NeuLife Rehab’s Survival Guide to Black Friday

It’s coming.

The newspapers burgeoning with ads so heavy that they can be used in physical therapy.

The shoppers pushing and shoving almost as if to improve your balance.

Salespeople beckoning you to their departments, like the boy or girl in high school who kept asking you out to the point that you thought you would need cognitive or neurological therapy.

It could only be one thing: Black Friday.

Black Friday has become a staple of the forthcoming winter gift-giving holidays: Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa. It immediately follows Thanksgiving, the big eating day. You may be unsure whether to approach it on a full stomach, an empty stomach, or even whether to deal with it all.

Here are some tips from NeuLife Rehab in Mount Dora, Florida that may help you to best navigate Black Friday.

• Even under the best of circumstances, the holiday season is stressful. It is even more so when an individual has sustained a catastrophic injury or even a mild brain injury. Why? Well, a brain injury or some other kind of catastrophic injury may have occurred that hampers mobility, the ability to see, speak or hear, cognition or some other element of independence that an individual had enjoyed prior to the catastrophic injury.
• Shopping is a major cause of stress that compounds the generalized holiday season stress. If a NeuLife Rehab Client has progressed to that level of independence so as to go shopping on Black Friday he or she must be prepared to deal with traffic and parking. Presumably, our Client would be accompanied by a friend or relative, but everyone in the shopping process has to be aware of as something as basic, time-consuming, and as frustrating as finding a parking space. Be prepared. You are not responsible for it. It is the way it is.
• Leave early and get to the store or mall early before it gets busy, the lines get long, the pushing gets harder, and tempers get short. Remember that an integral part of the innovative post-acute rehabilitation at NeuLife Rehab, and even in is supported independent living emphasize ample rest and proper nutrition. Don’t abandon those necessities. Go to bed early the night before the shopping foray to ensure adequate rest because you will be arising early in the morning to avoid crowds. If you are still full from Thanksgiving dinner, bring something to eat and to drink later that is healthful and consistent with your usual diet.
• Plan ahead as to how much you are willing to spend. It is nice to be nice, but not if debt-regrets plague you for the rest of the year. Think about yourself now, if never before. As NeuLife Rehab sees it, our Client’s rehabilitation from a catastrophic injury and his or her attainment of independence to the greatest degree possible consistent with physical and mental capabilities is a great deal more important than an expensive gift for a friend or relative. The friend or relative will appreciate the Neu you more than an tangible gift.
• If you are going to shop, check the ads before Black Friday. The reality is that the advertised deals may not be deals at all. It probably isn’t worth saving $10 on a $100 item if it means a 3-hour shopping trip and dealing with crowds. The analysis may be different if the savings is $300 on a $1000 item.

When an individual becomes a Client of NeuLife Rehab in Mount Dora, Florida, he or she undergoes an independent functional evaluation administered by a multidisciplinary team of professionals that may consist of:

• Board Certified Neurologist
• Board Certified Behavior Analyst
• Board Certified Physiatrist
• Neuropsychologist
• Psychologist
• Board Certified Psychiatrist
• Speech Language Pathologist/Cognitive Therapist
• Physical Therapist
• Occupational Therapist
• Nurses
• Certified Rehab Counselor

From the results of the independent functional evaluation, the professionals of NeuLife Rehab formulate a Client Goal Plan. The Client Goal Plan guides the clinically relevant services delivered by NeuLife Rehab. The Client Goal Plan guides the cognitive, psychiatric, neurologic, psychological and neuropsychological therapy of the Client. The goal of NeuLife Rehab’s innovative post-acute rehabilitation is the attainment for our Clients of independence to the fullest extent that his or her physical and mental abilities permit.

NeuLife Rehab in Mount Dora, Florida consistently provides the highest standard of care in the delivery of clinically relevant services to achieve successful, sustained outcomes and exceed the expectations of all persons served.

Proper and timely post-acute rehabilitation that may determine the difference between disability and independence is what NeuLife refers to as the “platinum post-acute period” —  the crucial window following acute care that is needed to nurture the whole person to health with specialized, clinically relevant services.

NeuLife, in Mount Dora, Florida, is an accessible residential post-acute program providing specialized rehabilitation to individuals diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury
(TBI), Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), Amputations, Burns and other Catastrophic Injuries and Challenging Diagnoses.

2725 Robie Avenue

Mount Dora, Florida 32757