Rehabilitation Services – Golden Valley & Burnsville
New, innovative rehabilitation services include several functional electrical stimulation devices including FES bikes and Bioness for upper and lower extremities, biofeedback for pain management, and Interactive Metronome. Courage Center Golden Valley is the largest full service site for Courage Center and is the only site for the inpatient Transitional Rehabilitation Program described below.
Courage Center Burnsville serves mainly pediatric clients, including those with physical disabilities as well as autism and sensory issues.
2008 Rehabilitation Services Innovations
Client Navigation Assistance. A Neuro Navigator position was added in Golden Valley to act as a case manager for people with neurological conditions who are in two or more outpatient programs.
Two comprehensive neurological teams were established to better serve the needs of clients with brain injuries.
Late in 2008, a Pediatric Care Navigator was also added to act as a case manager for outpatients from birth to 18 years who receive services at our Golden Valley or Burnsville locations. Navigator services include client contact, evaluation scheduling and ongoing coordination of care with the client and family, physician and care team. This unique service gives Courage Center’s pediatric clients with complex needs a go-to person to assist them and the therapy team, improving quality outcomes and client satisfaction.
Rehabilitation Medicine Associates (RMA). Jackie Kawiecki, M.D., Courage Center’s medical director, led the team of physicians in our RMA practice. RMA physicians see outpatients at Golden Valley and now Stillwater, as well as overseeing care in the inpatient Transitional Rehabilitation Program. Mind Body Pilot Program.
Courage Center’s therapists and research department partnered with Mind Body Solutions founder Matt Sanford on a mind-body based rehabilitation curriculum. The two-part pilot study introduced mind-body techniques in the lives of 20 Courage Center therapists. Initial results show significant changes in therapist job satisfaction, reported quality of life, decreased job stress, and increased commitment to Courage Center and their professions.
VitalStim: Three speech-language therapists completed training in VitalStim, the only use of neuromuscular electrical stimulation cleared by the FDA for the treatment of dysphagia, which is difficulty in swallowing.
The Community Reintegration Program is a medically prescribed outpatient service, which helps adults with mild to moderate brain injury learn how to be safe, gain independence and improve skills which are necessary to employment.
Mental health and behavior services offer comprehensive support to clients and families, including counseling, behavior management and neuropsychological assessment. Sometimes people face both a mental health disability and a physical disability, with the mental health issues getting in the way of achieving good outcomes in rehabilitation.
Assistive technology staff are experts at designing adaptations that make work, daily activities, sports and recreation easier for people with disabilities. Assistive technology can be as simple as a wheelchair cupholder and as complex as a head controlled computer system.
Courage Center staff are experienced in working with people with disabilities.
(5,488 Clients served)
EXPENSE: $15,500,072.00
Rehabilitation Services – Stillwater & Forest Lake
Courage St. Croix in Stillwater is a state-of-the-art adult and pediatric rehabilitation center which celebrated 20 years of service in 2008. The facility includes physical, occupational and speech therapy, warm water pool therapy, and an accessible fitness and wellness center. A community advisory council meets regularly to help strengthen the connection between community needs and Courage Center's capabilities.
Courage Center Forest Lake serves pediatric and adult clients; in 2008, it expanded its clinic space to better meet the growth in clients and services.
(2,922 Clients served)
EXPENSE: $4,340,883.00
Camps/Retreats Programs
Camp Courage, near Maple Lake, Minn., provides accessible residential camp opportunities for children, teens and adults with physical disabilities and speech, hearing and language impairments. Camp Courage North is located on 105 acres of towering pines near Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota. Camp Courage North offers accessible sessions for children, teens and adults.
Courage Center Camps offer specialized programs for Paralympic sports, college preview, augmentative communication and literacy. New in 2008, a session for adults with brain injury.
Courage Center also partners with sponsor organizations to provide camp experiences for youth with Muscular Dystrophy (MD Association), asthma (American Lung Association), celiac disease (Raising our Celiac Kids), hemophilia (Hemophilia Foundation of Minnesota and the Dakotas), and Aspergers Syndrome (Autism Society of Minnesota). We also partner to provide camps for adults with Multiple Sclerosis (MS Society).
Our nationally recognized amateur Ham radio camp, run by the Handi Hams program, holds a session at Camp Courage North. Young Adult Augmentative Alternative Kommunication Kamp (YAAAKK) completed its second year. Camp developers presented outcomes results at the Minnesota Speech-Language and Hearing Association conference. The camp was featured in a cover story in the national publication Closing the Gap magazine.
(847 Clients served)
EXPENSE: $2,417,526.00
Residential Care Programs, General/Other
The Transitional Rehabilitation Program (TRP) serves people with spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries and strokes, as well as those with congenital disabilities such as spina bifida, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy. Our inpatient transitional rehabilitation program helps clients learn to live independently in the community. Clients can access technology, and mental health and family support.
TRP also hosts a three-week intensive Chronic Pain Rehabilitation program in which participants learn strategies to live with their pain by successfully managing it rather than being debilitated by it.
