SCI: Transitioning from Hospital to Home

Recording Now Available!

Hope Talk Details

Going home after a major injury is a huge step in your recovery, but it is just the first step.

Is your house accessible? Do you have a van to bring you home? Do you have the care you need?

Join us on Thursday, April 4 at 3 p.m. ET for a conversation with client Ambassador Josh Basile, Esq. from SPINALpedia.com and Kelley Simoneaux, Esq. from The Spinal Cord Injury Law Firm. They will be joined by Ed Hoey, father to Help Hope Live client, Patrick Hoey.

All three panelists will discuss what it means to be going “home” and how best to adjust to your new life. This group will talk about everything from how the hospital/rehab you’re in may help you transition, to finding the right resources to make your home suitable for your new needs. We will also discuss how these adjustments affect the entire family going forward.

About Our Panelists

Josh Basile, Esq. is a C4-5 quadriplegic, power wheelchair user, disability rights advocate, trial attorney, inventor, and proud father. He is a Help Hope Live client and Ambassador.

In 2004 at the age of 18, Josh was paralyzed below the shoulders in a beach accident. Soon after, he formed a 501(c)3 nonprofit to empower newly injured families.

Josh created the world’s largest paralysis video mentoring network through SPINALpedia.com with 29,000 videos searchable by physical functionality.

As a medical malpractice lawyer and disabilities rights advocate, Josh serves persons with disabilities both in the courtroom and through policy initiatives.

As a community leader and changemaker, Josh works tirelessly to improve the quality of life the people with disabilities and to continuously break down existing barriers to access and inclusion, independent living, transportation, employment, and web accessibility.

Kelley Brooks Simoneaux, Esq. is an attorney and disability rights advocate based in Washington, D.C. She is the founder of The Spinal Cord Injury Law Firm, PLLC, where she represents individuals following a spinal cord injury.

Kelley committed her professional life to helping those with spinal cord injuries after she became a T-12 paraplegic as a passenger in a car wreck when she was 16 years old.

When Kelley is not in the courtroom, she is fighting for greater accessibility in her community. After being denied a ride in an Uber due to her wheelchair, she began a national campaign called Wheel2Ride, focused on education and policy change in accessibility and inclusivity for rideshares also known as Transportation Network Providers (TNPs).

She also serves as the Director of Law and Advocacy for SPINALpedia.org, an online video mentoring platform for individuals with spinal cord injuries and was appointed as a delegate to the Fairfax Area Disability Services Board and the WMATA Accessibility Advisory Committee.

She is on the Board of Directors for the ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia, an independent living center serving people with disabilities in Northern Virginia, and Wheel of Happiness Foundation, a nonprofit which provides wheelchairs and medical supplies to underserved communities around the world.

Ed Hoey is a father of 4 who lives in Devon, PA with his wife Diane. Their oldest child Patrick (21) was injured in July of 2023 when he suffered a C5 SCI resulting in quadriplegia. Ed and Diane are both RNs who met while working together at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia. Ed has been the “back up” caregiver for Patrick and was very involved in the process of transitioning from Magee Hospital to home last fall. He hopes sharing what he learned from his experience will benefit others preparing for, or who have recently made the transition.