Programs
Oregon
TBI Lead Agency
Dept. of Education
Office of Special Education
255 Capitol St., NE
Salem, OR 97310-0203
Jay Gense
ODE Coordinator
503-378-3600, ext. 2365
503-379-5156 (Fax)
jay.gense@state.or.us
Service Delivery
Adults with TBI can access the Aging and Disabled Medicaid Waiver if they meet the eligibility requirements. Oregon provides comprehensive services to elderly persons with limitations on activities of daily living or cognition. Based on consumer choice, the services can be provided in the person's home, community based care, or a nursing home.
Comprehensive services include personal care, cognition, and behavior problems. Services are not specifically targeted to TBI though the assessment process should identify special needs related to TBI.
Find out more information on this State's services in its current profile by clicking here. [PDF 50KB]. You can also order a hardcopy of our latest "Guide to State Government Brain Injury Policies, Funding and Services" for profiles of all States and much more.
HRSA-Funded Projects
With HRSA funding through a three year Implementation Grant and two subsequent Post-Demonstration Grants, Oregon was able to initiate several initiatives to improve service delivery for individuals with TBI and their families including:
- Development of the Department of Education TBI Consulting Team.
- Implementation of the Oregon Brain Injury Resource Network (OBIRN), a State-level brain injury clearing house.
- Increased partnerships with Oregon's Independent Living Centers to extend OBIRN to local communities.
- Developed a family-advocacy training curriculum.
- Established the Oregon Brain Injury Council, a State-level coordinating group and the Governor's BI Task Force to inform State-level infrastructure decisions.
- Development and piloting of a community-based cadre in a rural Oregon community to enhance access to local support/services for individuals with TBI.
The current Post-Demonstration Grant is supporting the Curry County Cadre to become fully independent and sustainable. The grant is implementing the Cadre model in a second Oregon community that differs from the first in size, resources and proximity to services using the Curry County Cadre as mentors and to revise and expand the draft manual for the model to reflect lessons from implementation work in both communities. The handbook, "Twelve Months to Triple-A Service: Community Collaboration to Make Services Available, Accessible, and Appropriate for People with Brain Injury" is available for communities to better serve residents with brain injury. During the 2002-2003 HRSA grant period, we created and implemented a plan to improve services by bringing local agencies, organizations, and individuals together as a structured collaborative group to tackle the challenge of providing services to individuals with TBI. The handbook described that process, and will be used to implement similar strategies in various Oregon communities. It will be available on the TBI TAC Web site when complete.
Find more information on this State's project in its current grant profile.
Promising Practices
The Oregon TBI Consulting Team, funded through the Department of Education and facilitated by Teaching Research-Eugene, provides consultation and training support to local educators working with students with TBI and their families. (http://www.tr.wou.edu/tbi/team).
The Oregon Brain Injury Resource Network is a statewide I&R center established to improve access to information and services for individuals with TBI, families, and professionals. Services include: (a) telephone assistance to clarify information needs; (b) individually-tailored information searches for clients; (c) two on-line searchable databases covering a range of brain injury information and resources; and (d) a Web site with key links within Oregon and nationwide (www.tr.wou.edu/tbi/index.html).
The Family Advocacy Skills Training (FAST) curriculum was developed to assist family members and persons with TBI to be effective advocates. The manual is available through the TBI Technical Assistance Center.
