RESILIENT NH
profiles
Reaching Out to Others and Accepting Help Teresa Rosenberger recovered in large part to her wide support circle BY L I I SA R AJ A L A
IT WAS 20 YEARS AGO that Teresa Rosenberger was in a dire situation. In preparation for a bicycle trip abroad, she and her husband were biking near construction at Concord Hospital’s campus when Teresa took a stumble that led her on a two-year journey toward recovery from a traumatic brain injury that continues to have residual effects. Thankfully, Teresa was wearing a helmet, but “I was a mess,” says Rosenberger, now serving as a Senior Advisor to the Bernstein Shur law firm in Manchester. She doesn’t remember much of that time. She was in a coma for four days and apparently refused to go to a rehabilitation facility, her husband told her. He was confronted with the challenges of raising three kids and aiding her recovery – not something he could do alone. “Men aren’t always good about saying ‘help,’ but he went out and said, ‘I need help,’ and I learned from him that I needed to be able to raise my hand and say, ‘I need help,’ as I went through the recovery. Before I was the type of person who thought I could do everything myself,” says Rosenberger. Post-accident, Teresa was vulnerable. “I had to relearn how to walk, how to drive, how to eat with a fork and knife. I had to learn the whole kit and caboodle,” she says. When she would ride in the car to doctor’s appointments, she had to lay in the back seat with a mask on because the stimuli were too much for her brain to take in. It took a team of professionals to help Teresa return to her new normal, and a community of Granite Staters who stepped in to ensure she got back on her feet. A SUPPORT TEAM To get started, Teresa’s husband reached out to the Brain Injury Association of New Hampshire and spoke with Concord Regional VNA Hospital, which sent a team to Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston to do a quick training on how to help Teresa move beyond simply functioning to being able to return to her position at that time, as president of Devine Strategies, the strategic consulting and government relations arm of Devine Millimet. “The Concord VNA was unbelievable. They put together this 34 RESILIENT NH 2021
whole team when I came home,” says Rosenberger. “I had occupational therapists, speech therapists, physical therapists, pastoral counselors – you name it – so I had quite a team.” Teresa’s family was sent a cook as a get-well gift from Devine Millimet. “Every week, this woman came in and figured out what I needed to eat for the week and made food and put it in Ziploc
