Local Sacramento Troop Support

In past blog post, I’ve written about the wonderful work of the Maine Troop Greeters out of Bangor Maine who greet all of our troops as the leave or return from the conflicts in the Middle East.  I just recently learned about a group closer to my home in the Sacramento area who are doing similar work.  They are called the Defenders of Freedom.  Their main main goals are to send support to our troops, organize care packages to mail abroad, provide resources and volunteer opportunities, and be supportive for all the troops and veterans around the world!  Here is the information from their “about us” section of their website:

Defenders of Freedom in California is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in Dallas, Texas with the purpose of raising money to support our troops who are currently deployed around the world.

Defenders of Freedom in California supports our troops in these ways:

We wish to invite mothers, fathers, friends and family members who have loved ones in the armed services to join our efforts as we support the men and women who serve our country.
If you would like to join us, please contact us.

Please visit the Defenders of Freedom website if you would like to receive more information about joining their organization or donating to their cause.

Sam’s Progress: 

Sam has been taking a drug called chlonipin which was prescribed to help with his right hand and fingers that constantly shake. This is fairly common with brain injuries.  The cholnipin did work, but it was just making Sam to sleepy to the point where his vision therapist was ready to give up on him.  You really can’t do much vision therapy when the patient has his eyes closed most of the time!  About three weeks ago, they started slowly taking Sam off the cholnipin and he has really started to perk up again.  Most notably,  his speech has improved quite a bit and he is even starting to add some inflection into his voice when he speaks.  The vision therapist has been jumping for joy because Sam is now able to really participate in his therapy and make improvements.  The decision was made by Sam’s doctor to do his vision therapy on site at the CareMaridian facility which enables the therapist to be more creative with the exercises they can use to improve Sam’s eyes.  They are also combining his physical therapy at the same time, which also enables both the physical therapist and vision therapist to work together putting Sam into various positions in the standing frame or on the therapy mat. 

There have been a couple of new patients at Sam’s CareMeridian facility in the past month.  Both are young men about Sam’s age.  Interesting, that when Erin talks to the other male patients (Sam’s room mate in particular), Sam gets very territorial.  He doesn’t say anything…but…lets just say that the roommate gets some interesting salutes from Sam when he gets to close to Erin.  

Sam and Erin wanted to say thank you to the students at Park Elementary School in Alhambra.  On Valentine’s Day, Sam received a box full of valentines day cards for the students.  He and Erin shared them with the other patients and displayed the cards in the main living room area for all to enjoy.