Resources

Peer Support

If you are like many people who have experienced a catastrophic injury or illness, your stay in the acute care hospital or trauma center was punctuated by the thought "Thank God, I survived!" But now the long road of rehabilitation has begun, and it is totally new territory for you. To help you through the next few steps on your journey, it might be helpful to visit with someone who has a child who experienced a similar injury or illness and has been through rehabilitation.

Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital's Peer Volunteer Program matches parents of children who have completed rehabilitation with people who are just starting the process of rehabilitation for the purpose of sharing meaningful life experiences and providing hope for the future. Adolescents who completed rehab are also available as a peer volunteer.

Peer Volunteers contribute in a number of ways, including:

• Sharing information regarding the Madonna rehabilitation experience with individuals who are considering admission to Madonna, and/or their family members. They can answer questions about their day to day experiences from the perspective of the patient and/or family member.
• Visiting individually with a patient and/or family member while they are an inpatient or outpatient at Madonna. Specially trained Peer Volunteers listen to your concerns, share their experiences, and provide encouragement and support.

Parent Night

The Alexis Verzal Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital hosts a Parent Night twice a month, ran by a mother whose child has been through rehab, for members from the community as well as families currently in rehab. Parent Night offers comfort and socialization, along with education and insight for parents of children with acquired injuries. Please see your social worker for the date and time of Parent Night.

External Resources

The following are links to various websites with information for children, adolescents and their family members following a disabling injury or illness.

• Augmentative and alternative communication intervention in children with traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury

  by Susan Fager, Ph.D. CCC-SLP and Collen Spellman, OT
  Published in the Journal of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine.

• Child Car Safety Seats

• Safe Kids Lincoln Safe Kids Lincoln-Lancaster County is a coalition, including Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, that promotes child passenger safety, child pedestrian and bicycle safety, sports injury prevention, fire and burn prevention, water safety and home safety.

• www.hemikids.org Children with Hemiplegia - an email support group for parents

• www.childrensdisabilities.info Articles and resources empowering parents of children with disabilities and special needs

• www.chasa.org Children's Hemiplegia and stroke support

• www.biausa.org Brain Injury Association of America - information about brain injury, resources, and a variety of other topics such as driving, family dynamics, etc

• www.lapublishing.com Publications on brain injury in children and adolescents

• www.caregiver.org Information for family members

• www.ems-c.org Emergency medical services for children

• www.spinalcord.org Information about spinal cord injury

• www.atp.ne.gov Information about assistive technology in Nebraska

• www.at4all.com Free on-line service to list and find equipment in Nebraska

• www.ndss.org National Down Syndrome Society

• www.nationalautismassociation.org Information and resources for children with autism

• www.answers4families.org Provides information, education and support for Nebraskans with special needs and their families

• www.nrrs.ne.gov Up to date information on community agencies and organizations that provide services and resources to Nebraskans

• www.pti-nebraska.org A Nebraska state-wide resource for families of children with disabilities and special care needs