As a way to increase awareness of traumatic brain injuries, Rep. Dick Stevenson (R-Mercer/Butler) has sponsored House Resolution 634 to designate March 2010 as “Brain Injury Awareness Month” in Pennsylvania.

“A brain injury can occur at any stage in life and can have severe and long-lasting effects on an individual,” Stevenson said. “The brain is a complicated organ, and doctors and researchers are still finding ways the brain reacts to certain injuries and conditions like stroke or high fever. To prevent brain injury from occurring, we need to raise awareness that brain injury is not just a bump on the head. Any impact or other medical conditions can disrupt neural pathways that can change the way a person thinks, feels and acts.”

Brain injury refers to death or injury of brain cells, including a condition called acquired bill injury. That can involve an injury to the brain secondary to trauma, stroke, postsurgical complications, aneurysm, high fever, infection, near drowning, near suffocation, near electrocution, poisoning and other conditions which interfere with the delivery of blood or oxygen to the brain.

Mild traumatic brain injury can often be underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed, with symptoms not always immediately apparent. It is also the leading cause of disability and death from birth to age 40.

Nearly 10 million Americans are living with acquired brain injury, and approximately 3.8 million sports-related and recreation-related concussions from trauma occur in the United States each year.

“It is important to realize the signs and symptoms of traumatic brain injury can be subtle and may not appear until days or weeks after the injury or may even be missed,” Stevenson said. “As we learned from the tragic death of Hollywood actress Natasha Richardson last year, what we believe to be a simple bump on the head could result in serious brain injury or death. That is why we need to raise awareness of these types of injuries so that more people look for warning signs and seek appropriate treatment.”

Seventy-five percent of all brain injuries are concussions from trauma and affect more than 47,000 Pennsylvanians, and more than 130,000 Pennsylvanians are living with a long-term disability resulting from traumatic brain injury.

“We must also be cognizant that brain injury is the most prevalent injury of our troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that we must be able to appropriately treat their injuries, not just on the front lines but when they return home,” he added. “The best approach to the silent epidemic of brain injury is to promote awareness, prevention and treatment of brain injuries.”

Stevenson also noted that Pennsylvania is fortunate because it is home to a number of leading research centers for brain injury, including the Penn Center for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of Pennsylvania, the Center for Injury Research and Control and the Brain Trauma Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh, the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute and the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Several statewide organizations are also devoted to researching brain injury and include the Brain Injury Association of Pennsylvania Inc., the Disability Rights Network, the Acquired Brain Injury Network of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Association of Rehabilitation Facilities.

House Resolution 634, which received bipartisan support, passed the House unanimously March 9.

Rep. Dick Stevenson
8th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
(724) 458-4911

(717) 783-6438

Contact: Jennifer Algoe Keaton

jkeaton@pahousegop.com

(717) 705-2094

Member site:  DickStevenson.com

Caucus site:  PAHouseGOP.com