Lisa W…..Against All Odds !
Occupation: Library Circulation Desk / Customer Service Assistant
If you happen to check out a book at the East Greenbush Library in upstate New York, you might meet Lisa W. Lisa’s life was in the realm of regular…she went to college to become a teacher, met her husband Nathan and she was working as a special education teacher…life was good!
One day in 2005, while driving to work, her life radically changed. Lisa experienced a major brain bleed…it was diagnosed as an aneurysm. It is hard to believe Lisa survived the car crash and aneurysm but she did….only to have 2 more vascular incidents that required several hospitalizations, rehabilitation both in and out patient and struggling with the lingering fatigue, brought on by traumatic brain injury. Lisa’s traumatic brain injury left her with functional limitations such as; left sided weakness, loss of short term memory, an inability to sequence or schedule her daily activities. Although she could recite the alphabet or count numbers, tell you how to make a recipe or what she needed to get when she went shopping…when she started those activities she became overwhelmed and fatigued quickly and she could not complete what used to be simple tasks. “I was just stubborn and determined to return to work, that is all there was to it, which was part of my brain injury”…so with the support of her husband, her family and her doctors an application was placed for VESID services.
Lisa met her Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, James O’Connor, and together they worked towards Lisa re-entering the world of work. “VESID was supportive and instrumental in my returning to work”, Lisa states. “I would not have known how to navigate the world of work after my multiple brain insults. In fact, the doctors told my family I would probably be a vegetable for the rest of my life….and my friends did a statistical study of people with my multiple brain insults and came up with “a chance of 1/10 of 1%...I would survive, let alone return to work!” VESID did some initial assessments on how Lisa’s traumatic brain injuries impacted on her abilities to learn, retain knowledge and assessed her career interests. It was clear Lisa would no longer be a teacher…but what could she do??
This became Lisa’s new journey….VESID purchased services from local rehabilitation community provider and based on the initial assessments Lisa clearly demonstrated her love of learning and books! VESID arranged for a situational assessment along with a job coach/employment specialist. This situational assessment provided critical information on the way Lisa’s cognitive and/or behavioral impairment interfered (or did not interfere) with Lisa’s job performance. Lisa’s situational assessment experience was invaluable and confidence building for Lisa…unfortunately; there were no job openings, at that time of the situational assessment , by the Library. However, with the rehabilitation community provider’s job coaching services, a staff employment specialist was there to follow up and remind the library’s human resource staff of Lisa’s willingness to work and strong motivation. At last, a part-time job opened up at the circulation desk…it was the perfect job! A chance to work and meet people, be part of the library community and feel productive!!
Lisa wanted everyone who read her story to understand….“I was willing to accept I had a brain injury, I mean just read my story, what I was NOT willing to accept was that it would affect my life in any tangible way. “ I had always just set my mind to do things and accomplish them through sheer hard work.” “Acceptance of my injury will take a long time and many things simply have to be relearned, and I am just thankful that most things can be relearned and together with VESID services and supports I have the opportunity to be productive and work” ! Today, Lisa continues to receive on-going job coaching services, she LOVES HER JOB, the opportunity to work and be a useful member of society.