As an occupational therapist, Jennifer Gustafson of Claremont works to heal people’s bodies. Over the years, she also discovered that she enjoys treating people’s minds as well. To that end, Gustafson explored opportunities where she could provide neurological care in addition to physical care. By chance, she was introduced to the folks at Brain Intercept in Aberdeen, and after working there for the last couple of months, feels like she has truly found her niche.
Brain Intercept was founded by Dr. Harvey Hart and Occupational Therapist Sarah Viola in late 2020. Viola said the business started as a brain health and dementia clinic that provided services and support. The concept of the clinic soon began to broaden.
“We found that people were living with many different brain changes and deficits in addition to dementia,” Viola explains. “The goal was to treat people’s neurological conditions.” She adds that to accomplish that, the founders wanted to treat people as a whole, meeting them where they are at. “We would start with the little pieces and then become wholistic,” Viola said.
For her part, Gustafson says she was long seeking to hone in on neurological care. She was (and still is) working as an occupational therapist at Marshall County Healthcare Center. Yet, Gustafson stresses that she was ready to dig deep and provide individualized services. “I always wanted to be able to provide care in people’s home, in addition to a clinical setting,” said Gustafson. Late last year, she set up her own LLC called Prairie Independence and started seeing clients. Later, through a mutual acquaintance, Gustafson and Viola met and hit it off. Gustafson joined the team at Brain Intercept in March. Though Dr. Hart is now largely retired from the business, they have three therapists on staff including Speech and Language Pathologist Tiffany Hoeft in addition to Gustafson and Viola.
Together, the women provide treatment and care for a myriad of neurological conditions. When asked what they treat, Viola and Gustafson gave a long list: cognitive changes, dementia, memory impairment, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, ADHD and more.
The course of treatment the team at Brain Intercept provides is as various as the conditions they work with. “First we identify the area of disfunction,” said Gustafson. “And then come up with a plan.” They note this might mean teaching physical exercises to a person with Parkinson’s or mental exercises to a person with dementia.
“Our goal is to set people up for success and to function better in their daily life,” said Viola. “This might mean physically rearranging a space, just making a few modifications or making a plan for a client to initiate a sequence of tasks so they can do things themselves.”
“We also work to ‘beef up the brain’ in many cases,” added Gustafson. “It’s just like strengthening a muscle. You have to work at it.”
Though the therapists acknowledge that many of the conditions they treat do not have cures, clients in their care do often improve. “We work to push the finish line out,” Gustafson said. “This might mean being more active at home, staying at home longer or helping with a transition to a different environment. We want to bring quality to life, not just existence.”
Viola says that one of her clients tell her she “has wings.” This comes after she worked with that person to keep them at home rather than enter a care facility. “People sometimes feel like they are giving up if they have to leave their home. We can work with them to make staying home possible in some cases.”
The therapists say that they may visit clients at their homes or at their office location in Aberdeen a few times or once a week. They are willing to travel far and wide, including in the Marshall County area.
After a successful care plan is initiated, they may have less frequent visits in order to help a client maintain. “I always tell my clients that my goal is ‘to teach you how to be your own therapist, so eventually you don’t need me at all,” said Viola.
Both Gustafson and Viola say that they are proud of what Brain Intercept has become. “It was a niche that needed to be filled,” said Viola. “We work to help people succeed. We always say that we focus on ‘body, mind and spirit.’” The women note that if people are concerned about a condition that they believe Brain Intercept could help with, they offer free consultations to potential clients. People don’t need to have a physician’s referral to come in, but doctors can refer patients.
“If you have any concern relating to any neurological condition, please reach out to us,” said Gustafson. “We are happy to speak to you.” Viola added, “If we can’t help, we can refer you to someone who can, but we haven’t turned anyone down yet.”
To reach out to Brain Intercept, call 605-725-8885. You can also explore their website for more informationbrainintercept. com. They are located at 223 8th Ave NW in Aberdeen.
