L6 Foundation has begun providing services!
jeffrey....@gmail.com
By now, you know about the foundation and our reason for existing (the
mission & vision). In the big picture, we want to do essentially two
things. One, over time use Laura's life, story, and popularity to
bring in money on a larger scale to more rapidly advance the field and
science of traumatic brain injury. Secondly, to "fill the cracks" by
providing much needed services not currently offered to the families
of traumatic brain injury (TBI) victims.
The funding issue will certainly take time. However, we have begun
providing services to TBI families. Here's a summary for you:
PROBLEM #1 - Communicating your loved one's condition (post-accident)
to family and friends. In our situation, we were fortunate to have a
large email database and all of you who generously forwarded on our
updates. This helped us to keep you directly informed and limit
misinformation. For several different reasons, others find themselves
unable or incapable of providing this information.
WHAT IS THE L6 FOUNDATION'S SOLUTION? We are providing, at no cost,
access to our website server to place and post these updates. Here is
how it works: We have a website link called "patient updates" on the
left hand side. Families will email their Microsoft word update to the
foundation (saved as the date, ex: March 27, 2007). We will proofread
it and post under the patient updates section, alphabetically by
patient last name. All a family will need to do is write an update and
direct people to our website. We will do the rest. We already have one
family considering this service. Hopefully, thousands more can benefit
as we move forward.
PROBLEM #2 - Not having a one on one TBI consultant for those initial
days of confusion, chaos, and decision-making. The first few days are
so critical with TBI. As you temporarily lose your loved one, the
support of family, friends, and medical staff is overwhelming.
However, the experts in TBI (the doctors) who do incredible work, lack
the time due to their busy schedules to really spend much time with
families. They are focused on the patient (as they should be). Family
and friends, who often have more time and a high desire to help, often
lack knowledge of brain injury.
WHAT IS THE L6 FOUNDATION'S SOLUTION? It will take some time, but we
will create "The L6 Foundation Care Team." It will consist of
volunteers with brain injury knowledge and experience (ex: retired
doctors, nurses, educators, etc.). When the foundation is notified of
a new TBI, a care team volunteer will contact the family to offer help
and support (discuss options, educate on brain injury, answer
questions, etc.). They will be a resource for a family that is highly
stressed, yet still trying to make good decisions. The care volunteer
would be available by phone or email and could even visit the family
at the hospital. It will be a function of what the family needs. It's
exciting to imagine this process fully operational, automated, and
efficient and how much it could help families (our family could have
really used this service). With your help, we will provide it for
others and reduce their burdens a bit.
We thank all of you for your support and encouragement. In the tragic
TBI process, there are many services already in place, but many are
missing. We are committed to providing creative solutions to what is
currently lacking. One day, Laura's foundation will be the nationwide
leader in battling brain injury. The vision is attainable. Your
support will determine how quickly we get there. This country and
these families need this organization. Trust us, we saw it up close
with our very own eyes.
Deepest gratitude,
The Laura K. Laughlin L6 Brain Injury Foundation
www.LauraLaughlinL6.org