With the help of the state Department of Health’s Traumatic Brain Injury Medicaid Waiver program and All Metro Heath Care, Godwin has an apartment in Jamaica and is…
By Betsy Scheinbart
Anthony Godwin has come a long way since suffering a traumatic brain injury in 1998.
With the help of the state Department of Health’s Traumatic Brain Injury Medicaid Waiver program and All Metro Heath Care, Godwin has an apartment in Jamaica and is regaining his independence.
All Metro Health Care, based in Lynbrook, L.I., was slated to honor Godwin with an Extraordinary Achievement Award this week. He will receive a plaque and a palm pilot in recognition of his accomplishments over the past two years.
“In the shortest time, he has achieved the most,” said Rachael Figueroa, his All Metro Health Care service coordinator. “He has followed our suggestions. If it were up to him, he would be at VESID (Vocation Education for Individuals with Disabilities) right now, but I had him take his time.”
Godwin will soon enroll in the five-year educational program, where he hopes to study to become an electrician.
He already does home repairs for himself, his five sisters, and others, but he is quick to point out he has great support in his family, friends and heal care providers.
“I don’t know how I do all the things I do sometimes,” Godwin said, “but with all the support, it is easy.”
Godwin loves to watch sports and home improvement TV shows, when he is not surfing the web, playing chess or going to the library. He also keeps a positive outlook on his life.
“You’ve got to have humor,” Godwin said. “It is better to smile than to be sad, so I’d rather smile.”
Godwin, who spent the first 38 years of his life in Brooklyn, was working as a sales manager in a furniture store at the time of his injury.
After selling a bunk bed to a customer in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Godwin went to the woman’s house to help her assemble it. As he was leaving her apartment, he was assaulted in the hallway of the building by a man weilding a blunt instrument.
Godwin remained in a coma for five days and when he woke up, he was unable to move the left side of his body and suffered short-term memory loss.
The man who attacked Godwin was later apprehended by police for another crime, but the witness to the assault on Godwin did not show up in court, so the assailant did not serve time for that crime, Godwin said.
He spent a few months in Brookdale Hospital and then Jamaica Hospital before he was transferred to a nursing home.
Godwin spent six months in a wheelchair, undergoing physical therapy until he was able to walk with a cane. Once he could walk without assistance, he was discharged from the nursing home.
He spends much of his time taking workshops and participating in support groups at the International Center for the Disabled and Figueroa sometimes helps him with day-to-day things.
“She coordinates everything for me to help me achieve my goals,” Godwin said of Figueroa.
He also has a home and community staff member, Corlette Mohammed, who keeps an eye on Godwin. He still has some trouble with his left leg and wears a brace, but Figueroa predicted that in four to five years, Godwin would be totally on his own.
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300 Ext. 138.
