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Updated: August 20, 2010; SEE UPDATES PAGE

IF ANY PAGES DON'T OPEN FULLY, JUST USE 'REFRESH

03/27/10: Migration from Trellix to FrontPage2003 completed; making adjustments now

Welcome to the main homepage for

BALES AT HOME REHAB

Recognized in the healthcare field as the first designed and developed 'structured at-home rehabilitation program' for traumatic brain injury

Honored as a 'Symbols of Caregiving' 1995

Michael W. Bales, Sr.

Master of Sciences Degree in Healthcare Administration;

Paralegal; MA/DA; CAG of Laura J. Bales

Hardin, Missouri, USA

25 Year Program Anniversary:

March 8, 1985 - March 8, 2010;

We celebrated Laura surviving 26 years post-injury

on June 8, 2010;

THE 26th ANNUAL LIFE CELEBRATION

was Saturday, June 5, 2010

Life Celebration Photos

This website is dedicated to our family, and friends, who have been here all these years to help Bales At Home Rehab become the success it has been. I couldn't have done it alone; it has been a team effort...God bless you all, Mike

OUR MOTTO: WHAT IS, IS

I WANT TO SAY TO EVERYONE THAT WE MUST REMAIN UNITED HERE IN THE USA, AS AMERICANS, TO SUPPORT ANY AND ALL ACTIONS OUR GOVERNMENT DOES TO AVENGE THOSE MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN, OF ALL NATIONALITIES, WHO PERISHED ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, AND TO PREVENT IT EVER HAPPENING AGAIN.

GOD BLESS AMERICA; GOD BLESS OUR MILITARY, AND GOD BLESS ALL THOSE WHO FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM, NO MATTER WHO OR WHERE. NEVER FORGET 9/11!!! THE WAR ON TERRORISM CONTINUES WORLDWIDE, AND IT WILL FOR A LONG TIME. SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!

We appreciate our allies, and all who supports us, in the War Against Terror.

I AM A MEMBER OF: THE AMERICAN LEGION & VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS

U.S. Army 1972-1975; AR 1975-1978

Pa & 'daughter' (explained below; scroll down)

Amber & Stacey visited 10/4/08

My two ex-semi sorta stepdaughters Stacey & Amber, & I. July 2000 Laura January 2002

Laura on the front steps of the new house, August 2000

This house is a special, medically designed house, so that Laura can live here the rest of her life regardless of any future health condition. All areas are wheelchair accessible. It has an inbuilt elevator area. Her apartment (bedroom) is designed similar to a hospital room (which also includes a sitdown shower). Designed in 1998-99. We moved into it in June 2000

NOW ON WITH A BRIEF SUMMARY OF WHO I AM, AND THE HISTORY OF BALES AT HOME REHAB..........

My name is Michael W. Bales, Sr., known as Mike. In 1985 I designed an at home rehab program for a survivor of head injury. At the time it was designed to keep her out of a nursing home, and with hopes she'd still be who she was before her head injury.

In June 1984 Laura was traumatically brain injured in an automobile accident, and was in a coma for three months. When she awoke she was like a newborn baby. Then she had 6 months of acute rehab. At that point it was believed she would not progress further. At the time she was functioning like a 2 year old child even though she was actually 21 years old. I couldn't accept she'd never progress further; so I designed an at home program to continue rehabilitation. I hired staff and brought Laura home.

I did keep Laura out of a nursing home, but she was never the same person she was before injury. She progressed to functioning like a teenager. My program designed in desperation worked well enough to bring me national recognition. I have been published in the book 'Head Injury & the Family; A Life & Living Perspective' wrote by Dr. Art Dell Orto of Boston University and Dr. Paul Powers of the Univ of Maryland. The title of our story is 'After Winter Comes The Spring'. This book is used in medical schools nationally as a textbook. Please click on the Page above in the heading bar to read our story more indepth.

I am also the former president of the Missouri Head Injury Association (1987-1988) and a board member and officer with them from 1986-1991, a former national Board of Directors member of the National Head Injury Foundation (now called: Brain Injury Association), former Red Cross County Chairman, a Symbols of Caregiving honoree for the Kansas City Metro Area in 1995, and the Missouri State Association of LPNs Member of the Year 1996. I have received many honors for what I have done, but I did it all with love and compassion, and..... honestly I accomplished it with a lot of luck. I've also been fortunate to have had the support and understanding of friends and family who have all contributed to the success we have achieved.

I never thought when I started this program it would be like it is. What is, is. And though Laura is my 'legal spouse'; she is to me like my daughter. And Laura loves me like a father (she called me PA). Being placed in the roles we were the years after her injury as she grew we became parent and child. What is, is and that is how it is, and how it always will be. No spouse, who wants a spousal relationship to continue, should ever do at home rehab. You cannot be placed in the role of being a 'parent' without becoming a parent. That is a warning I give to all.

I lost the Laura I had before accident; she will never be that person again. But the Laura after-accident is a very special person I love like my child and she now enjoys life to the fullest considering her limitations. After all these years Laura still lives at home, lives in the community, and always will. So even though Laura never became the person she was before accident again the program was still successful beyond expectations. Not successful the way I intended it to be in 1985, but successful as it was meant to be. And I give thanks to God and St Jude for that. LIFE AFTER HEAD INJURY IS NEVER THE SAME; but it is worth living.....

IN 2001 WE CHANGED STATE LAW: AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF TRYING WE FINALLY CHANGED STATE LAWS IN 2001 PERTAINING TO GUARDIANSHIP AND CONSERVATORSHIP, AND CONTINUATION OF SUCH AFTER DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE. OUR LEGISLATION IN 2001, HOUSE BILL 454 WAS SIGNED BY GOVERNOR BOB HOLDEN ON JULY 2, 2001,. HB 454 PASSED THE MO LEGISLATURE AS TRULY AGREED TO AND FINALLY PASSED WITHOUT A SINGLE VOTE IN OPPOSITION. I THANK REP RALPH MONACO, FORMER REP RODGER FITZWATER, SEN JAMES MATHEWSON, THE MO BAR ASSOCIATION, AND ALL WHO WORKED ON OUR BILL.......

NOTE: Please check out the other pages for photographs; to read our monthly newsletter, to read our story published in the book Head Injury & The Family, for special announcements & events, and to learn more about us.

The Year In Review 2000 gives a thorough program history of what we did in the past, explains day to day operations, and mentions family members, friends, doctors, acquaintances, etc; it is a complete history of the program and a complete report on our lives.

And please click on the links to your left to visit other websites.

Thanks for visiting our site........ enjoy life, Mike