The road to recovery for traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors is challenging. Perhaps no one understands this challenge better than Mike (an engineering manager in Findlay, Ohio) and Jackie Moore.
The Moores’ experience with TBI began in June 2011 when Jackie was involved in a multivehicle accident while she was stopped for a school bus. After their experience, the Moores opened the Traumatic Brain Injury Resource Center (TBIRC) for TBI survivors and others with neurocognitive deficiencies, their caregivers and families. Although life for survivors and their families may not return to normal, the TBIRC is rooted in the conviction that a better life after a brain injury is possible.
Image: Mike and Jackie Moore, with Bob Woodruff (at right).
Since opening the TBIRC in April 2015, the Moores have expanded the facility and gained some noteworthy friends along the way, including Bob and Lee Woodruff of The Bob Woodruff Foundation. Both Bob – who sustained a TBI while reporting on the transfer of power between U.S. and Iraqi security forces for ABC’s “World News Tonight” in 2006 – and Lee, his wife and caregiver during his recovery, have attended TBIRC events.
With the support of the Woodruffs and many others, the facility has grown in size and scope since its opening. After multiple expansions, it’s now 5,000 square-feet and houses an ADA-compliant kitchen. It is a focal point where survivors learn about the impact of proper nutrition during recovery.
More important to Mike and Jackie has been the program expansion that the TBIRC offers. As one of the only facilities of its kind, every month the TBIRC assists hundreds of survivors, family members and health care professionals through programs that range from speech and memory support to occupational therapy, socialization, education and more.
TBIRC is a nonprofit organization. To learn more about it, visit: https://tbirc.org
Traumatic brain injuries are one of the main causes of death and disability in children and young adults in the United States. An estimated 1.5 million Americans suffer a traumatic brain injury every year. About 230,000 recover after a stay in the hospital. FST employee Mike Moore and his wife Jackie have founded an organization that provides help to the injured.
