Two VCU departments receive grants to help people with acquired neurotrauma

Rehabilitated reckless drivers are inadvertently funding two Virginia Commonwealth University departments that help people with traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries.

The Partnership for People with Disabilities and the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation department each were awarded three-year grants from the Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative’s trust fund. The fund is financed through the $30 reinstatement fee individuals convicted of dangerous driving offenses pay to have their driver’s licenses restored. Of this fee, $25 goes to the initiative fund.

VCU’s Partnership for People with Disabilities, which operates more than 20 federal and state programs supporting individuals with disabilities and their families, received $321,388 from the fund for a pilot project that will train up to 20 brain injury specialists in positive behavior support practices and determine the effectiveness of those practices.

The VCU Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation — which provides state-of-the-art rehabilitation academics, research and patient care — received $426,949 to fund the Virginia Clubhouse Vocational Transition Program, which improves consumers’ work-related skills so they successfully can join the work force.

For more information on the initiative, visit http://www.vacni.org/.