EL SEGUNDO HERALD September 3, 2020 Page 3
Health
CTE and the New Me:
Two Traumatic Brain Injury
Experts Provide Keys to Survival
Traditionally, people associate traumatic
brain injury with athletes, pro-ballers, grade
school/high school/college athletes but never
construction workers, veterans, cheerleaders
or someone you may know who sustained
a major concussive accident during their
lifetime. The problem becomes exacerbated
when people don’t realize they have such a
condition or even worse, choose to ignore
that they do, which becomes the elephant
in the room.
Through CTE and the New Me, a program
created by and hosted with former
NFL player, George Visger (San Francisco
49’ers) and renowned Alzheimer’s care
practitioner/certified cognitive care manager
and founder/owner of Famiily Connect
Care, Lauren Mahakian, participants,
through this zoom Seminar platform, will
be empowered to find the “keys” to unlocking
a productive life after a traumatic
brain injury.
Visger articulates this best with, “Having
not only survived nine brain surgeries in
12 years, but thrived these last 38 years
since the 1st in 1981, I feel obligated to
pay it forward. CTE and the New Me is a
platform that allows survivors, family members
and medical providers an opportunity
to ‘pick my brain’ and learn some of the
coping mechanisms. I will share with
participant information on successful,
non-pharmaceutical treatments I’ve used;
everything from family and psychological
counseling and the impact drugs and alcohol
can have when compounded with a TBI, to
legal issues.”
As for Mahakian, who has spent over
25 years dedicated to changing lives of the
cognitive impaired and finds healing for
traumatic brain injured simply an extension
of her specialty, “I have spent my career
committed as a care manager for the memory
impaired. I have created and implemented
successful programs and always knew one
day that I would expand my approach to
those people who are affected by traumatic
brain injury.”
This new journey which will aid those
who are fearful of diagnosis or haven’t even
realized they are carrying such a health
burden and will begin its mission to tear
down walls and misconceptions and work on
the healing in this area of cognitive health
starting, Thursday, September 17, 2020 at
11: 00 AM. There will be an invaluable “Q
& A” facilitated by these experts at the end
of the seminar.
To register for CTE and the New Me
and find out more about traumatic brain
injury, please call: (310) 383-1877; or go to
FamilyConnectCare.com •
Burkley Brandlin
Swatik & Keesey LLP
AT T O R N E Y S AT L AW
Lifetime El Segundo Residents
Living Trusts/Wills, Probate, Employment Law, Personal Injury
Trust and Estates Litigation, Business Litigation, Civil Litigation
• Easy to use
• Covered by
Insurance
• HIPAA
Approved
325 Main Street
El Segundo, CA 90245
CALL FOR
APPOINTMENT
310-648-3167
Now
Offering
Your Neighborhood Therapist
TeleHealth/Online
Therapy
Sessions
310-540-6000
*AV Rated (Highest) Martindale - Hubbell / **Certified Specialist Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization
Dear Neighborhood Therapist,
It has been a hard few months for my
amazing, brilliant 10-year-old daughter
and her younger sister. Their grandfather
died of Covid-19 earlier this month. They
were very close. I also had Covid-19 and
had to isolate myself from the kids for three
weeks. Both their father and I are recently
remarried, and we share custody of the kids,
so they split time between two blended
families, and the kids do not all get along
perfectly. We have formed a bubble with
another trusted family, but they do not have
any kids close to her age, and we haven’t
seen any other friends since March. We are
also in the process of moving, so she is
starting a new school online. She has been
having meltdowns every few days, crying
uncontrollably for an hour or more. I hate
to see her this way. I would do anything I
could to take away some of her troubles. Is
there anything you can think of?
– Worried and Stuck at Home
Dear Worried and Stuck at Home,
I’m glad you wrote. We spoke by phone
together with your daughter, and we agreed
on a number of things. We agreed that all of
us, adults and kids alike, could easily find
ourselves curled into a ball and sobbing for
an hour in such a situation, and that your
daughter’s response seems entirely consistent
with its seriousness. We agreed that, wow,
you were right - your daughter has some
serious brain power, and we noted that in
addition to this brain power she possesses
a number of additional qualities and skills.
