Warwick liaison and consultant at traumatic brain injury facility describes services

WARWICK — March is Brain Injury Awareness Month and the Brain Injury Association of America observes it by conducting an awareness campaign.
This year's campaign theme is "Not Alone" and the object of the program is to educate the general public about the incidence of brain injury and the needs of people with brain injuries and their families.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as intracranial injury, occurs when an external force injures the brain. An injury to the temporal lobe can affect memory and understanding of language as well as sense of space and touch, visual perceptions, balance and coordination.
Daniel V. Schiavo, MS, CTRS, a longtime Warwick resident, is an expert on the subject. He majored in therapeutic recreation with a minor in psychology and later earned his Masters of Science in recreation management at SUNY Cortland.
Schiavo currently serves as community liaison and Therapeutic Recreation Consultant at Beacon Place, a facility in Highland Mills that provides services for people with Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), including strokes.
The facility, which serves the Hudson Valley, is the only one of its kind offering a structured day program for patients in Orange County including anyone living in Warwick.
"When this opportunity came along," Schiavo said, "I jumped on the challenge and excitement of this position after meeting some of the terrific people I would be working with. I'm very thrilled and eager to help the people of Warwick. I'm definitely familiar with all the vast resources this area has to offer and I've always enjoyed linking the community to the agency I work for and connecting it to the broader community at large."
Beacon Place is currently working with SUNY Orange and the Galleria Mall to offer a series of events on traumatic brain injury prevention.
This Monday, March 6, Beacon Place, Brain Injury Association of New York State, Talking Brains Initiative, Inc., BRIDGES Program, Middletown Park Manor, Beautiful People and Orange County Community College have joined together to present a Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke Prevention event at Orange County Community College Kaplan Hall in Newburgh.
For additional information, call Schiavo at 987-0104, visit www.beaconplace.net or the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/beaconplacellc.
- Roger Gavan