Janae H.
Janae cheerfully manages life as a dedicated wife and a hands-on mother. A positive thinker who treats others honorably and with empathy, Janae’s passion lies in supporting individuals to communicate their messages authentically and effectively.
A southern California native, Janae received her BA in Liberal Arts with a minor in Humanities from California State University Northridge in 2013 and enlisted into the US Navy in July 2014. Four years of military service gave Janae the courage she needed to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a speech-language pathologist. After honorably discharging from the Navy, Janae welcomed her first child, relocated to Portland, and completed PSU’s Speech and Hearing Sciences post-baccalaureate program leading to her acceptance into their Speech-Language Pathology graduate program. Janae is an active listener who offers innovative ways to meet the desires and needs of the brain injury community.
Janae’s journey with BIC-NW began as a student volunteer in the Friending Program during the global pandemic. She began establishing meaningful connections with survivors and transcribing their stories for the Dan Lita Storyboard. As an advisory board member, Janae helped to establish our existing Instagram page and currently fulfills the role of Veteran Liason. She continues to connect BIC-NW with like-minded local organizations who want to learn more about brain injury.
In her downtime, you can find Janae alongside her family exploring local parks, hiking with Braxton, the family pup, and hanging out with other young families. As a creative outlet, she records a podcast, Growing Janae, available wherever you listen to podcasts.
Jane P., MS, CCC-SLP
Jane is an outpatient speech-language pathologist for Providence Health & Services. She grew up in Southwest Michigan but has lived in the beautiful Pacific Northwest since 2002. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2006 from the University of Portland, her Post-Baccalaureate in speech & hearing sciences in 2013 from Portland State University and her Master’s degree in communication sciences & disorders in 2015 from Pacific University.
Jane is committed to providing patient centered, evidence-based care in her field and provides treatment for a range of diagnoses including neurogenic speech, swallowing, voice, language and cognitive-communication disorders.
In her free time, she enjoys playing basketball and tennis, hiking, yoga, cooking, reading and listening to music. Jane is passionate about working with brain injury survivors and their loved ones; she strongly supports the mission of BIC-NW in connecting survivors to the people, resources, and services that will best serve their needs.
Dana P. RN, BSN, CCM, CLCP, FIALCP
Ms. Penilton is a registered nurse with a Bachelor of Science degree from Oregon Health and Sciences University. She has a clinical background in critical care and holds certifications in life care planning and case management. Ms. Penilton is a designated fellow with the International Academy of Life Care Planning.
For the past 33 years, Ms. Penilton has been active in rehabilitation specializing in catastrophic case management and life care planning. In the last 25 years Ms. Penilton has been owner and president of an independent nurse consulting firm. Her work has focused on providing catastrophic case management and provision of life care plans for survivors with diagnoses that include adult and pediatric spinal cord injury, brain injury, burn injury, amputation, and polytrauma.
Ms. Penilton has served in multiple leadership positions. In the past, Ms. Penilton served on the Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon Board of Directors (previously Brain Injury Association of Oregon) as Vice President, conference planner and advisory board member as well as the Oregon Medical Case Management Group Board (Case Management Society of America, local chapter) President, Immediate Past President, Vice President, and Secretary.
After serving three years on Brain Injury Connections-Northwest (BIC-NW) board of directors (Secretary), Ms. Penilton now serves on the Advisory Board. She previously served as Member-At-Large on International Academy of Life Care Planners (IALCP) Section and worked on the Standards of Practice for Life Care Planners 4 th Edition Revision Committee after which the standards were published in 2022. Currently she co-chairs the IALCP Summit Costing Framework Development Committee and is a member of the IALCP Summit Planning Committee.
Susan C.
Throughout her career in the Oregon healthcare delivery system, first as a Master’s prepared Speech-Language Pathologist, and subsequently within both the Quality Improvement and Regulatory Accreditation and Compliance fields of the healthcare industry, her primary focus and passion has been to improve the safe, high quality delivery of care to patients.
Susan has held a number of leadership positions within three healthcare systems in Oregon, Legacy Health System, Oregon Health and Science University and Vibra Specialty Hospital, and has had the opportunity to learn from and work with State and National leaders in the development and enforcement of regulations and to be involved in National projects designed to improve the performance of the healthcare system.
In addition to 15 years of experience working with brain injured adults and children as a clinician, in acute care and rehabilitation settings, Susan also serves as guardian and conservator for her brother, Brian, who experienced a critical traumatic brain injury 31 years ago. This experience has contributed to Susan’s interest and involvement in the brain injured community and commitment to improve the services available to the survivors of brain injury.