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TBI service providers look for increase in funds for first time in 13 years

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) – Hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians are living with a traumatic brain injury. '[My son] fell into a well in which there was no oxygen and was in there for 15 or 20 minutes [before he was] rescued and two weeks later came out of a coma and he had a brain injury,' Ellie Lacasse said. Lacasse's son, Ben, sustained that injury when he was eight years old. He's now 50. 'As his mother and as someone who has tried to provide this kind of a life for him, I couldn't do it by myself at home,' Lacasse said. 'No one person could do it.' Ben lives at Acadia NeuroRehab in Lancaster County. 'We are considered a post acute brain injury program, which means that we serve individuals with acquired brain injuries after they've gone through their hospital stay,' Jack Poplar, Acadia's chief innovative and advocacy officer, said. Poplar says it's difficult to offer high-quality service since there hasn't been an increase in government funding in over a decade. '13 years ago was a long time ago without any adjustment in rates,' Poplar said. 'So the challenge that we have as providers is trying to provide that high quality care at rates that we received 13 years ago.' If a person sustains a traumatic brain injury after they are born, they fall into a different funding category than someone born with a cognitive deficit. 'If you're born with a cognitive deficit, you're in the intellectual disability system,' Richard Edley, president and CEO of Rehabilitation & Community Providers Association, said. 'If something happens after birth, you're in the traumatic brain injury system and the funding is drastically different.' The lack of funding can put stress on people like Lacasse to make sure her family is in good hands. '[Ben's] the happiest person in the world,' Lacasse said. 'That would not be possible if he weren't in a situation where people understood and could accept his disabilities.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.