Fran and Greg Rooker established Brain Injury Services of SWVA, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, in 2000 with financial support from The Jason Foundation. The Rookers lost their 11-year-old son, Jason, to an acquired brain injury. They experienced first hand the devastating effects of the lack of services for brain injury survivors in Southwest Virginia.

While providing information, referral, funding, and advocacy through The Jason Foundation, it became apparent to the Rookers that the families they were encountering desperately needed professional coordination of services to maximize recovery opportunities.

The Rookers' search for service providers led them to discover a successful model established by a group of families of survivors of brain injury in Northern Virginia. This discovery convinced them that a similar effort could be successful in Southwest Virginia. In July of 2001, this new organization, Brain Injury Services of SWVA, began addressing the unmet needs of survivors in Roanoke and the New River Valley.

Due to modern medical technology, many more people are surviving brain injuries that result from auto accidents, falls, sports injuries. assaults, and other causes than would have survived twenty years ago. The Rookers’ efforts to maximize recovery from this complex disability and provide the specialized services that Southwest Virginia lacked is what enabled Brain Injury Services of SWVA to be born.

Today, our service area covers 13,000 square miles in 27 counties of Southside and Southwest Virginia, with our central office located in Roanoke.  To inquire about services, call our main office at 540-344-1200 or toll-free at 866-720-1008, or email us at info@bisswva.org