"Totes of Comfort & Hope Program"

Our Mission Statement
To be the leading organization dedicated to providing hope, comfort, useful tools and valuable information to families experiencing a traumatic brain injury (TBI) with a loved one during the acute phase of injury.

Being notified that someone you love has been transported in life threatening condition to a Trauma Hospital is both devastating and frightening. Your immediate thought is to get to the hospital as quickly as possible to be with your loved one. There isn’t time to think about what you might need or how long you might be needed there. Once you’ve been informed that your loved one has suffered a significant injury to their brain, there is little that you can do except to wait and pray. Everyone is left in a fog of uncertainty, desperation and helplessness. No family can ever be prepared for this type of event.

Tracy Porter’s family went through this experience when her 16 year old son suffered a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a result of a car crash in Jacksonville, FL in 2004. Realizing that other families would go through the same process her family went through with so little information, resources or hope, she developed the Totes of Comfort & Hope Program, a unique, comprehensive, and compassionate way to help other families through the first frightening days of this experience.

Large reusable tote bags filled with personal toiletries, comfort items, useful tools, statewide resources, information about Brain Injury hospitalization and rehabilitation, along with stories of hope and encouragement from others, are lovingly packaged and kept on hand at participating hospitals where they are provided for free to an immediate family member of anyone suffering a moderate or severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) within the first 24-48 hours of arrival.

Hospitals participating outside of Florida: