tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86209997535136092752024-03-13T00:46:03.698-07:00Follow Ben '09Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-29514609344119698652009-10-28T01:58:00.000-07:002009-10-29T07:58:48.987-07:00Wednesday 28th October
The Discovery Programme is now underway. This is Headway East London's new occupational programme, which I am running. Many of the projects involved are infulenced by things I saw on the Churchill Fellowship, some are directly drawn from the people and ideas I encountered there. You can read about it here.
Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-45583065617000207012009-07-13T04:08:00.000-07:002009-10-08T01:30:38.297-07:00Thursday 1st October I have to prepare a report for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, who funded my trip. I have six months to do this, but hopefully it will be done a little while before Christmas. I will post the report here, of course, but in lieu of this, and by way of some kind of closure, I will make a summary attempt:WHAT I LEARNED1) As proposed in my Starting Assumptions at the Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-79368304259834782522009-07-07T03:18:00.000-07:002009-07-13T04:08:34.175-07:00Tuesday 7th JulyI am glad to be home. Looking at the Undertakings I set out before I left, I make a list of things I did and didn't achieve.THINGS I DID DO1) I made a tour of brain injury reahbilitation programmes in the United States of America! I visited Clubhouses in Virginia. I visited Edgar Cahn in Washington DC. I visited John Corrigan and the TBI Network in Ohio. I visited the Brain InjuryBen Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-34197255770193734182009-06-23T19:53:00.001-07:002009-06-24T10:53:09.832-07:00Saturday 20th JuneBen Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-66342626668984864222009-06-23T19:38:00.000-07:002009-06-23T19:52:55.716-07:00Friday 19th JuneBen Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-1160677183592096982009-06-23T19:33:00.001-07:002014-09-26T02:06:01.111-07:00Thursday 18th June
Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-11995698973859194862009-06-23T19:24:00.001-07:002009-06-23T19:32:24.702-07:00Wednesday 17th JuneBen Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-59344626506899792282009-06-22T08:04:00.001-07:002009-07-10T03:26:56.327-07:00Tuesday 16th June.Mount Sinai Hospital is located right on Central Park, on the Upper East Side, an attractive part of the city. But the Brain Injury Research Centre operates out of the hospital's basement and, as I exit the lift I see immediately that it suffers from the same problems as the Day Program at Rusk - daylight is sparse here too. The lead researchers, Joshua and Theresa, each have a Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-14979751932930841372009-06-22T07:16:00.000-07:002014-09-26T02:12:09.053-07:00Monday 15th June
Fountain House is a large building on West 47th Street, in the Hell's Kitchen district, West of Midtown. There are five stories. Most of the work spaces are open plan. The top floor is a glass-walled addition with a mezzanine. Parts of it appear like traditional offices, others are more like the receptions spaces of a Victorian town house.
I am shown around by Maria. She hasBen Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-4473321701082152382009-06-22T07:15:00.000-07:002009-06-22T09:43:34.035-07:00Sunday 14th JuneSaturday 13th JuneFriday 12th JuneBen Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-66474562171370449982009-06-20T09:09:00.000-07:002014-09-26T02:19:26.249-07:00Monday 8th June - Thursday 11th June.
The Day Program at the Rusk Institute for Rehabilitation operates out of a group of offices on the third floor of one of the New York University buildings on 1st Avenue. They share the premises with the Institute's department of Vestibular Rehabilitation. The floor plan is a circuit, around which the small and largely windowless offices are arranged. It's Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-86038005152904534102009-06-07T18:55:00.001-07:002009-07-20T03:56:26.930-07:00Sunday 7th June.I go for a run. I buy food. I talk to my family on skype. I blog. I realise I have spent most of this week sorting out where I am staying. It has been a lot of work. I realise also that I booked too many visits in for this trip. I have only three weeks left. Tomorrow I will start a four day visit at Yehuda Ben-Yishay's Brain Injury Day Treatment Programme at the Rusk Institute forBen Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-22204275247464553492009-06-06T17:52:00.003-07:002014-09-26T02:21:11.844-07:00Saturday 6th June.
