Educational Conference - October 30-31, 2009

The Annual Educational Conference will be October 30-31, 2009 at the Drury Lane Conference Center in Oak Brook. We have conference lodging rates set up for the adjacent hotels, Hilton Suites and the Hilton Garden Inn. You can visit the website, www.biail.org for additional information and registration forms. The deadline for receiving the conference lodging rate is October 8, 22009. Make your reservations soon.

Bob Love of the Chicago Bulls will be the opening presenter for this year's conference. Our keynote speakers this year include: Dr. Mark Ashley of Centre for Neuro Skills, Joseph Richert of Special Tree Rehabilitation, Dr. James Young of Rush University Medical Center, and Dr. Tina Trudel of Lakeview Healthcare Systems. This year's conference will address such topics as: Role Changes and Coping after Brain Injury, Acupuncture as an Alternative Treatment, Brain Injury Research, Current Neurorehabilitation Tools and Technology, Principles of Cognitive Rehabilitation, Aging and Brain Injury, Feasibility of Swallowing Assessments of the Brain Injury Patient, PTSD and TBI, Neuropharmacology, Functional Cognitive Treatments, Advocacy and the IEP, Sexuality after Brain Injury, and Preparing a TBI Case. Many of you may be familiar with Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Joseph Richert of Special Tree is a certified facilitator of this course, and he has adapted the course to provide it within the setting of rehabilitation.

CEUs will be awarded at this conference for Social Work, Educators and Speech Language Pathologists. CE applications will be submitted for Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy continuing education. Certificates of Attendance will also be awarded for Nurses and Other Disciplines. A CLE application will be submitted for Attorney continuing education.

Exhibitors have already begun registering for the conference and we look to have a full Exhibitor Hall again this year. I'm sure many of our Exhibitors will be sharing Halloween treats with conference attendees as well as program literature and resources. We will also be showcasing some of our own Illinois authors in the Exhibitor Hall.Please consider being an Exhibitor and/or a Sponsor at the conference. This is a great opportunity to network with others in the rehabilitation field, generate referrals, and share resources. Conference sponsorships allow us to keep costs to a minimum for consumers and family members to attend. Please show your support of the Brain Injury Association of Illinois by becoming a sponsor.

Equip for Equality will be manning a Voter's Registration table this year during the conference. It is important that we all be registered to vote and make the voice of brain injury strong in local government, Springfield and Washington DC. We have a variety of research opportunities that will be available at the Research table this year. Please be sure to stop by and see if there is something you may be able to participate in.

The Pool session is making a return to the conference this year due to the generosity of Diana Nawrocki! This session requires pre-registration, and the size is limited to 12 participants. The session will be 10:30am - 12noon on Friday. Please register as soon as possible. Participants must be able to transfer in and out of the pool independently. Appropriate swimwear is required, and you must bring your own towel. Our pool session will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn pool. There is a restroom/room to change in near the pool for those of you who aren't staying at the Hilton Garden Inn. Swimmers will be picked up at the front entrance of the Drury Lane and transported to and from the Garden Inn.

In the Resource and Relaxation Room, we will be showing a selection of films during the conference. Of course, we will be showing our new version of "You Are Not Alone" and our initial set of Brain Injury Education films. We will also be showing the HBO presentations "Coma" and "Smashed", as well as the Brain Fit program. These will be running throughout the day on Friday so that people can drop in and watch all of them or portions of the films.The BIA of Illinois will also have merchandise to purchase in the Exhibitor Hall. We are currently working to be able to provide additional audio recordings of the conference. Last year, we recorded the keynote presentations. This year we are hoping to record the breakout sessions as well.

We will have a fun time at the conference this year listening to the speakers, visiting the exhibitor booths, and checking out the resource/relaxation center......as well as celebrating Halloween during the "Fall Harvest" dinner and awards on Friday night. This is a dinner you won't want to miss. Dinner attendees (and you must be present to win) will be eligible to win a 2010 conference package (including 2 night hotel stay and conference registration for two) and an iPod Nano. In addition, those attendees who are dressed in costume at the dinner will be eligible to win a Wii System and other prizes. There will be time for those of you who need to change in to your costume during the dinner...just in case you don't want to arrive for the dinner in your costume.

The conference will also be the setting for the Brain Injury Association of Illinois to highlight new educational films being developed for the www.braininjurytoolbox.com multi-media website. We will also be filming at the conference for the next set of films to be included on the site. We have been partnering with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago who was awarded a TBI Model System Grant from NIDRR (National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. This grant has allowed us to develop and expand our educational film series, as well as address new program development. Information about the Midwest Regional TBI Model System will be available at the conference.