Brain Injury Connector

This is Bryan Pugh. Brain Injury Connectors is my chance to talk with individuals with brain injuries, family members, healthcare providers, policy makers and other members of the brain injury community making an impact on their community, their state, their country, and beyond. We will hear their stories. Learn what inspires their lives and work. Find out what they know or would like to have known. And discover what factors and individuals have been most influential on their success in the ever evolving world of brain injury and brain injury recovery.

Loraine Arikat, Brige Dumais, and Ruth Carlock - #5Thoughts Flashback: Palace, Pilot, and Program 01/27/2025

Carol Lake - #5Thoughts Flashback: Sage, Self, and Snowflakes 01/06/2025

Carol Lake - #5Thoughts Flashback: Sage, Self, and Snowflakes Carol was crossing the street when she was 18 years old (1978), and was hit by a car. She had two shattered legs, broken pelvis, fractured skull and a severe coma. She was in a coma for 14 days. In traction for her legs for 2 months, they focused on her injured legs but didn't focus on her injured brain. According to Carol, "It just wasn't done at that time." She took one semester off then started college - she could read a book but she didn't understand the words. She almost flunked out of college but slowly she taught herself how to learn again. One step at a time. She earned one bachelors degree, an MBA and MA in international business, and she never gave up. She Never Give up on Her Dreams. After college she moved to San Francisco, and the challenges of corporate America were much different than those in college. She had to figure out how to deal with her injured memory and figure out how to respond on her feet and work in a business. It took her years of struggle, but she finally started writing everything down after it happened, and that helped with her memory issues. She had been a top student in high school prior to my accident, but life was much more challenging after my brain injury. She never gave up, though, and faced and overcame each challenge as it occurred. She got married, she and her husband raised three daughters, and she worked in finance for 40 years. She is now retired and she is a part of Bridging the Gap traumatic brain injury support group for survivors, and has written an anthology of positive stories entitled (32 stories, available on Amazon). It started out as a collection of brain injury survivor stories, but she then broadened it to include other stories that would also be good for the general public. She is focusing on giving back and helping others in my retirement. "We are all here to help one another" says Carol. For more information you can visit or call the free helpline at 1-800-221-6443. Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement of treatments, individuals, or programs which appear herein. Any external links on the website are provided for the visitor’s convenience; once you click on any of these links you are leaving the BIAMD website. BIAMD has no control over and is not responsible for the nature, content, and availability of those sites. /episode/index/show/biamdpodcast/id/34438645

Al Peterlin - #5Thoughts Flashback: November, Newman, and New 12/16/2024

Meet the BIAMD: Samantha Adams - #5Thoughts Flashback: Sandy, State, and Scientist 12/03/2024

Meet the BIAMD: Samantha Adams - #5Thoughts Flashback: Sandy, State, and Scientist Samantha Adams is the Nurse Manager for The Shock Trauma's Center, State Designated, Neurotrauma Center, including Neurotrauma Critical Care and Neurotrauma Intermediate Care units, providing holistic & multidisciplinary care to patients suffering from significant traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. Through collaboration, teamwork, and patient/family engagement, patients are supported with the utmost scientific and medical technologies setting best practice standards with innovation and research. Sam has a family/personal and professional connection that has opened her eyes and her passion to serve individuals with a brain injury. She appreciates the truth that "if you met one person with a brain injury, then you have met one person with a brain injury". This conceptual injury that affects every person differently has brought her passion to support and educate our community and care providers to ensure a better understanding and ultimately better support/compassionate care for individuals living with a brain injury & their family/friends. Samantha lives in Joppa MD and when she is not working enjoys ALL OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES! She loves camping in the wilderness, kayaking, hiking, gem/mineral hunting. All music, listening, playing the piano, or drumming a beat on her kitchen table. Sam has a great love for animals – from her beautiful flock of chickens, rabbit named Keven, to a wonderful German Shepherd named Super Nova Scotia. For more information you can visit or call the free helpline at 1-800-221-6443. Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement of treatments, individuals, or programs which appear herein. Any external links on the website are provided for the visitor’s convenience; once you click on any of these links you are leaving the BIAMD website. BIAMD has no control over and is not responsible for the nature, content, and availability of those sites. /episode/index/show/biamdpodcast/id/33951052

Cody Ridenour - #5Thoughts Flashback: Herling, Health, and Halloween 11/18/2024

Amy Zellmer - #5Thoughts Flashback: Producer, Perfection, and PTSD 10/14/2024

Ethan Jeaneault - #5Thoughts Flashback: AI, Angelina, and Aristotle. 08/26/2024

Kelly Tuttle - #5Thoughts Flashback: Dolly, Durable, and Drug 08/12/2024

Lakeisha Mixon, LCSW-C - #5Thoughts Flashback: Patients, Path, and Pavese 06/10/2024

Meet the BIAMD: Maureen Scarboro - #5Thoughts Flashback: Connections, Carolyn, and Cinco de Mayo 05/27/2024

Victor Pablo Acero, PhD - #5Thoughts Flashback: Science, Seafood, and Story 04/22/2024

John Wood - #5Thoughts Flashback: Covid, Connectivity, and Combat 04/01/2024

Walter Kilcullen - #5Thoughts Flashback: Harris, Human, and Harriet 03/18/2024

Walter Kilcullen - #5Thoughts Flashback: Harris, Human, and Harriet Walter was born and raised in Kearny, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City with a population of about 60,000. He liked everything about the town and Kearny High School. The town was ethnically diverse, as was Kearny High School. He did reasonably well academically and played basketball and baseball all four years. One day a nurse came up to him and told him about a mentoring program offered by the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey. After a training session, he became Sandy’s mentor along with five others. After 20 years he is still helping Sandy, who is now 59. What does a mentor do? Mentors try to get the survivor as many benefits possible — housing, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. Walter introduces activities like handicapped horseback riding, joining a support group, finding work opportunities, etc. He always helps them set goals that include gaining as much independence as possible. He takes each of the survivors he mentors out to lunch at least once a week. When he became a mentor, he decided to learn as much as he could about brain injury. He joined a support group, read books, and subscribed to magazines. He has leaned much in the last 20 years but continue to learn. He wrote and published two books ( & ) and currently publishes a free online magazine called Stroke and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Life Magazine. (You can subscribe by emailing him at .) Over the years he has mentored many survivors. Some have died, some have moved, and some have moved on and continued their journeys on their own. Every one of them has learned to make the most of their lives with a just a little help from him. He is currently mentoring five survivors, and after 20 years he still enjoy his role as a mentor. Brain Injury Peer Visitor Association Webiste - For more information you can visit or call the free helpline at 1-800-221-6443. Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement of treatments, individuals, or programs which appear herein. Any external links on the website are provided for the visitor’s convenience; once you click on any of these links you are leaving the BIAMD website. BIAMD has no control over and is not responsible for the nature, content, and availability of those sites. /episode/index/show/biamdpodcast/id/30178618