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Northeast Center for Special Care Honored by NYSHFA for Innovative Practice

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Lake Katrine, NY, May 21, 2007 -- Northeast Center for Special Care is pleased to announce that our Fine and Performing Arts Program has been chosen by the New York State Health Facilities Association’s Clinical and Quality Services Committee to receive a 2007 Innovative Practices Award. The award honors our Program, and recognizes the work of our staff and of our Resident-Neighbors. The Fine and Performing Arts Program is designed to advance recovery from brain injury, spinal cord injury, and ventilator dependency, through active engagement of our Resident-Neighbors in the creation of art - a process that enhances, edifies, liberates, and challenges our Resident-Neighbors to become artists.

The creative products of the Northeast Center’s Fine and Performing Arts person-centered program have been featured in exhibitions around the country, as well as in national media. At the Center, our Resident-Neighbors are also seen as latent artists, writers, musicians, and performers. While some of our Resident-Neighbors may have painted, sculpted, written, made music, or performed prior to their injury, many have discovered their talents during their recovery and rehabilitation at the Northeast Center. The skills and perspective, the confidence and self-direction they develop as working artists, writers, and musicians in a studio environment help each of them to regain possession of their lives and achieve their personal goals of social reintegration and life in the community after brain injury, each on their own terms.

Anthony Salerno, Northeast Center for Special Care founder said: “We are proud of the achievement of our Resident-Neighbors and of the contribution of the Northeast Center for Special Care to the efforts of individuals with differing abilities to break the cycle of institutional dependence and return to the community.”

The Art Studio, as well as the environments throughout the Northeast Center are filled with powerful and meaningful artistic creations, personal statements that challenge our perceptions and understanding of not only the artists but also of ourselves. Live individual and group music are heard; sculptures and paintings surprise and harass our sensibilities and our complacency; poets, writers, and performers work at their crafts, revealing themselves, and accosting our societal concepts of ability and its correlates.

For our Resident-Neighbors the creation of art - be it plastic, or linguistic, be it static or performance-based - is also a form of self-advocacy. Whether it is quiet or assertive, obscure or obvious, this art is always personal. At Northeast Center, art is also understood to be advocacy. Whether it is a gentle revelation or a ferocious declaration, whether it is the re-discovery of an old voice or the shout of a new one, whether beautiful or angry, it is almost always a compelling statement of self-advocacy.

We are proud of the many awards and international recognition Northeast Center and our staff have received since our opening in 1999, and we are honored that the NYSHFA Clinical and Quality Services Committee has recognized the work of our remarkable staff to help enable the recovery, rehabilitation, and community re-entry of our Resident-Neighbors. Since our inception, with the work of our first studio art mentor, artist Bill Richards, we have sought to advance the recognition of the role of the arts in healthcare. We are most appreciative that our efforts to continually improve and expand upon our art programs have been recognized through this prestigious award and we are grateful that our peers in the rehabilitation profession appreciate the impact that art can have on the quality of service to our Resident-Neighbors.

Mr. Salerno also noted: “Our Fine and Performing Arts Programs play an important role in the recovery, rehabilitation, and community reintegration of the people we serve.”

The award will be presented on June 1, 2007 at the New York State Health Facilities Association Annual Convention in Saratoga Springs, NY. Northeast Center’s submission to the award competition was entitled: “Transforming Culture and Community: Rehabilitation and Psychosocial Well-Being Through the Arts”. Accepting the award on behalf of the Northeast Center for Special Care will be the leaders of the Northeast Center for Special Care Fine and Performing Arts Program: Susan Togut, MFA, Art Director, Carolyn Corbett, MFA, Language Arts and Poetry Director, Peter Bass, MFA, Music Performance and Rick Soshensky, MA, CMT, NRMT, Music Therapist. A moving power point presentation by our Fine and Performing Arts team will be presented to the attendees of NYSHFA’s convention and will give a glimpse into the vibrant and inspiring arts community thriving at the Northeast Center.”

 

Images (click on thumbnails for larger image):

   

Media contact: Northeast Center for Special Care, Beth Faichney, Media and Public Relations Director 845-336-3500

Founded in 1999, Northeast Center for Special Care is a unique inpatient facility designed to serve medically complex and multiply impaired individuals with brain injury, spinal cord injury, neurobehavioral disorders, ventilator and respiratory care needs and other complex medical needs. Advanced professional skills and innovative therapies are coupled with an unwavering belief in the potential of every individual to progress. It is this belief that drives our commitment to help those recovering at Northeast Center achieve the highest degree of rehabilitation possible and to reenter the community.


Fine and Performing Arts Program Video - In this video you can view Northeast Center Resident-Neighbors at creating in writing and music groups and in our Art Studio.


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