Sault brain injury support group seeks help

Treatment and support for those with brain injuries is hard enough to find in the Sault, and now a group dedicated to helping brain injury survivors is itself in need of help.

Brain Injury Association Sault Ste. Marie & District will be holding a bowling fundraiser from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, June 29 at Northcrest Bowling Lanes.

$25 will get attendees two bowling games, shoe rental, pizza and refreshments.

A silent auction will also be held at the event.

All funds raised will go to Brain Injury Association Sault Ste. Marie & District programs and hopefully a bricks and mortar office for the group one day.

The Association strives to reduce the impact of brain injuries within the community through education, awareness and support of the survivors and caregivers.

“We do get donations, but in order for us to have an office and do what we need to do, we need about $2,000 a month. It’s nothing astronomical. It’s just enough,” said Chantal Scopacasa, Brain Injury Association Sault Ste. Marie & District executive board administrator and peer support coordinator.

“Currently the only government funded brain injury treatment in the Sault is through the March of Dimes and the wait list is eight to 12 months. By the time they get in touch with me they're in crisis.”

“A lot of the family doctors at the hospital aren't educated in brain injury,” Scopacasa added.

Brain Injury Association Sault Ste. Marie & District receives some funding from the Ontario Brain Injury Association but not as much as communities in southern Ontario, said Scopacasa, who is the only paid employee of Brain Injury Association Sault Ste. Marie & District.

“Prior to COVID we were trying to get out to the community more because a lot of people don't even know we exist.”

“That’s a problem because we are here to support and educate. Brain injury is often a hidden disability. It impacts way more people than you’d ever think. A lot of people don’t even realize that a concussion is actually a brain injury.”

The Brain Injury Canada website states that in Canada, two per cent of the population lives with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and that there are 200,000 concussions annually in Canada. 

Scopacasa currently runs a peer support program over the phone and a monthly in-person peer support program, hoping to do that bi-weekly.

Brain Injury Association Sault Ste. Marie & District hasn’t had a bricks and mortar office in the Sault since 2017 due to high rental prices.

Scopacasa said she has had some space donated for the group to run peer support group meetings in, but would prefer to have a space open two days a week to meet and share information.

“I do most of the work out of my home. People call me or email or reach out through our website and I get back to them. If they need information I will put together a package for them and I’ll go and drop it off and speak to them at their home, or I’ll email them information.”

Scopacasa also works with a business partner at Balance Rehabilitation Centre, each of them working out of their homes to provide some brain injury rehab to the north, because most brain injury sufferers need to travel to southern Ontario clinics for care.

“Since we’re a northern city I would assume it’s more so than it would be in other places because of ATV accidents and other activities that people do here. The most common brain injury causes that I see are trip and fall or motor vehicle accidents. Motor vehicle accidents would include cars, ATVs, snowmobiles, anything with a motor,” Scopacasa said. 

She said she has seen 15 to 20 brain injury sufferers regularly since the beginning of COVID.

“If we could have some sort of small pot of money to be able to help people here that would be great, and if we could have an office with information here, we could build more connections in the community,” Scopacasa said.

She said she has been reaching out to the community for donations.

Brain Injury Association Sault Ste. Marie & District can be contacted through its website, by email or by phone at (705) 971-1050.

Meanwhile, in regards to preventing brain injuries, Scopacasa said she is encouraged to see that a number of pre-registered children will be receiving free bicycle helmets at the annual Sault Ste. Marie Helmets On Kids event to be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, June 2 at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion.

McLeish Orlando Lawyers - personal injury attorneys based in Toronto - are once again involved in that event, Scopacasa said.