From “for Kauai”
Kaua`i’s only brain and spinal cord injury advocacy and support group announced this week that March is designated as Brain Injury Awareness Month by the National Brain Injury Association Organization.
Mayor Bernard Carvalho presented the proclamation to the group’s volunteer director Dr. Louanne Lisk, Clinical Neuropsychologist, saying, ‘Kaua`i will support the education and enlightenment of all in understanding how our island community is affected.’
KAPA‘A — March is Brain Injury Awareness Month and members of the Think BIG (Brain Injury Group) met with Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. Wednesday during its meeting at the Kapa‘a Neighborhood Center to make the announcement.
The purpose of the Brain Injury Awareness campaign during the month of March is to promote public awareness of the extent, causes, consequences, treatment and prevention of brain injury, states a mayoral proclamation presented by Carvalho.
“We extend a warm aloha and mahalo to the Think BIG organization for its advocacy, education and research in helping to bring hope and healing to millions of individuals living with brain injury, their families and the professionals who serve them,” Carvalho said.
Citing facts from the Brain Injury Association of America, 1.7 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury each year, a contributing factor in a third of all injury-related deaths in the United States.
LIHU‘E — Laura Mission never misses the opportunity to get into the water. Mission has been fighting debilitating brain tumors since the first ones were found and removed in 1995, when she was just a teenager. As she continues to fight her condition, Mission has become increasingly immobile and confined to a wheelchair.
For Laura Mission and others like her, access to the water with trained watermen all around allows them to swim, surf, socialize, and enjoy the beach each month through Kaua‘i Ocean Recreation Experience.
Kurt Leong, a Hanalei firefighter, and Suzie Woolway, a speech therapist who is transitioning from ‘Ohana Sports Medicine to ‘Ohana Home Healthcare, came together when they each saw the need for a program of this type, but found nothing available for Kaua‘i. So they joined together to form KORE under the umbrella of the YMCA in 2009.
Three of our most loyal participants will be MIA on our next Beach Day on January 21st. Because of the generosity of one of our Donors, KORE was able to fly Javy and Doris Williams; Ryder and Debbie Saindon, and Joshua and Emma Iloreta to an Assistive Technology Camp on Oahu (Camp Cool). The hope is that these families will not only learn about the latest and greatest when it comes to Assistive Tech devices but also bring back valuable information to our Kauai Ohana with communication challenges.
We are blessed on Kauai that so many people donate time, energy and money to non-profits and charitable organizations but how often do you hear about a non profit donating money once the organization has met its own fundraising goals? The Kauai Lifeguard Association (KLA) did exactly that this past Fall.
The KORE Hui benefited from KLA’s generosity with a substantial grant of $3000 dollars which was presented to just a few of the KORE Hui on October 26th at the Kilohana Plantation. Please be sure to give your Aloha and Mahalos to the KLA for all they do to keep our Island Ohana and visitors safe AND support other sister organizations on Kauai.
A beautiful long article about KORE was featured in The Garden Island on 10/21/11
Once a month, when time permits, Kurt Leong, a North Shore fireman, dives into the water at Black Pot in Hanalei Bay to help physically challenged Kaua‘i residents do something he can’t live without: Get in the water.
Born and raised in Kailua, O‘ahu, Leong has always been in or around the water. Like most island residents, he grew up surfing, and it is a lifestyle he maintains to this day.
A combination of this passion for surfing and the start of a new phase in his life four years ago sparked Leong’s interest in giving back. In 2007, after working as a flight attendant for 20 years, Leong, 52, retired from Aloha Airlines. And while he is still a fireman on Kaua‘i, working as a captain at the Hanalei Fire Station, Leong found himself with more time on his hands than he knew what to do with.
“I had a lot of time off,” Leong, a Kapahi resident, said. “I was surfing every day. I thought (starting a beach day) was a great idea.”
Working with the broad idea of giving back in mind, and not much more, Leong flew to O‘ahu in 2007 to participate in a training session put on by AccessSurf, an O‘ahu-based organization dedicated to getting disabled people, who can’t on their own, back into the water. But translating what he learned on O‘ahu into an organization on Kaua‘i wasn’t so easy…