My sore throat has gone but now my nose is running. I'm awake much of the night. Donna's cat, Gulliver, stays clear of me. I pack my stuff and get a cab over to Tamara's place. I am terribly tired. She gives me tea and half a bagel. She draws me a map of local things. I give her some money and take the keys and walk over to the apartment on Lafayette. It's perfect. There is Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-77620935724058274952009-06-06T17:52:00.001-07:002009-06-07T18:36:44.266-07:00Friday 5th June.It rains all day. I visit three more places from Craig's List - all of them in the Park Slope area. Two are being sublet by Tamara. She is Serbian. She tells me about her family. She runs for the crossing when the red hand is flashing. The two places are very good. One is a room in her own flat, the other a studio on the 8th floor of a building a few streets away. It has a view ofBen Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-85060824390755557162009-06-06T17:51:00.003-07:002009-06-07T19:18:04.790-07:00Thursday 4th June.I have made a mistake. Guy's room is incredibly noisy. I sleep badly and wake up with a sore throat. I wonder if there is something I am allergic to in here. Mold or dust. I agreed to stay here until the end of next week. I gave Guy $400. I rushed into it. I wanted to find a place. I wanted this place to be OK. But it isn't. I need to be able to sleep and concentrate for my Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-60563297359105500632009-06-06T17:51:00.001-07:002009-06-07T18:36:27.419-07:00Wednesday 3rd June.Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-12216055371867769432009-06-02T20:04:00.000-07:002014-09-26T02:27:41.384-07:00
Tuesday 2nd June.
Brooklyn, New York City. By the power of Facebook I have arranged a sub-let. Guy finds me at Lula Bean, opposite his apartment building on Grand Street. It's on the fourth floor - a 'walk up'. He shows me round the apartment. There are pictures on the walls. Guy is from Arkansas originally. He used to play basketball at college. Now he has arthritis in his knee. He shows me Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-40647167701122252082009-06-02T20:03:00.002-07:002014-09-26T02:31:34.439-07:00Monday 1st June.
Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-34443186170051930692009-06-02T20:03:00.001-07:002014-09-26T02:34:53.820-07:00Sunday 31st May.
Left: turning 31. Right: I have no idea who this guy is.
Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-77707156644733725662009-06-02T20:02:00.003-07:002009-06-05T11:43:43.445-07:00Saturday 30th May.Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-57460372474654459832009-06-02T20:02:00.001-07:002009-06-05T11:43:33.365-07:00Friday 29th May.Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-44086323906544270522009-06-02T20:01:00.003-07:002009-06-04T20:46:01.540-07:00Thursday 28th May.Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-71750844871568060502009-06-02T20:01:00.001-07:002009-06-17T16:15:59.525-07:00Wednesday 27th May.I stay at the Blackwell Hotel, on campus. I go for a run. I throw a Frisbee around in the dark with some students. It is very warm. In the morning I join Leigh, another of the Case Managers, on a trip to a community project a few streets off campus: the Godman Guild, where Columbus residents can get, among other things, IT classes for $5 a throw. Leigh plans to see one of her Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-54125592519801464232009-05-29T20:07:00.000-07:002009-06-17T16:10:14.373-07:00Tuesday 26th May.Ohio State University (OSU), Columbus, Ohio. The biggest campus in the United States. Some people tell me there are 50,000 students, some say 70,000. The town is consumed, with every house for streets around being rented out to accommodate the legions. The faculty includes every subject you can imagine. The sports stadium has 90,000 seats. Apparently they get filled pretty often.Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8620999753513609275.post-86022583946581854692009-05-29T19:42:00.000-07:002009-06-01T13:45:35.286-07:00Monday 25th May.Ben Platts-Millshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05115441779919126203noreply@blogger.com0