Press Releases
For Immediate Release
Hank Barney FROM: Linda Anderson Smith
Public Relations Director
Champaign Residential Services, Inc.
1150 Scioto Street
Urbana, Ohio 43078
937-653-1324
lsmith@crsi-oh.com
Date: May 2010
Need for services can be quite unexpected
Life-altering accident changes a young man’s future
Lucas County: Two months after graduating from Owens Technical College near Toledo in 1981, Burnard “Hank” Barney, III dove into a pond while attending a family reunion; he broke his neck and spinal cord. Armed with an Associate’s Degree in Applied Science and having studied Farm Management, Hank was a twenty-one year old young man ready to start his farming career when life dealt him an unexpected blow. He was diagnosed as a quadriplegic, facing nearly a year in hospitals and rehabilitation centers and a much altered life ahead.
“The dive itself was a little awkward because I was trying to avoid another person in the water”, says Hank. “I didn’t hit my head on anything but as soon as I landed I heard a ‘pop’ and knew I was in trouble.”
Nearly 30 years later at the age of 50, Hank lives with his mom and dad, Burnard and Nona Barney of Swanton, Ohio. His fully-motorized wheel-chair is his constant companion, enabling him to move about his home or go outside to enjoy his yard. Limited use of his upper extremities eventually returned with the help of rehabilitation, but his legs have remained paralyzed.
His parents were his only caregivers for twenty-three years following the accident until Mrs. Barney developed health issues. “About the same time, I was lucky enough that some Waivers popped open and I qualified for assistance through the…” [Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities], he says, referring to a limited number of “Individual Options Waivers” available in the State of Ohio, and to which he is entitled in order to pay for his services.
Champaign Residential Services, Inc. (CRSI) began providing home healthcare and transportation services for Hank in 2006. His primary Direct Services Professional (DSP) is Marilyn Hall, a support specialist with CRSI since 2004. Services include homemaker/personal care such as transferring to and from bed, chair or bath; laundry; cooking; assisting with exercise routines; and transportation to and from doctor appointments, meetings, shopping and errands.
Hank is a founding member and serves as president of the Northwest Ohio Chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NWONSCIA) established in 1985. The organization held a Bowl-A-Thon “Glo Ball” event in April to raise operating money and the event netted nearly $4,000. Hank also designs, writes and publishes the NWONSCIA newsletter called Spinal Rap.
Among his many talents, Hank is a self-taught computer whiz who has created his own website called “Hanks Outdoor Journal” at www.disabilitiesoutdoors.com. The website serves as a “how to” guide to outdoor sports and provides information about available adaptive sports gear for disabled individuals. He also manages the informative Spinal Cord Association website at www.nwonscia.org for his local chapter. Both websites are quite impressive.
Individuals are not always born with any one of a variety of diagnoses that lead to the need for developmental disability services, such as accident victims like Hank; whose life-altering dive into a pond at the beginning of his young adult life changed his destiny and placed him unexpectedly in need of services to assist him with everyday living.
“Educating the community is important to me”, says Hank. “I’ve spoken to schools, groups and organizations to let them know how our lives change with these kinds of injuries.” Hank goes on to explain that he also continues to help educate caregivers at the University of Toledo Medical Center about the needs of the quadriplegic. He is able to demonstrate how to go about helping him move to and from his bed or wheelchair, how to assist with bathroom needs and how to physically provide the proper technique, “because they can’t get this kind of training from anyone other than those of us in this situation.”
At the National Forum on Disabilities in 2008, John Hannah, CRSI consumer advocate, said, “A disability is an equal opportunity that anybody, at any time, can join”; bringing home the truth about disabilities…it can happen to anyone at anytime.