NorCal SCI completes in-service presentations at hospitals in Greater Sacramento, Vallejo

This past week represented a busy week of traveling around Northern California for NorCal SCI’s co-founder, Franklin, who teamed up with a couple of colleagues to visit Shriners Hospital in Sacramento, Sutter Rehabilitation Institute in Roseville and Kaiser’s Rehabilitation Center in Vallejo, presenting to over 70 therapists, nurses, social workers, case managers and physicians the various service and programs we offer that could better support their incredible work with the spinal cord injury population at their respective facilities.

Shriners Hospital, Sacramento

“My day began when I met up with Char Vine, who works tirelessly to represent us in the greater Sacramento area, at Shriners Hospital,” said Franklin. Erica Daharsh, a Social Worker at Shriners, had set up our presentation and greeted us warmly as she helped us get set up. Shriners is a children’s hospital and handles the rehabilitation part of that population’s spinal cord injuries. They receive between 10-30 cases per year from throughout Northern California and beyond. They work collaboratively with the UC Davis Hospital, located across the street, on care of patients with SCI. There were about 15 attendees from both Shriners and UC Davis at our hour-long presentation and the staff left armed with more knowledge about our programs.

Sutter Rehabilitation Institute, Roseville

“Next, Char hopped into my van and we drove over to Roseville to meet with the folks at Sutter,” continued Franklin. This was our second year in a row that Pat Blair, Executive for Rehabilitation Services, invited us over for a presentation to a group of 10 members of the staff that works with the SCI patients there. There was a great deal of enthusiasm for the information we shared. The facility also hosts the monthly SCI support group meetings, so they’re a big supporter of the SCI community there. We also had a chance to chat with Pat extensively after our presentation and shared some of the future programs we’re working on which he fully supported.

“Following a dinner with Char, I drove back home and despite it being a long day of driving, I felt so energized knowing that Char and I were able to touch more healthcare professionals who could hopefully tell about our programs and services to those members of the SCI community they come in contact with,” concluded Franklin.

Two days later, we had a much-anticipated presentation at Kaiser in Vallejo. “I was joined by our Board member, Arash Bayatmakou who did his rehab at Kaiser following his cervical injury in 2012,” explained Franklin. The meeting logistics were set up by Debbi Bowen, the Senior Staff Assistant at Kaiser. It was a large conference room and we were the featured presenters as part of their Grand Rounds, a monthly gathering that usually involves a featured speaker. Debbi helped us get set up and before we knew it, there were over 40 staff members that entered the room.

Kaiser Rehabilitation Center, Vallejo

Steve Schmidt, the Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Supervisor, greeted us as he was keen to learn more about our organization. “Arash and I spent about an hour with the staff, highlighting personal experiences as well as sharing how we can help support them as they see over 140 cases of new spinal cord injuries every year, making them the second busiest rehab center in Northern California,” described Franklin. Arash spoke a bit about his experience during his stay at Kaiser but, just as importantly, how he dealt with his injury and what he learned. It was captivating to an audience that included doctors, nurses, case managers and therapists.

Following our presentation, Steve was kind enough to provide a personal tour of their rehab facilities which was quite spacious and covered multiple activities.

Overall, this was an incredible opportunity for us to forge new relationships as well as continue to expand existing ones. Our message at every facility was simple: your work is hard and we want to support you in any way we can so that the patients (and their loved ones) could have the best possible outcome following a life-altering injury. We’re grateful to the folks and the facilities for allowing us the opportunity for the face time with their staffs.