For example, you pointed out that she is so
skilled at protecting and caring for her little
sister that her sister has hardly noticed how
difficult things have been. Your daughter
agreed, taking pride in her abilities and affirming
her commitment to her sister despite
the cost to her. We agreed that this was
extraordinary courage.
We agreed that it was fortunate that she
does indeed possess so much talent, because
she’s going to continue to need it. Not even
J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter into such
tough circumstances: Harry, at least, had
friends he could see, a door he could close,
and an entire magical world he could escape
to where he was already powerful, rich and
famous. Your daughter is contending with
tremendous loss, change and isolation all
at once.
Finally, we all agreed that if your daughter
was the main character in a movie, we
would line up to see it, because there is
nothing quite as compelling as seeing a hero
face a difficult test, and circumstances have
set it up perfectly. We have seen that she is
tough. We have seen that she is clever. We
have seen that her heart is true. Together with
a strong supporting cast, your daughter has
embarked on a harrowing journey. But we can
see, and we agree, that there is good reason
to think this movie will have an ending we
will all appreciate.
Tom Andre is a Licensed Marriage &
Family Therapist (LMFT119254). Please text
to 310.776.5299 or write to tom@tomandrecounseling.
com with questions about handling
what is affecting your life, your family, the
community or the world. The information in
this column is for educational purposes only
and nothing herein should be construed as
professional advice or the formation of a
therapeutic relationship. •
Rinaldi’s Keeps
El Segundo Original
Story and Photos by Chase Maser
Laura Chen scrolls through pictures on her
phone of different meals she makes for her
husband, Bill. They’ve been married since
1991, and as she flips through photos of
cooked fish and stews, she ends on a picture
of Bill seated at their dining room table. On
his plate is a huge mound of rice, meats, and
a large smile.
“I cook Malaysian-Singaporean food. That’s
my background. Bill is Chinese-Cambodian.”
Yet, somehow, these two run an Italian deli
in the South Bay. The Original Rinaldi’s
Italian Deli Cafe is located on 323 Main
St, right across from the El Segundo Fire
department. The Chens have owned and
operated the business since 1996, but how
they came upon it is no typical affair.
Growing up in Malaysia and Singapore,
Laura eventually moved to the U.S. and
studied business at Cal State Dominguez
Hills. At first, the plan was to go to America,
earn a degree, and then go back to Asia to
help her family’s business, but life quickly
got in the way. “My family has a palm oil
business back home, but once I arrived in
California, I took to it like a duck to water,”
says Laura.
Soon enough, she wound up meeting Bill in
Torrance—he grew up there and made lots of
friends in the area. One of those friends was
a guy named Michael Rinaldi, and after Bill
and Laura got hitched, Michael was ready to
sell.“So we bought the deli from him, and
we’ve maintained his standards ever since,”
says Laura. “Big sandwiches. Everything
made fresh—we’re very much a New York
deli and we carry on Rinaldi’s tradition.”
By tradition, Laura means quality meats
and cheeses imported straight from New York
City. Everything is homemade and made
to order—nothing sits out for days on end,
and along with their dedication to freshness,
they have fun putting together some wild
menu items.
The “Fat Boy” is featured as an “epic”
sandwich that’s the only one of its kind in
the South Bay area. The meatball sub—filled
with sausage, pepperoni, and loaded with
marinara sauce—has been featured by Eater
LA three years in a row (since 2018) as one
of LA’s top epic sandwiches to order. And
their menu highlights a lot more than just
mainstream favorites.
Rinaldi’s is all about creating a personal,
small-town connection, too, with its customers.
If you take a look at their menu (which spans
across the back wall), you’ll see all kinds of
items named after favorite customers, personal
friends, and even top-ranked colleges.
One menu item that sticks out is the
“Chevy Andy”—a House Special that pays
homage to one of their favorite customers
Rinaldi’s, an El Segundo favorite.
See Rinaldi’s, page 5