Richland/Lexington Disabilities and Special Needs Board
Head and Spinal Cord Injuries
Richland/Lexington Disabilities and Special Needs provides services for people with traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury and similar disabilities.
Eligibility
To be eligible for these services, all four of the following requirements must be met at the time of applying for eligibility.
1. The condition is attributed to a physical impairment, including head injury, spinal cord injury or both, or a similar disability, regardless of the age of onset, but not associated with the process of a progressive degenerative illness or dementia, or a neurological disorder related to aging;
2. The condition is likely to continue indefinitely without intervention;
3. The condition results in substantial functional limitations in at least two of these life activities: self-care, receptive and expressive communication, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, economic self-sufficiency; and
4. The condition reflects the person's need for a combination and sequence of special interdisciplinary or generic care or treatment or other services which are lifelong or of extended duration and are individually planned or coordinated.
Definitions
The following definitions come from the South Carolina Code of Laws.
| Traumatic brain injury | - an insult to the skull or brain caused by an external physical force.
The injury may produce a diminished or altered state of consciousness resulting in
impairment in cognitive abilities or physical functioning, as well as behavioral and/or
emotional functioning. This does not include cerebral vascular accidents (strokes)
or aneurysms.
|
| Spinal cord injury | - an acute traumatic lesion of neural elements in the spinal canal,
resulting in any degree of deficit in sensory, motor and life functions. The deficit
may be temporary or permanent.
|
| "similar disability" | The South Carolina Code of laws does not define a similar disability, but
stipulates that a similar disability:
Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, cancer, tumors, Parkinson's Disease and other primary medical conditions DO NOT qualify as a "similar disability." |
Applying for Services
If you or your family member have a severe disability as a result of traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, or both, or a similar disability, you may apply for services by calling the HASCI Division Information and Referral at 1-866-867-3864.
If you are determined appropriate for formal consideration of eligibility, you will be referred to the nearest county Disabilities and Special Needs (DSN) board employing a special HASCI service coordinator.
You will be contacted by staff from the appropriate DSN board to begin formal eligibility determination procedures.
To determine eligibility, the service coordinator will need medical records documenting a traumatic brain and/or spinal cord injury and social information necessary to determine eligibility. You will also be required to complete a functional limitation inventory administered by a Head and Spinal Cord Injury Division (HASCI) service coordinator.
Service Available
Following is a list of some examples of the types of services offered. (Please note that available services may differ from county to county, and are based on individual needs.)
Links
Links to other websites with information on Head and Spinal
Cord Injuries.
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Date late edited: Monday, January 28, 2008