(220 Clients served)
EXPENSE: $6,585,997.00
Vocational Rehabilitation Programs, General/Other
Vocational Services at Courage Center assists people in developing a career plan based on their unique abilities, interests and limitations. The staff identifies assistive technologies needed to help the clients succeed in work or school. The program provides training to develop or strengthen computer and job-related skills and build self-esteem. Employment services assist in securing and retaining employment in a satisfying job. Vocational evaluation services increased by 11 percent in 2008; 69 clients were helped to keep and/or advance in their jobs in 2008. The average wage of those who were placed in jobs was $11.19 per hour at an average of 27.5 hours per week.
Community based programs: Independence includes having responsibility and control of the choices we make in life. Courage Center Independent Living Skills (ILS) strengthens clients skills in managing their own affairs, participating in day-to-day life in the community and making decisions that lead to self-determination. An ILS specialist meets clients in their homes and/or other locations to provide education, training and support until all goals are met. The time spent with the specialist varies from client to client, and typically decreases as personal goals are achieved. September 1, 2008 marked the 20th anniversary of the ILS program, which started with a half-time ILS specialist and two clients and has grown to a staff of 30, serving 450 clients.
Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services (ARMHS) is a rehabilitative program for persons who have a mental health diagnosis along with a physical disability and who could benefit from services to regain skills related to independent living, involvement in the community or managing their mental health. ARMHS services also can be very helpful in retaining skills that have been regained.
Drivers Assessment and Training provides assessments for clients with a disability or concerns related to illness or aging . The assessments include vision testing, reaction time screening, memory assessment, problem solving, upper and lower body strength/coordination, and cognitive processing skills. Drivers training offers behind-the-wheel instruction geared toward a persons needs and abilities.
(1,843 Clients served)
EXPENSE: $3,359,707.00
Athletic & Sports Programs, General/Other
Courage Center provides a variety of seasonal sports and recreation opportunities, classes, teams and activities in the Twin Cities metropolitan area and in Duluth, Minn.
Courage Center’s Junior Rolling Timberwolves were honored for their national championship title in Seattle in March 2008, with a proclamation and ceremony on the floor of the Minnesota House chambers in April 2008. The coed team members range in age from 13 to 18. Past members include some of the nations finest adaptive-sport college and Paralympic athletes.
In July, 2008, Courage Center Duluth received an award for both advocating and providing accessible recreation, presented at the North Country Independent Living 20th Anniversary and the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) celebration. Ben Kenyon, 17, Minnetonka, Minn., a multi-sport athlete with Courage Center, was one of 25 student athletes with a physical disability selected to attend the 2008 International Paralympic Academy, Sept. 5-11, in Beijing, China. Courage Center Sports Coordinator Mike Bauler traveled to Beijing as team leader of the USA men's wheelchair basketball team.
(530 Clients served)
EXPENSE: $1,074,925.00
Education, General/Other
Courage Center received a one-year, $150,000 grant from the B.C. Gamble and P.W. Skogmo Fund to support The Bridge to Independence. This coordinated campaign between Courage Center and the member organizations of the Minnesota Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities (MN-CCD) works to improve the lives of Minnesotans with disabilities through grassroots community organizing, policy efforts, advocacy, encouraging civic engagement and systems change.
Women of Courage funded a grant for biofeedback therapy, which allowed a Courage Center physical therapist to become professionally certified through the Biofeedback Institute of America (BCIA-C). Courage Center Golden Valley now has three physical therapists who are trained to administer biofeedback therapy for Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program and TRP clients.
Private gifts remain essential to Courage Center’s success and viability. In 2008, Courage Center received more than $16 million in individual gifts, bequests, endowments, United Way allocations and Courage Foundation investment earnings.
For the third consecutive year, Courage Center received Hennepin County's Gold Award for employee wellness and public health promotion in 2008.
In August 2008, Courage Center’s brand was freshened and strengthened, with a new logo and design introduced. The brand features a dynamic new public website, www.CourageCenter.org.
Courage Center’s 5K Your Way annual run-walk-roll pledge event drew 400 participants on Aug 2, 2008, to Courage Center Golden Valley. Corporate sponsors included Medtronic, KARE 11, WCCO AM, No Name Steaks, Potbelly Sandwich Works, POPP.com, Renewal by Andersen and In Home Personal Care.
Courage Cards celebrated its 50th anniversary. One of this seasons catalog covers features 35W bridge collapse survivor Paula Coulter, who was a client in the TRP. Berta Zimdars, a Courage Cards artist, was chosen to create an ornament representing the State of Minnesota for the White House Christmas tree in Washington, D.C.
In September 2008, Courage Center was honored by KARE TV with its 2008 Agency of Distinction award, part of its annual Eleven Who Care event. In the 25-year history of the Awards, Courage Center has had more Eleven Who Care winners - 12- than any other nonprofit agency.
Nancy Flinn, Director of Outcomes and Research, won the annual Minnesota Occupational Therapist Association (MOTA) Research Award.
Sara Sundeen, Employment Services Manager, Vocational Services, received the Job Placement and Development (JPD) Barbara McCarty Award. This award signifies excellent services and leadership in the field of job placement on behalf of people with disabilities.
EXPENSE: $1,353,221.00
Total Expenses: $34,632,331.00