. Some focus on health, wealth, love or freedom, but it’s really all the same. No matter what your values, priorities, like or dislikes are, everyone wants the same thing – to be happy.

Keep an eye out on our blog! Soon we’ll be posting a PART THREE: diving a bit deeper into what daily habits can be implemented in order to practice these mindful skills. In the meantime, check out our social media platforms for our virtual Mindful Mingles get-together currently happening every Monday at 3 PM (PST) via Instagram Live, Facebook Live, YouTube Live and Zoom! We always start with a little friendly chat, and a short demo on techniques you can use to develop your holistic fitness; then wrap it up with a breathing and chair yoga sequence. All you need is yourself and a comfy seat!

This post has been provided to you by DRIVEN Activity-Based Trainer Aide, Karen Castaneda. To learn more about Karen, click here.

            There are many symptoms that are associated with traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. Muscle spasticity, also referred to as spasms, is uncontrolled, abnormal muscle tightness due to prolonged muscle contraction. This is a symptom that is very commonly seen in those with traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, stroke, or multiple sclerosis. It is linked to damage to the brain, spinal cord, and motor nerves. Physiologically, the brain is responsible for sending a signal through the spinal cord and nerves to the muscles, which will tell them to contract and relax. After a brain injury, these messages that the muscle sends to the nervous system are unable to reach the brain, or there might be too many disordered signals between the brain and the muscle. Ultimately, this will result in preventing the muscles from responding correctly by causing them to contract involuntarily.

            As stated previously, spasticity is a symptom resulting from traumatic brain injuries. There are also many effects that come with having muscle spasticity. People can have one or a combination of the following: 1) jerking of the trunk muscles such as chest, back, abdomen, 2) hyperactive reflexes such as muscle spasms occurring when a limb is lightly touched, 3) stiff and/or very tight muscles at rest causing difficulty in relaxing or stretching, and/or 4) muscle tightness during activities which makes it challenging to control movements. Often when a person is experiencing muscle tightness, the obvious solution is to stretch it out. Those having suffered brain injuries, however, experience muscle tightness much more prominently and on a more intense level – frequently feeling like the muscles are unable to relax or stretch.

            Implication of treatment is dependent upon the severity and frequency of the spasms. It is also highly contemplated when they become worse during certain activities, a specific time of day, obstructed sleep, and/or limit the person’s ability to function. There are also times when the severity will fluctuate, which is another factor as well. Muscle spasticity is not always unpleasant or bothersome but can generate problems that give harm or pain to the person. Such problems include discomfort when muscles tighten, restricted motion, difficulty during deep inhalation, falls, inadequate use of hands, limitations on Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s), inability to maintain proper hygiene, skin pressure ulcers, poor positioning in medical equipment, and/or lethargy during the day. When the spasticity becomes severe, that is when it can cause almost continuous spasms, making it a challenge to complete a very simple movement.

            Treatment of muscle spasticity can be conducted in many ways. One method is through physical treatment with the goal of maintaining flexibility and reducing spasticity and risk for permanent joint contractures. This can be done by performing Passive Range of Motion, standing with support to help stretch the muscles, use of medical equipment (i.e., splints, braces, orthotics), exercise and/or stretching in a pool. Another method used is oral medication, for example, Baclofen, Dantrolene, or Benzodiazepines. Focal interventions could also be used, which is application to a specific location. These types of spasticity call for the use of anesthetic medications, alcohol, phenol, or neurotoxins (such as Botox). These will be injected in the muscles and nerves and will work to reduce muscle hyperactivity to control involuntary contractions in those local areas. For more severe muscle spasticity, some medical professionals will look to install an Intrathecal Baclofen (ITB) Pump. This surgical procedure involves implanting a small pump, usually in the person’s abdomen, which will release small amounts of baclofen in the spine. Consequently, the effect and success of treatment is dependent upon the severity of the spasticity.

Trainer Caleb and his client Karima on the Galileo

            At DRIVEN we offer a few methods of neurorecovery and rehabilitation that can help target a client’s muscle spasticity. The overall level of physical activity and specific exercises that are being provided by the Activity-Based Trainers also help to aid this as well. We have a Galileo machine that is specific to whole body vibration and a Hand Galileo that targets vibration to the upper extremities. Because of the constant vibrations that are occurring from the machines, the body or a specific body part is relaxed during a muscle spasm. Through a wholistic approach to wellness and being more aware of symptoms that are a result of traumatic brain injuries, we at DRIVEN can better determine which fitness and recovery regimens work best for each client.

This post has been provided to you by DRIVEN Activity-Based Trainer Aide, Jennine Marquez. To learn more about Jennine, click here.