RU COSD students pitch in to help brain injury survivors

Runners and walkers start off at RU COSD-hosted 5K

Runners and walkers burst from the starting gate at the first-ever Joggin for Your Noggin 5K, hosted by the Radford University Chapter of the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NSSLHA) on March 21 in Bisset Park.

To mark winter's turn to spring Saturday, the Radford University Chapter of the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NSSLHA) took to the Bisset Park trails for the first-ever "Joggin' For Your Noggin" 5K.

More than 60 runners and walkers joined brain injury survivors for exercise and fresh air on behalf of the Brain Injury Services of Southwest Virginia (BISSWA).

“In our clinical work, we often work with brain injury survivors and help them to restore social, communication, day-to-day living and executive planning skills after an injury,” said first-year Communication Sciences and Disorders (COSD) graduate Student Stephanie Jackson, who was a co-race organizer with Stephanie Elliott, another first-year COSD graduate student. “It is a pleasure to help them and the organization that supports them.”

"Joggin’ For Your Noggin" was part of the national Brain Injury Awareness Month campaign to elevate awareness of the research, treatment and support for the 5.3 million people who live with brain injury. Brain Injury Services of SWVA is an organization that helps local brain injury survivors and their families in Southwest Virginia. Their goal is to make a positive, measurable difference in survivors’ abilities to fulfill their service potential and optimize their reintegration into their families and communities.

“We appreciate the way students at Radford University and the NSSLHA chapter at RU are helping,” said Mae Johnson, BISSWA Director of Development. “The campus and community is a tremendous support.”

Pacing the RU contingent of athletes in the race was Gina DiVirgilio, a first-year graduate student. The overall race winner was Blacksburg’s Taylor Jennings.

“Brain Injury Services of Southwest Virginia is a very special organization that supports many of the individuals we have had the pleasure of serving in our own Radford University Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic,” said COSD Director Diane Millar. "We hope that this will become an annual event.”

Mar 24, 2015