Category Archives: TBI

Feeney Facts Plain and Simple

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It is  amazing how stone cold facts sometimes get a bit foggy,  or so some would hope. So, I thought I’d lift the fog a bit.

Fact: Timothy J. Feeney continues to say he has a valid PhD and a valid Masters Degree when he doesn’t.

Fact: The Southern Tier Independence Center in Binghamton New York may well get the contract from the New York State Department of Health to be the Statewide Neurobehavioral Project for New York’s Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver.

Fact: All indications are Southern Tier has every intention of giving the work, once again because they did it before, to Feeney and his team. 

Fact: The New York State Department of Health and the Southern Tier Independence Center are fully aware of  Feeney’s bogus degrees and both parties have received communication from brain injury survivors, family members and, in some cases, providers, asking to be protected from having Feeney and his company in their lives. Some providers have said they will stop providing services if Feeney returns.

Fact: If the Southern Tier Independence Center gets the contract and gives work to Feeney and the state doesn’t step up and stop this from happening that means that the Southern Tier Independence Center and the NY State DOH are okay with a dishonest and unqualified individual impacting the lives of the 2700 or so brain injury survivors on the waiver, their families, and the dozens of honorable healthcare providers trying to provide waiver services.

Fact: If the last Fact were to happen, it would mean Southern Tier and the State are not putting the survivors, their families, and the providers first.  And, by the way, it would mean both parties are sticking  it to the taxpayers because it is taxpayer dollars that would foot the bill, and taxpayers deserve honesty too.

Fact: The Kahrmann Advocacy Coalition, whose membership will soon be larger than that of the prestigious Brain Injury Association of NY State, is paying close attention, which is fairly relevant since the coalition was founded by brain injury survivors and their loved ones, they very people all the aforementioned parties say they care about.

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Belvedere Says No to Survivors’ Coalition

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I’d like to say I’m  surprised that the Belvedere Brain Injury Program owned by John Mccooey will not let the Kahrmann Advocacy Coalition, founded by brain injury survivors, the very people Belvedere claims to serve, meet with fellow survivors in the Belvedere program, but this has always been an honest blog and I see no reason to change that.

Of course, preventing a coalition founded by those you claim to care about from meeting with survivors who participate in your program is a red flag if ever there was one. But I am not surprised. I worked for and with Belvedere for quite some time. I actually interviewed with them on 9/11. At first it was a troubled provider but it appeared as if owner John Mccooey truly wanted to develop the best possible services for the brain injury survivors in the program and it actually became a really good program, until, that is, Belvedere opened a substance abuse component. When that happened, everything changed.

Michael Loiselle who headed up and, to my knowledge, still heads up the substance abuse program, was about as dictatorial as one can be. More than once I heard him inflict one of his favorite expressions, “Too bad, so sad,” on a survivor who was talking about some tough time they were having. Moreover, Mccooey, then and now supports Loiselle even though Loiselle and the entire substance abuse program dictates to survivors what workshops they will or won’t attend. Never mind that the TBI Waiver, governed by the New York State Department of Health demands that the program be driven by the survivors. Loiselle and Mccooey couldn’t get me out fast enough. In fact, I once lightly touched Loiselle’s shoulder while talking with him and like a whiny little boy he ran to upper management and charge me with workplace harassment because I touched him. Not surprisingly, an investigation determined that he was, well, wrong.

As for John Mccooey, I’d call him a wolf in sheep’s clothing but I happen to like wolves and see no reason to insult them by dragging them down into the filth.

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The Scum Among Us

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Watching the plethora of lying and and stain of arrogance, deceit and greed  in the testimony today of Goldman Sachs financial executives (the latter term becoming a synonym for scum) is a sharp reminder to me that there are those among us who don’t care about their fellow human beings and will go to any lengths to convince you they do.

I watched people today and know specific people in the field of New York’s Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver without conscience who profess to have conscience, those who don’t care about the value of human life who profess to care about the value of human life. They are an insult to humanity as a whole. They are also an insult to those who honorably provide waiver services with their heart and soul. I would call on the latter to expose the former.

Like the financial executives referenced above, the scum of the waiver providers deserve to be exposed, criminally charged whenever possible, and jailed.

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Thoughts on New York TBI Waiver

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One of the primary challenges faced by New York State’s Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver is a lack of understanding of the brain exhibited by the majority of those provider services to those of us who live with brain injury and by those saddled with designing and implementing the waiver in the first place. There are also those who provide services to those of us who live with brain injuries whose sole purpose is to keep us dependent on them so they can rake in the dough.

The waiver is a Medicaid program that began in 1995 that pays for services designed to keep people living in the community. It’s stated purpose is both honorable and needed. However, its design and implementation  has its problems. It is reasonable to expect this with  any relatively new program but the waiver is fifteen years old now and should be in better shape than it is. For example,  providers ought to receive reimbursement for staff training directly related to brain injury. Right now this kind of staff training puts an unfair strain on provider coiffures.

It must be acknowledged at the outset of this missive that there is much that is positive about the waiver, primarily the fact that its very existence afford some who live with brain injuries to live in the community as opposed to be warehoused in institutions. The problem though is that a number of those who provide services under the waiver make choices that appear to be more driven by the desire to keep someone on the waiver rather than help them reach their maximum level of independence. In other words, an unhealthy form or profit motive coupled, in some cases by the dysfunctional and cruel desire to control others, defeats the very purpose of the waiver in the first place, and in some specific cases, ought to result in criminal charges given that  indentured servitude (and slavery) is against the law.

It seems to me that the way to approach the challenge of improving the state’s waiver is to not come into the process pointing fingers. You come into the process steadfast and tenacious in your commitment to get the bow of the ship, so to speak, headed in the right direction. There are many on all fronts: advocacy, family, survivors, department of health officials, a providers who are committee to doing the right thing. They must be joined in their commitment to this. However, the must be equally joined in exposing any person, process, agency or official who is part of the problem.

Those who are part of the problem need to be exposed and dealt with.

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Living With A Brain Injury – April 2010

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No brain injury is the same no matter its cause and a brain injury is never a static thing. It’s role in your life changes and shifts for a range of reasons. It is one experience when you are rested and, in all likelihood, another experience when you are tired. In a state of fatigue the brain is not as able to compensate for the damage. Aging too impacts the role the injury plays.

As one who lives with a brain injury my responsibility  is to keep an eye on its role in my life and do my best to manage it. My injury is a result of being held up and shot in the head in 1984. There is one immoveable truth that stands tall in the face of this or any disability or disease for that matter. They d0 not define who we are unless we allow them too and the most certainly do not define our value in life.

My closest friend, Michael Sulsona, lost his legs in Vietnam and another good friend of mine, Jim Cesario, suffered a spinal cord injury. Both men use wheelchairs. Both also deal with people talking to them in very loud voices because for some odd reason people think if you use a wheelchair you’ve suffered hearing loss. Go figure. Both men, by the way, stand way taller in life than most people I know.

No matter the wounds of life,  you are not gone.

It seems to me one of the keys to improving quality of life is acceptance, your capacity to accept the reality that is you. This requires honesty. For me, I’ve accepted I am an alcoholic (I will be eight years sober this July 12) and I have accepted that a brain injury and PTSD are present in my life. By accepting the realities you face for what they are, you stay right sized and by keeping them right sized you do not lose you in the process.  That to me is the greatest discovery of all. No matter the wounds of life,  you are not gone.

There are still days my fear and anxiety stop me from getting out of the house, or drive me out of my backyard and back into the house, but even so, I am more than okay. On those days I am by no means a defeated being. I am surrounded by books and the house is filled with music and, of course, the bird feeders are filled with wondrous visitors.

Your most powerful weapon

No matter what you are facing in life, you are not gone. I can tell you too that honesty, which is the core fuel for one’s capacity to accept, is your most powerful weapon.

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